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PROVO — It took every event, right down to a seldom-used tiebreaker, but No. 32 BYU gymnastics' streak of 13 consecutive regional semifinals remained intact Wednesday afternoon.
The Cougars advanced to the second round of the NCAA Fayetteville regional with a 233.650-233.400 tiebreaker win over Boise State in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Brynlee Andersen was BYU's top finisher with a 9.900 on beam, and Eliza Millar-Crossman added a 9.850 to pace a team score of 49.150 on the apparatus.
"Every year, you have a different make-up with different players, and the make-up of this team this year is about fight and having each other's backs," BYU coach Guard Young said in a statement from the university. "And how do you tie the first round of the NCAA tournament? It's by fighting and having each other's backs, so today embodied what this team is all about."
& THE COUGS TAKE THE WWWW pic.twitter.com/tytwGvrzO3
— BYU Gymnastics (@BYU_Gymnastics) April 3, 2024
The Broncos were competing in the postseason for the 16th consecutive season after winning the inaugural Mountain West gymnastics championship over Utah State, San Jose State and Air Force — a league that added gymnastics following BYU's move to the Big 12 and the dissolution of the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference.
After the Broncos led following one rotation. BYU came back to lead after the second rotation, but Boise State led against after the third.
Seniors Anyssa Alavarado and Anna Bramblett led the way on uneven bars with a 9.800 and 9.875 respectively. Kylie Eaquinto added a 9.850 on vault to lead three Cougars at 9.800 or higher (Sydney Benson and Sophie Dudley were the other two).
Benson closed out floor exercises with a team-high 9.825, and the 49.150 on beam helped tie the meet at 195.750 apiece.
ON TO THE NEXT➡️➡️➡️ pic.twitter.com/HBV8ebjUdo
— BYU Gymnastics (@BYU_Gymnastics) April 3, 2024
That sent the play-in first round to a tiebreaker, where every routine is counted instead of the top five scores per apparatus, with the lowest dropped. That gave BYU a .15-point lead needed to advance to Thursday's regional round against No. 2 LSU, No. 15 Minnesota and Oregon State at 6 p.m. MT.
Pac-12 champion Utah will open the postseason as part of the Gainesville (Florida) regional Friday at 11 a.m. MT against Michigan State, Towson and Maryland.
Each first- and second-round regional meet will be streamed live on ESPN+.
The NCAA championships are scheduled for April 18-20 in Fort Worth, Texas.
