These Boise State gymnasts earned perfect scores. Now they’ll compete at nationals

A pair of Boise State gymnasts will compete in the Women’s College Gymnastics Championships this week at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

Juniors Courtney Blackson and Emily Lopez qualified for the national championships as event specialists.

The championships begin Thursday and run through Saturday. Blackson and Lopez are scheduled to compete in the first semifinal round at 1 p.m. Thursday. They are the only gymnasts from a Group of Five program competing for a national title.

The Boise State duo secured their spots in nationals with impressive performances in the second round of the NCAA Regional Championships on March 31 in Los Angeles.

Blackson scored a perfect 10.0 on vault. It was the first 10.0 by a Bronco at a regional competition in program history, the fourth perfect score on vault in Boise State history and the sixth in any event in program history.

“Courtney’s perfect 10 on vault was such an amazing feat, and to do it at a regional championship meet just adds another layer,” Boise State gymnastics coach Tina Bird said in a press release. “We are so proud of her.”

Blackson won the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference vault championship and was named MRGC Specialist of the Week seven times this season. She was named first-team all-conference on floor and bars and second-team on vault.

Lopez secured her spot in the national championships by earning a 9.95 on bars at the regional meet. It was the highest score in the event at a regional meet in program history and the best mark at regionals since Kelsey Morris’ 9.950 in 2014.

Lopez earned the first 10.0 on bars in Boise State history against BYU on Feb. 17.

She was named MRGC Specialist of the Week 13 times this season. She is the conference’s bars specialist of the year and its co-vault specialist of the year, and Lopez was named a second-team All-American by the Women’s College Gymnastics Association.

“We wouldn’t be the same team without Emily,” Bird told the Idaho Statesman in March. “She’s even-keeled and always on point.”

Blackson and Lopez are the first gymnasts from Boise State to advance to the national championships since all-around competitor Shani Remme in 2018. It’s the first time the Broncos have had multiple individual qualifiers since 2014 when Morris competed in bars and Ciera Perkins on the floor.

A Boise State gymnast has never won an individual national championship. Three Broncos are tied for the best finish at nationals in program history. Remme (2018), Amy Glass (2012) and Diana Loosli (1998) all tied for No. 7 on beam. Perkins tied for No. 8 on the floor in 2014.

Eight teams, four all-around competitors and 16 event specialists, who were not members of a qualifying team, advance to the Women’s College Gymnastics Championships.