CEDAR CITY, Utah – Opening the home portion of its 2025 schedule against conference foe Sacramento State, the SUU gymnastics team cruised to a 196.150-192.725 win on Friday night.

First rotation

Southern Utah began the dual meet on the vault, securing a score of 48.700. Ellie Cacciola got things underway with a 9.775 before Mackenzie Kelly followed with a 9.650. Mia Hampton and Trista Goodman each added scores of 9.725, which Brinlee Christensen answered with 9.775. Niya Randolph finished the rotation with a 9.700, giving the T-birds an early advantage.

Second rotation

The T-birds moved to the uneven bars for their second rotation, totaling a score of 49.100. Christensen led off with a 9.850, which was followed by scores of 9.775 and 9.800 via Isabella Neff and Hampton, respectively. A 9.850 from Goodman and 9.825 from Randolph capped the rotation, increasing the SUU advantage at the halfway point of the meet.

Third rotation

SUU moved to the beam next, notching a score of 49.050. A fall from Elliot Bringhurst meant an 8.975 score to begin the rotation, but her Flippin’ Birds teammates picked her up and got things back on track. Christensen answered with a 9.775, while Randolph then secured a 9.750. Cacciola (9.850) and Rylee Miller (9.875) followed with the two best scores of the rotation, and Maria Ferguson ended with a 9.800.

Final rotation

Southern Utah saved its best rotation for last Friday night, scoring 49.300 on the floor. Hampton started with a 9.875 before Alyssa Fernandez countered with 9.850. Christensen then added a 9.850 of her own, which Randolph followed with a 9.825. Cacciola was next, tying the high floor score of 9.875 before Tayor Gull ended the round with a 9.850.

Once all the scores were totaled, the Thunderbirds celebrated a 196.150-192.725 victory.

Coach Bauman post-meet

More accolades for the Flippin’ Birds

Earlier in the week, a trio of SUU gymnasts received weekly accolades from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

Sophomore Brinlee Christensen claimed her first MPSF Gymnast of the Week after winning her first all-around title in the tri-meet victory over BYU and UC Davis. Christensen scored 9.625 on beam before recording scores of 9.825 (floor), 9.700 (vault), and 9.800 (bars).

Senior Taylor Gull earned the Specialist of the Week title with a 9.900 performance on the floor exercise, helping SUU achieve the highest floor score of the meet at 49.250.

Freshman Mia Hampton took home Freshman of the Week honors for the third time this season. She competed in three events at the tri-meet, scoring 9.900 on the floor, 9.775 on vault, and 9.825 on bars to secure the weekly awards sweep for the T-birds.

A special night

The Flippin’ Birds began the night celebrating before the meet was even underway, as a banner was unveiled honoring the 2024 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship-winning squad at the America First Event Center.

For the second straight home opener, fans of SUU gymnastics got to see a title being celebrated, as the team also hung a banner before its 2024 home opener in honor of the 2023 Moutain Rim Gymnastics Conference triumph.

The Southern Utah gymnastics team remains the standard bearer for Thunderbird athletics, having won three conference titles while notching six Top-25 finishes and securing 19 NCAA Regionals appearances.

Up next

The Flippin’ Birds face a tight turnaround for their next meet, as they host in-state rival Utah State on Monday, Feb. 10.

The matchup is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. MT and can be seen via the Overnght streaming service.

Photo courtesy of SUU Athletics.

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Spencer Rodak
Spencer has always been passionate about sports, growing up playing and following various sports. He ran cross country in high school and began his journey in sports media in 2017 as a journalism intern at The Spectrum & Daily News. Since then, his work has been published in numerous outlets including Deseret News, Standard-Examiner, St. George News, Southern Utah Now, SUU's Thunderground, SB Nation's RSL Soapbox, FanSided's Venom Strikes, fan-insider.com, The Spurs Web, and Iron County Today. Spencer is the founder of Stadium Sportzz and both the Sportzz with Spencer and Mountain States Sports Report podcasts. His experience extends to public address announcing, having first served as the PA announcer for Southern Utah University soccer in 2017 and as a high school sports PA announcer. He is now entering his fourth year as a PA announcer at Utah Tech University, where he also occasionally takes on the role of in-game emcee. Spencer's versatility also extends to radio, where at The Fan Sports Network he produced high school and Utah Tech athletics broadcasts, hosted the weekly Region 9 Football Tailgate Show, and appeared daily on The Drive. Now working towards completing his Bachelor's degree in Media Studies, Spencer was recently named the Sports Director at Utah Tech University's 91.3 The Blaze for the 2024-25 year. He will host a weekly show and serve as a play-by-play broadcaster, continuing his dedication to sports journalism and broadcasting. When he isn’t talking, writing about, or watching sports, Spencer enjoys traveling and spending time with his amazing wife.

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