 "Photo: Jeremy Bigelow")
The U gymnastics team found out Monday afternoon where it will be heading for the NCAA Regional on April 14. The No. 7 Utes will be participating in the West Region, which is taking place at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. Joining the Utes will be the No. 6 Nebraska Cornhuskers, No. 18 Missouri, Washington, Sacramento State and host California.
The news, however, did not come without a few extra hours of waiting.
The Utes-along with the rest of the country-expected to find out where they would be traveling for the Regional at 12 p.m., MDT. At 1:30 p.m., coach Greg Marsden and the rest of his staff anxiously checked the Internet over and over again, anticipating the announcement. More than two hours after the scheduled announcement, the NCAA finally released the Regional schedule.
"It makes an already late situation that much later," Marsden said. "It would be nice if they could do it on Sunday and make a release (for Regional placement) first thing Monday morning."
The reason for the wait likely had a lot to do with the NCAA figuring out what to do with teams like Oregon State and UCLA, which finished the season with identical RQS scores of 196.6. Other problems were the fact that Alabama and Arizona-both Regional hosts-fell into the same Regional grouping. After a minimum amount of shuffling, UCLA got the sour end of its tiebreaker with Oregon State and will be forced to travel to Morgantown, W.V., for its Regional. Oregon State, on the other hand, slid in as the No. 2 team in the South Central Region, which will take place a lot closer to home in Tucson, Ariz.
The Utes will face two familiar foes in the West Regional. The Utes have already faced Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb., earlier in the season and have faced Washington twice-once at home and once in an Oregon State-hosted quad-meet.
Competing closer to home in Berkeley, Calif., is an obvious advantage for the Utes, but it also made Annie DiLuzio-who grew up just 78 miles north in Sacramento-happy as well.
"I'm really excited about it, actually," DiLuzio said. "I get to see all my family and all my friends and everything at the meet. It's been a long time since I've seen them."
The mere 727 miles to Berkeley should be more conducive to fan travel, too, as opposed to Morgantown, which is one of the two sites to which Marsden anticipated going before the official announcement was made.
"West Virginia has run Regionals before," Marsden said. "Cal's equipment is probably not in as good of condition…but the travel (to California) is obviously much better for us. It's just an easier trip. (For the fans), it's much more doable."
The Utes now have fewer than two weeks to prepare for their rematch with Nebraska and Washington. The Utes must finish in the top two in Berkeley to advance to the NCAA National Championships, which are being held in Salt Lake City this year. The Championships will run from April 26 to April 28 at the Huntsman Center.
