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SALT LAKE CITY — "Cloudy and coffee."
If two words defined the city of Seattle, Red Rocks head coach Tom Farden has it figured out. And while those two items are of little concern to the long-time gymnastics coach, the city is where his team will look to continue its postseason success.
The No. 4 Red Rocks were awarded the top seed in the Seattle regional Tuesday morning when the NCAA announced the NCAA women's gymnastics regional pairings. Joining the Red Rocks in Seattle is No. 5 Alabama, No. 12 Michigan State and fellow Pac-12 member No. 13 Oregon State as the three remaining top-16 seeds.
"It's one time zone different from us; that's an advantage," Farden said Saturday after his team clinched its second consecutive Pac-12 championship. "We've been there, the athletes understand the equipment — that stuff helps — and it's in our own footprint. I think we can make it an advantage and we're gonna frame it as an advantage."
Regional host Washington is joined by BYU, Illinois, Stanford and San Jose State as the remaining teams that will compete in Seattle based off its geographic location to the site. Stanford and San Jose State will compete in the first night of regionals for a chance to move on to the second day of competition with the full group of teams.
In the second round, Alabama, Michigan State, BYU and Washington will compete in the first session for a chance to compete in the regional final, with Utah, Oregon State, Illinois and either Stanford or San Jose State will compete in the second session.
The Red Rocks clinched a top seed in the regionals after an up-and-down season where the team scored three 198 scores — tied for most all-time in program history — and dropped three meets following missteps on beam. But a 198.575 score on senior night against Minnesota helped the Red Rocks maintain a high national qualifying score.
But its 198.000 score at the Pac-12 Championship meet meant more to the team. It was a realization that the Red Rocks are serious contenders for a national championship and the beginning to postseason play where "nobody out-toughs" a team hitting its stride.
"Well, it's another step in this journey," Farden said Saturday. "With this team, this particular team, and I think it's going to bode well for confidence and they should be able to pick up even more steam as we continue to go through postseason, but it's a journey."
Senior floor specialist Sydney Soloski said the Red Rocks are "gonna be a tough team" in postseason play.
"We took some bad losses in the beginning and those were hard, but we came back stronger from each setback. So I think that this team will not be out-toughed by any other team in the NCAA, and going forward that is our motto, and we're just gonna let our gymnastics happen and see what happens at the end of the day."
Utah State, which won its first-ever Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference championship last week, will compete in the Norman regional, with Oklahoma as the top seed and regional host, and will compete in the first session against Minnesota (8), California (9) and Boise State.
"We are thrilled to get our second-consecutive bid for regionals," Utah State head coach Amy Smith said. "We are excited coming off of winning the conference championship and finding out that we get the same rotation order that we just won with. Obviously, we are very comfortable with that and just excited to get out there and parlay Thursday into Saturday.
"It is going to be a great competition, but I think we have a really good chance, and we proved that on Saturday."
Southern Utah will travel to the Auburn regional and will compete in the first session against Auburn (7), Kentucky (10) and Georgia.
Regionals will begin on March 30, with the second round on March 31. The regional final will take place Saturday, April 2. The first round will include two teams, where one team will move onto the second round to compete with the other seven teams in the meet. Four teams will move onto the regional final, with the top two team advancing to a spot at nationals.
Nationals will take place at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, from April 14-16.
The remaining three regionals are as follows:
Norman regional: Oklahoma host
- Oklahoma (1)
- Minnesota (8)
- California (9)
- Arizona State (16)
- Boise State
- Utah State
- Arkansas
- West Virginia
- Arizona
Auburn regional: Auburn host
- Florida (2)
- Auburn (7)
- Kentucky (10)
- Denver (15)
- Georgia
- Southern Utah
- Ohio State
- Iowa State
- Western Michigan
Raleigh regional: NC State host
- Michigan (3)
- LSU (6)
- Missouri (11)
- UCLA (14)
- Iowa
- NC State
- Maryland
- Towson
- North Carolina
