By Spencer Rodak, Stadium Sportzz
Battling Utah, Utah State, and BYU in the Best of Utah meet, the SUU gymnastics team secured a season-high 196.175 on Monday night to secure a second-place finish.
First rotation
The T-birds began the evening on the vault, beginning with a 9.800 from Ellie Cacciola. Mackenzie Kelly followed with a team-high 9.850 on the vault, while Mia Hampton added a 9.725. Trista Goodman followed with a 9.775 before Niya Randolph scored a solid 9.825 and Brinlee Christensen tied the squad-high 9.850, wrapping up a 49.100 first rotation score.
Brinlee Christensen caps off the vault rotation with a 9.850, and the Flippin' Birds finish the rotation with a team score of 49.100 pic.twitter.com/bJBKFrR8NC
— SUU Gymnastics (@SUUGym) January 21, 2025
Second rotation
Southern Utah moved to uneven bars for the second rotation, recording a 49.050 score. Christensen began with 9.850, which Isabella Neff followed with 9.800. Hampton notched a 9.050 before Goodman tallied a 9.825. Randolph then recorded a solid 9.800 before Maria Ferguson scored a 9.775 to cap the rotation.
Brinlee Christensen sticks the landing to lead the team through the Uneven Bars rotation with another 9.850 pic.twitter.com/slhQqhAi77
— SUU Gymnastics (@SUUGym) January 21, 2025
Third rotation
SUU’s third rotation would be the beam, where a couple of mistakes saw them get a low score of 48.650. Elliot Bringhurst began the rotation with a strong 9.850 before Alyssa Fernandez scored 9.225. Randolph responded with a 9.825, which Cacciola followed with a rotation-high 9.900. The T-birds ended their time on the beam with scores of 9.125 (Christensen) and 9.850 (Rylee Miller), heading to the last rotation with a score of 146.800.
Ellie Cacciola nails it on the beam for a team best score (so far) of 9.900! pic.twitter.com/kW0Kxq4Z7U
— SUU Gymnastics (@SUUGym) January 21, 2025
Final rotation
Heading to the floor to cap the meet, Hampton got things started with a career-high 9.900. Fernandez (9.825) and Christensen (9.875) then followed before Randolph tallied a 9.825 score. An event-high 9.925 from Cacciola and a strong 9.850 via Taylor Gull ended the round, securing a second-place finish with a 49.375 score in the rotation.
The T-birds secured a second-place finish in the meet, defeating BYU and Utah State while recording a new season-high score of 196.175.
Mia Hampton delivers a 9.900 on the first floor routine for SUU! pic.twitter.com/C0UZ1xhXHx
— SUU Gymnastics (@SUUGym) January 21, 2025
Ellie Cacciola follows her 9.900 beam with a 9.925 on the floor! pic.twitter.com/rE1xb2F2nZ
— SUU Gymnastics (@SUUGym) January 21, 2025
Up next
Southern Utah will have some time off before the next meet when the T-birds travel to Provo on Friday, Jan. 31.
SUU will battle BYU for the third time this season, while conference foe UC Davis will also take part in the tri-meet.
The meet will begin at 7 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.