ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Traveling to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship, the SUU gymnastics team claimed its third straight conference championship on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds took first with a 196.625 score, edging out UC Davis (196.400), Sacramento State (193.850), and Alaska-Anchorage (191.875) to win its second consecutive MPSF title. Southern Utah also claimed the final Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference crown in 2023.

Brinlee Christensen and Niya Randolph tied for the top spot on the floor exercise (9.925) to highlight individual finishes for SUU.

First rotation – vault

The T-birds began the meet on the vault, recording a 49.000 score. Ellie Cacciola started with a strong 9.850, and Mackenzie Kelly followed with a 9.750. Mia Hampton (9.850) and Niya Randolph (9.825) were next before Brinlee Christensen and Ellie Thomson rounded out the rotation with scores of 9.725 and 9.650.

Second rotation – uneven bars

Southern Utah moved to uneven bars next, recording a 49.225 score. Randolph and Bella Neff each totaled scores of 9.875, and Hampton was next with a 9.800. Maria Ferguson (9.750) and Christensen (9.875) followed, and Kendall McGuire rounded out the rotation with a 9.800.

Third rotation – balance beam

The Flippin’ Birds were then on to the balance beam, recording a 49.075 score. Randolph began with a 9.800, which Christensen followed with a 9.750, and Elliot Bringhurst with a 9.800. Following an uncharacteristic fall from Cacciola (9.400), SUU rebounded with scores of 9.850 and 9.875 from Rylee Miller and Ferguson heading into the final event.

Final rotation – floor exercise

Southern Utah ended the meet on floor exercise, scoring a 49.325. Hampton (9.875) and Alyssa Fernandez (9.775) started the final rotation before Christensen recorded a meet-high 9.925. Randolph immediately matched Christensen’s 9.925, before Cacciola (9.825) and Taylor Gull (9.625) rounded out the floor team’s scoring, securing the final rotation comeback win for the Flippin’ Birds.

Once the final scores were totaled, the Thunderbirds notched a 196.625 to claim a third consecutive conference championship trophy.

“That was a great meet. UC Davis pushed us the entire way,” SUU head coach Scotty Bauman said.

“I am so proud of the girls and how they fought through everything. What a great group of ladies and an absolute dream to coach them. Kudos to Davis, they brought it today and pushed our team,” he added.

Flippin’ Birds dominate conference awards

SUU gymnasts and staff swept the end-of-season MPSF awards announced earlier this week, highlighted by Niya Randolph repeating as MPSF Gymnast of the Year.

Mia Hampton was named the MPSF Freshman of the Year, and Ellie Cacciola received MPSF Specialist of the Year honors. Head coach Scotty Bauman was named the MPSF Head Coach of the Year, while Jamie Wysong and Jeff Richards took home the MPSF Assistant Coaches of the Year accolade.

Southern Utah also totaled 11 First Team All-MPSF honors and seven Second Team selections.

First-team selections included Cacciola (vault, beam, floor), Mackenzie Kelly (vault), Rylee Miller (beam), Hampton (floor), Randolph (bars, all-around), Maria Ferguson (bars), and Christensen (bars, all-around).

The seven second-team honorees were Randolph (floor, beam, vault), Taylor Gull (floor), Christensen (vault), Bella Neff (bars), and Trista Goodman (bars).

Up next

Southern Utah will now wait to find out its NCAA Regionals destination. The 2025 NCAA Gymnastics Selection Show will air on ESPNU on Monday, March 24, at 10 a.m. MT.

The T-birds will participate in regional competition for the 12th straight season (2013-19, 2021-25) from April 2-6.

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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