So far, so good. That’s a basic statement to summarize Utah gymnastics’ start to its 2016 season. With their two wins coming from competitive meets against fellow Utah schools BYU and SUU, the famous Red Rocks climbed back up into their desired place in a Super-Six spot.
Although things have started well for this Utah team, the real challenge begins on Saturday against Oregon State as the Red Rocks will try to accomplish a task that will define their greatness in the modern era of college gymnastics in the West – defending their Pac-12 championship for the third year in a row.
In any sport, defending a championship for three consecutive years is no simple task, especially in college athletics, where only a certain number of programs have achieved the greatness of creating a dynasty. Examples of the most notable programs to do this include UCLA men’s basketball, who had a seven-year run of national championships between the 1960s and ‘70s; UConn women’s basketball, who achieved the ‘three-peat’ during the 2002-04 seasons; and, of course, Utah’s closest gymnastics rival in the Pac-12, UCLA, who repeated as conference champions during the first four seasons of the Pac-12 gymnastics tournament.
The Bruins have shown that this task can be done, but many gymnastics programs in the Pac-12, including the likes of Stanford and Oregon State, have become more developed and skilled with recruitment over the years, creating more competition within the conference. This, combined with a major transition period within Utah’s program, will add to the challenge of vying for a third conference title.
Having new head coaches with a young core group of gymnasts will create motivation for the Bruins, the Cardinal and Saturday’s opponent, the Beavers, to knock Utah off the first-place podium that it has claimed the past two years. Co-head coach Megan Marsden knows these competitive teams will be licking their chops at taking the Red Rocks down, and she is excited to see how her young gymnasts handle the pressure.
“Being champions the past two years, we definitely have a big target on our backs,” Marsden said. “[Co-head coach] Farden and I will be watching to see how the girls will handle the pressure. This meet will get more competitive than the first two, and I’m interested to see if our girls can step up and rise to the occasion.”
Marsden is also curious about how well her gymnasts will perform with external pressures of competing for a ‘three-peat,’ including dealing with the home fans who expect more due to having a great team. With Utah drawing record crowds in all of women’s college athletics around the country, the young freshmen and inexperienced sophomores of the group need to hold their composure in order to compete with their fellow conference members.
But even with the struggles that come with the beginning of a new era, the Red Rocks are more motivated to prove their Pac-12 competitors that they are still the best in the West. This includes the senior leaders of the group who have gone through the highs and lows of being one of the top teams in college gymnastics the past few seasons.
One of these seniors, Breanna Hughes, feels the team needs to focus on their training and trusting themselves, while not approaching these pressures any differently while competing for their third Pac-12 crown.
“We’re not treating [this season] any different,” Hughes said. “We’re not thinking of it as more nerve-racking as many other people are treating it as. We just need to go out every meet and do what we’ve been doing in practice and the previous meets. We need to trust ourselves and our training and not put emphasis on any specific routine in these meets.”
Hughes, who helped the Red Rocks with their Pac-12 repeat the last two seasons, is ready to lead her younger teammates, with fellow seniors Kassandra Lopez and Kailah Delaney, to the top of the conference once again.
But before that comes Utah’s first major test on Saturday against the Beavers, who are looking to build off their 1-1 record. The road to the top starts here for the Red Rocks, and they are ready to face the fire in order to create another dynasty in the program — and in the conference of champions.
@chad_marquez