MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 23-ranked West Virginia University gymnastics team plays host to the 2017 NCAA Morgantown Regional Championships on Saturday, April 1, at 4 p.m., inside the WVU Coliseum.
Saturday’s meet features six of the nation’s best collegiate gymnastics teams competing for two bids to the 2017 NCAA National Championships.
Fans can purchase tickets in advance for the meet at a special discounted price. Adult tickets are available for $12 each, while tickets for youths 13 years and younger and senior citizens are $8 each. Tickets for groups of 10 or more are available for $10 each.
Tickets are available for purchase at
WVUGAME.com, at the Mountaineer Ticket Office located at the Gold Gate of the WVU Coliseum and by calling
1-800-WVUGAME.
Tickets will also be on sale on Meet Day at the Mountaineer Ticket Office located at the Gold Gate of the WVU Coliseum. Meet Day ticket prices are $15 each, while tickets for youths 13 years and younger and senior citizens are $10 each.
WVU students will be admitted free with a valid WVU Student I.D.
The Mountaineers (13-10, 3-3) are seeded fifth for the second straight season and the third time since 2013. Sixth-ranked Alabama (12-6, 9-5 SEC) is the region’s top-seeded team, and seventh-ranked Michigan (21-3, 8-1 Big Ten) is seeded No. 2. Number 18 Southern Utah (8-5, 4-4 MRGC) and No. 20 George Washington (30-4, 13-0 EAGL) will compete as the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, and Kent State (6-13, 4-8 MAC) is seeded sixth.
Of the six NCAA regional competitions being held Saturday, only the Morgantown and Champaign Regionals feature five top-25 teams.
“I think we have one of the hardest regionals in the country,” sixth-year Mountaineer coach Jason Butts said. “We’re going to have to make sure we show up and maximize our gymnastics – we have to give 150 percent. We also have to have fun and be relaxed, as well as play to our home crowd. This is going to be an exciting meet for our fans and the gymnasts.”
The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team), as well as all event winners, will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA National Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, April 14-15, hosted by the University of Missouri, Columbia, and the St. Louis Sports Commission.
WVU’s bid is its 38th regional qualification, its 34th in NCAA competition and its fifth under Butts. The Mountaineers have advanced to the NCAA National Championships three times (1995, 1999, 2000) since 1983.
The Mountaineers open the meet on balance beam Saturday. The team’s complete rotation order is beam, bye, floor exercise, vault, bye and uneven bars.
WVU is 1-1 against the regional field this season, having earned a 195.95-194.875 win at Kent State on Feb. 4 before falling, 196.375-195.8, to then-No. 16 George Washington, on March 5, at the WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineers return to competition following a two-week break. Most recently, the team finished third at the 2017 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship on March 18 in Frisco, Texas, with a 195.575 score. Sophomore Kirah Koshinski, a two-time All-Big 12 Vault honoree, and junior Zaakira Muhammad scored 9.9 on vault and floor, respectively, and finished in second place, earning All-Big 12 Championship Team accolades. One week later, Koshinski earned NACGC/W Regular-Season All-America Vault Second Team honors for the second straight season.
“We really focused on the basics and our cues,” Butts said of the team’s preparations. “We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. I feel like we are peaking at the right time. That won’t mean anything Saturday – we have to manage the meet and compete aggressively, but they’ve been impressive.”
Koshinski and Muhammad are the lone Mountaineers to boast postseason national rankings. A native of Berwick, Pennsylvania, Koshinski ranks No. 14 on vault (9.905 RQS) and No. 23 on floor (9.905 RQS). Muhammad, a Pennsauken, New Jersey, native, ranks No. 32 on vault (9.86 RQS).
A pair of seniors pace the Mountaineers on bars and beam. Alexa Goldberg ranks No. 51 nationally on bars with a 9.87 RQS, while Brooklyn Doggette shows a 9.82 RQS on beam.
