PROVO -- The BYU gymnastics team is preparing for the NCAA National competition at Auburn University, their first Nationals in five years.
The gymnasts qualified for Nationals after placing second at the North Central Regional hosted by the University of Utah on April 9th. The No. 13 Cougars beat No. 12 Oregon State to join No. 1 Utah in Alabama.
"This year was our year to go," said head coach Brad Cattermole. "This year it was meant to be us."
So after a solid performance at Utah, the Cougars are hoping and working for another one in Auburn. The National Competition will begin Thursday, April 21. BYU will compete in the second session against No. 12 Georgia, No. 2 UCLA, No. 8 Iowa State, No. 4 Alabama and No. 9 Florida. Teams competing in the first session include No. 6 Nebraska, No. 5 Michigan, No. 3 Utah, No. 11 Penn State, No. 10 Oklahoma and No. 1 LSU. Rankings are based on the teams' Regional scores.
The top three teams from each session will advance to the final competition on Saturday, April 23rd.
This will be only the eleventh trip to Nationals for BYU. The last time the team went was in 2000 where the Cougars finished eleventh. Of the twelve teams that are headed to Nationals, BYU had the seventh-highest Regional score.