In gymnastics, a turn of events can occur in dramatic fashion, which is what happened with the Utah gymnastics team on Tuesday. To the dismay of Red Rock fans everywhere, sophomore sensation Kari Lee tore her Achilles in practice and is now out for the rest of the season.
The three-time All-American and NCAA event finalist is the fourth gymnast in four years to go down with an Achilles tear here at Utah. What’s worse is that there was no sign or indication of Lee’s injury beforehand, which is sure to put Utah’s coaching staff in panic mode to find a replacement in the lineup.
Before the unfortunate injury, Lee was excited to get the week going, wanting to help improve Utah’s performance on closing out meets, especially the floor, where she was a crucial part in Saturday’s win over Oregon State.
“We’ve been working really hard in practice on how to close out meets on floor,” Lee said. “We need to work on being more consistent in the gym and just work on what we’ve been doing well. Once we put out what we’ve been working on, it will show a lot better.”
Lee, who has competed as Utah’s only all-arounder so far this season, is having surgery on Friday and hopes she will make a full recovery for next season.
Extra days for extra practice
Despite Lee’s injury, the Red Rocks are glad to have a few extra days to prepare this week before No. 20 Arizona comes to town. This not only puts less pressure on the coaching staff to find a replacement for Lee’s absence, but it also gives the team more time to prepare for another big challenge against a good Pac-12 opponent.
This includes the floor lineup situation, which is a big dilemma for co-head coach Megan Marsden and the rest of the coaching staff. With more time for practice, it will create more confidence for the younger gymnasts, who are in a situation to take Lee’s spot in the lineup.
“It will help us try to continue figuring out what we need to do for the floor and other routines,” Marsden said. “Gymnastics practices during the season are few and far between, sometimes depending on the schedule, and for us going from a Saturday meet to the following meet on Monday is really helpful in terms of the team getting some gymnastics time in the gym.”
There is also more time for relaxation for the busy gymnasts, as they were given two days off to catch up on school work and gain some much-needed rest before getting back to the grind next week.
No more mishaps
One issue the Red Rocks need to keep in mind before Monday’s meet is watching out for the little mishaps and mistakes that cost the team points last Saturday. Marsden was clear to mention that if things went Oregon State’s way on the final rotation, the outcome of last weekend’s meet may have been different.
“We certainly can’t finish out the meet the way we did on Saturday and expect to win,” Marsden said. “If Oregon State would have done better in beam, we probably would have lost.”
In order to avoid repeating those mistakes, all of the gymnasts will use the longer break to work harder on their routines, making sure the problems won’t continue. The Red Rocks have been lucky the last few meets with opposing teams making more mistakes than they are, but it’s not something Utah can count on to win the rest of the season.
“Right at the moment things have worked out okay for us when we had a few little mishaps that hasn’t cost us a win,” Marsden said. “But I think our days are running out in terms of the competition we are going against. If they hit their stuff and we have a missed event, it’s harder to win.”
@chad_marquez