PROVO – Moments before her first collegiate meet Utah freshman Kari Lee had some nerves. The Red Rocks were placing a lot of trust in Lee in her debut meet, scheduling her for three events. That trust was not misplaced.
“[My teammates] just told me to have fun, no pressure and just do what I’ve been doing in practice,” Lee said.
Lee and the rest of the Utes had plenty of fun Friday night as they twirled, tumbled and flipped their way to a 196.900 – 193.35 over BYU at the Marriott Center.
“I think we showed what we worked for all preseason and it was a great way to start the season,” senior Georgia Dabritz said. “We just want to keep building from here.”
The 196.900 total was the highest opening meet score since 2005.
Utah opened up the night on bars and for one Ute, that event was a moment a year in the making.
In last year’s season opener, Utah junior Kassandra Lopez tore her Achilles’ tendon during floor warm ups and was sidelined the rest of the season.
On her only event of the night, Lopez made her return by posting a 9.875 – the second highest Utah score.
“(It was) amazing,” Lopez said of getting to compete again. “It was just indescribable. It’s been a long time and I really missed being out there and especially with my team. It’s totally different just sitting on the sidelines and not being able to do anything to being with the team and actually being able to help.”
Even with Utah senior Corrie Lothrop falling on bars, the Utes still held a 49.175 – 48.70 lead after the first event, topping BYU in each apparatus.
Following the bars, Utah moved to the vault, where it scored a meet high 49.30. After both Tory Wilson’s and Dabritz’s vaults, the Ute fans in attendance chanted “10,” and they weren’t far off as both the seniors posted a meet high score of 9.925.
The vault is where Lee made her Ute debut, and she began her Utah career in style with a score of 9.850.
Wilson also paced the Utes on the floor scoring a 9.900 to help her pull away and eventually win the all-around with a final score of 39.450
The last apparatus of the night for Utah was the event that kept them out of the Super Six a season ago – the beam.
“It’s not secret that’s been a weak event for us the last two or three years,” Utah co-head coach Greg Marsden said.
It wasn’t weak on Friday night. The Red Rocks rode Baely Rowe’s 9.90 performance, which featured a Michael Jackson moonwalk across the beam, to a 49.200-team score on the event. And that score was with two freshmen in the beam lineup.
Lee scored a 9.850 on the beam and fellow freshman Maddy Stover, who had a wobble in the middle of her routine, posted a 9.775. Marsden thinks Stover is capable of much more.
“Maddy did a nice job tonight, in the middle she got a little off and I think she showed her nerves a little bit,” Marsden said. “I think she’s capable of scoring 9.9 and above and can even challenge for a championship on that event if she can relax.”
With the added help from the newcomers, Marsden believes his team’s beam troubles could be a thing of the past.
“I feel they demonstrated to themselves, to the coaching staff and their fans that this could be a beam team,” he said.
As for the meet overall, Marsden said it was a “perfect start” from a coaches’ perspective.
“There were a lot of good things to pat people on the back about and there were plenty of things that I can point to that we can work on,” Marsden said.
The Utes return to action next Friday when they host Southern Utah, Boise State and UC Davis.
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