PROVO -- After posting a season-best 195.675 mark in a tri-meet win last week, the No. 24 Cougar gymnasts will look to carry that momentum into Friday's regular-season finale and senior night when they take on No. 6 Utah.
With a spot in the NCAA Regionals firmly in place, BYU is looking to improve its Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) and head into regional competition on a high note. The Cougars currently carry an RQS of 194.775 and are competing with Minnesota, who holds an identical 194.775 RQS, for the fourth spot in the North Central Region. The top six teams will move on to Regionals on April 14.
"It is important for us to score the best we can," BYU coach Brad Cattermole said. "We need to get the best score we can to get the best seeding possible. Having a good team like Utah to compete against brings your scores up. We couldn't ask for a better situation at this point in the season."
BYU moved up two spots in the latest national rankings released by Troester Consulting Monday morning. The Cougars are ranked No. 20 on beam and No. 24 on bars. Dayna Smart is ranked No. 20 on beam and is tied with teammate Alethea Boon for a No. 29 ranking on vault.
BYU tumbled to its best floor score of the season at 49.450 last weekend. Smart recorded the second-highest floor mark in school history at 9.975, while four other gymnasts also notched career-best marks on the event. The Cougars also posted their best bars score of the season (49.000) behind career-high marks from Boon and Kylee Draper.
The national-power Utes are coming into Friday's meet with an RQS of 196.545 and a win over No. 25 Arizona State last week. Utah is ranked No. 3 on bars and and No. 5 on vault. The Utes are led by All-Americans Nicolle Ford, Kristina Baskett and Ashley Postell.
After the meet, seniors Kacie Capra-Callens and Lisa Willis will be honored. The two standouts have left their marks on the BYU program over the last few years. Both are former team captains that have recorded scores that rank among the best in school history. Capra-Callens holds the school's second-highest bars score (9.950), and Willis has the fifth-best floor mark (9.950) in Cougar history.
Start time is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The meet will be shown live on BYUTV and live stats will be available on the women's gymnastics homepage at www.byucougars.com.