Boise State gymnastics finishes second at the Mountain Rim Conference Championship

BOISE, Idaho — The Boise State Broncos are ranked 24th in the nation as they hosted the MRGC championship which included 21th ranked BYU, 25th ranked Utah State and Southern Utah.

The Utah State Aggies scored 197.025 points in the meet barely beating the Broncos who scored 196.550, Southern Utah finished in third place and BYU ended up in fourth.

A gymnastic meet features four disciplines the vault, the beam, the bars and the floor exercise with each team having six ladies compete with the final score being the average of the five best routines.

Boise State dominated the bars behind another outstanding performance by Emily Muhlenhaupt who coming into the meet is a two-time all-American on the bars.

Muhlenhaupt would win her school record 22nd bars competition with a 9.950 and she would be named as the conference bars specialist for the third consecutive year and all-conference for the fourth consecutive time.

"It was super exciting that it was on our home turf with our own equipment and with our fans," said Muhlenhaupt. "I wish it would have been first, but we did our best and that is all we can do."

Boise State was led on the beam and on the floor exercise by Adriana Popp who told me she had her best performance of the season on both disciplines and that sticking a routine is a great feeling.

"It’s the best feeling in the world my teammates cheered me on and it makes all that hard work you put in worth it," said Popp a first-team all-conference performer on the beam.

The Broncos will advance to regionals for the 14th consecutive year and they will find out where they will compete on Tuesday morning in the NCAA Gymnastics Selection Show at 10:00 a.m.

"So this was my last meet ever in Extra Mile but now we have regionals," said Muhlenhaupt. "We don't know where we are going yet, but hopefully we make it to day two of regionals and then on to nationals."

Head coach Tina Bird is a former gymnast at Boise State who has been a part of the coaching staff for 30 plus years and Ivan Alexov earned conference assistant coach of the year for his work helping the ladies excel on the bars.