CEDAR CITY, Utah – Hosting No. 13 Stanford, the Southern Utah Flippin’ Birds gymnastics team battled but fell short on Friday night, 196.775-196.125.
First rotation – Vault
SUU began the night on the vault, scoring 49.175. Ellie Cacciola started strong, tying her season-high score of 9.875 before Mackenzie Kelly followed with a 9.825. Mia Hampton (9.825) and Trista Goodman (9.775) were next before Niya Randolph and Brinlee Christensen each totaled scores of 9.825 to anchor the rotation.
Ellie starts us off strong with a 9.875 on vault#OneFamilyOneFight ⚡️ #TBirdNation ⚡️ #RaiseTheHammer pic.twitter.com/roM9b4N2Cv
— SUU Gymnastics (@SUUGym) February 15, 2025
Second rotation – Uneven bars
The Flippin’ Birds then moved to the uneven bars, recording a 48.900 score. Christensen led off, but a slip and fall led to a 9.050 score. Isabella Neff (9.825) and Hampton (9.800) got things back on track before Goodman added a 9.800 of her own. Randolph answered with a 9.825 before Maria Ferguson closed the bars rotation with a 9.650.
Bella Neff sticks the landing for a 9.825#OneFamilyOneFight ⚡️ #TBirdNation ⚡️ #RaiseTheHammer pic.twitter.com/QBV8roMKpX
— SUU Gymnastics (@SUUGym) February 15, 2025
“I was really proud of the girls (on bars). After you first get falls, that’s scary, because now you have a lot of pressure on your routine. Bella (Neff) got up and hit a beautiful routine. Then Trista (Goodman) got up and hit a great routine, Niya (Randolph) hit a great routine, and Mia (Hampton) got up and hit a great routine. I was really impressed with them,” SUU head coach Scotty Bauman said of his team’s bars routine.
Third rotation – Beam
Southern Utah moved to beam next, notching a score of 48.750. Randolph began with a 9.775 before late addition Alyssa Fernandez scored a 9.100 due to a fall. Elliot Bringhurst then totaled a 9.800, but a slip from Ellie Cacciola meant the T-Birds would have to keep a 9.450 score. Rylee Miller then recorded a stellar 9.875 before Maria Ferguson ended the rotation with a 9.850.
Ryle Miller sticks the landing for a 9.875 on beam!#OneFamilyOneFight ⚡️ #TBirdNation ⚡️ #RaiseTheHammer pic.twitter.com/qLKcHiiOeI
— SUU Gymnastics (@SUUGym) February 15, 2025
“Brinlee warmed up good on beam, but she was not feeling it, something was up with her tonight. To her credit, no athlete ever wants to be pulled. She’s like ‘I’m not feeling it’ and I’m like ‘Are you sure?’ So, I had to throw Alyssa (Fernandez) in there real quick and she really only had a couple of seconds to warm up. But Alyssa is a very capable beam worker, she’s just been struggling on that series all year, so we’ve got to put some work into that,” Coach Bauman said.
“But then we go through the beam and we’re doing pretty good, and Ellie Cacciola, one of the best beam workers in the country straddles her flick lay. She’s cruising along on this beam, doing so good, but it’s just been that kind of stuff that’s been happening to us all year, every meet.”
“We have not put together one single meet yet that I would say we should feel really super good about, but we’re still in the mix. When we put together a full meet, we can beat anybody. And I’ve said this the whole year, but we’re just not doing it. That’s on me, I’ve got to figure this out,” he added.
Final rotation – Floor exercise
SUU wrapped up the meet on the floor, once again dazzling with a score of 49.300. Hampton and Fernandez each recorded scores of 9.850 before Randolph and Cacciola both added 9.875s. Taylor Gull and Rylee Miller capped the rotation, both scoring 9.850 to end the meet on a high for the T-birds.
Once the final scores were tallied, Stanford ultimately edged the Flippin’ Birds, 196.775-196.125.
Niya Randolph drops the mic after scoring 9.875 on floor!#OneFamilyOneFight ⚡️ #TBirdNation ⚡️ #RaiseTheHammer pic.twitter.com/mV8WEuFkfm
— SUU Gymnastics (@SUUGym) February 15, 2025
“The way that Rylee (Miller) filled in on the floor, I was so proud of her,” Bauman said of Miller’s first-ever floor routine.
“She’s only done one floor routine in practice; she hasn’t done an exhibition or anything. What we did was we moved everybody up and put Rylee in at the back. And I told Rylee, ‘If everybody hits, we’ll probably just pull you because you haven’t done enough routines.’ But then everybody hits and crushes floor like we’ve been doing, so I go up to Rylee and say ‘Hey, we really don’t need your floor routine’ and she’s like, ‘Scotty I’m ready, put me in, I’m ready’ and then she goes out and does that (scores a 9.850).
Now the floor team knows we have a 9.85-9.90 floor worker just waiting in the wings to get in there, and we haven’t had that all year, so it was really good to see her do well,” he added.
Up next
Southern Utah will have two weeks to prepare for their next meet, facing Sacramento State on the road on Friday, Feb. 28.
The Flippin’ Birds and Hornets conference matchup will begin at 8 p.m. MT and can be seen on the Overnght streaming service.
Photo courtesy of SUU Athletics.
