Boise State Picked to Win Mountain West Gymnastics Title By Conference Coaches

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Boise State’s women’s gymnastics team has been picked to win the Mountain West by the conference coaches in the annual preseason coaches’ poll.

The Broncos garnered a pair of first-place votes and 27 points to edge out defending MW champion Utah State in second place with one first-place vote and 24 points. San José State was on the heels of the Aggies with 21 points and the final first-place vote, while Air Force rounded out the poll with 12 points.

Boise State, the 2026 MW Gymnastics Championship host and 2025 regular-season champion, will be led by two-time MW Coach of the Year Tina Bird in her 19th year guiding the BSU program. Sophomore Kristina Shchennikova highlights the Bronco roster after picking up MW Co-Freshman of the Year honors a season ago and second-team All-MW accolades on the uneven bars. Boise State also returns a pair of all-conference performers on floor in senior Blake Pascal and sophomore Bridget Kemp, who earned first- and second-team honors, respectively, in 2025.

Utah State, under the direction of fourth-year head coach Kristin White, returns the most All-MW performers from a season ago with athletes represented on each apparatus. Junior Nyla Morabito leads the way with first-team All-MW honors on vault and floor in 2025 and is joined by sophomore Kaylie Medrano on vault with second-team accolades. Senior Avery Bibbey and sophomore Lundyn VanderToolen earned first- and second-team honors on bars, while junior Sydney Jelen was a first-team All-MW performer on beam. Sophomore Olivia Orengo and junior Isabella Vater round out the Aggies’ all-conference honorees, with both earning second-team honors on floor in 2025.

San José State will be under the direction of head coach Joanne Bowers, now in her eighth year with the Spartans. SJSU return one all-conference performer from 2025 in junior Devyn Valuch, a first-team All-MW honoree in the all-around.

Air Force boasts the reigning MW Gymnast of the Year in junior Maggie Slife. Slife is one of the most decorated individual gymnasts in the Mountain West, having been named the 2024 MW Freshman of the Year and 2025 MW Floor Specialist of the Year. Slife has a total of seven all-conference honors over the past two years with a pair of first-team accolades on vault, first- and second-team honors on bars in 2024 and 2025, respectively, back-to-back first-team accolades in the all-around, and first-team All-MW honors on floor a season ago.

Slife is joined by sophomore teammate Alyssa Bigler, a first-team All-MW honoree in the all-around last year, and the 2025 MW Co-Freshman of the Year. Junior Clara Wallace rounds out the Falcons’ all-conference performers, earning second-team All-MW accolades in the all-around in 2024. Air Force will be led by head coach Jennifer Green, currently in her sixth year with the Falcons.

The 2026 season opens Friday, Jan. 9, with Boise State visiting Southern Utah and Air Force hosting Winona State. San José State is in action Saturday, Jan. 10, against Arizona State and UC Davis in Tempe, Arizona, and Utah State gets its season underway at the Les Olson IT Best of Utah meet on Sunday, Jan. 12, where it will face BYU, Southern Utah and Utah in West Valley City, Utah.

The 2026 MW Gymnastics Championships will be held in Boise, Idaho, on Saturday, March 21, at 6 p.m. MT.

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