Southern Utah University announced on April 1 that its women’s gymnastics team, known as the Flippin’ Birds, will compete in the NCAA Division I Regional in Tempe, Arizona. The competition begins Thursday, April 2 at 2:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Southern Utah will face BYU, Michigan State, and Georgia in the second round. The top two teams from this session will advance to Saturday’s Regional Final at 6:00 p.m.
This event is significant for Southern Utah as it marks their final season competing in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) before joining the PAC-12 conference next year. The team recently secured its fourth consecutive conference title by winning the MPSF Championships at home.
The Flippin’ Birds feature several standout athletes this season. Niya Randolph was named MPSF Gymnast of the Year for a third straight time and Berlin Hall earned MPSF Freshman of the Year honors after collecting six Freshman of the Week awards. Thirteen gymnasts received All-MPSF honors during this campaign, with some earning multiple all-conference awards for a total of twenty accolades across the roster.
Southern Utah enters regionals ranked No. 28 nationally overall and leads their conference on every event this season. Their national rankings include No. 29 on vault (48.928 NQS average), No. 30 on bars (48.950 NQS average), No. 35 on beam (48.813 NQS average), and No. 23 on floor (49.208 NQS average). Top individual performances include Randolph’s program-best score of 9.975 on floor against Washington and Kayla Pardue’s top vault score of 9.925.
Their competitors also bring strong records into regionals: BYU is ranked inside the top-25 nationally across all events; Michigan State holds a national ranking of No.11 with recent podium finishes at Big Ten Championships; Georgia boasts top-10 rankings across every event including a nation-leading-caliber floor squad.
Fans can watch Thursday’s meet live via ESPN+ or follow live statistics online.
