With two high road scores out of the way against Stanford and Cal, the No. 6 Utah gymnastics team will travel once more, this time heading to the Midwest to face tough competition in No. 5 Michigan.
The Red Rocks (7-1, 5-1) will be looking to earn another high score against the Wolverines but will have to do so without two of their top gymnasts once again with Kailah Delaney out and Samantha Partyka demoted to only bars and beam duties due to injury concerns.
Despite the lineup changes, the team believes it can get the job done in front of an intimidating crowd in Ann Arbor. This includes Baely Rowe, who will be hoping to improve on her success from last week, when she was promoted to all-arounder status.
“We’re really excited to get out on the road again,” Rowe said. “A few of us have been to Michigan before, and it’s a great atmosphere, so we’re really excited to go out there again. It’s their senior night, so we’re just going to go out there and trust ourselves, trust in our practice every week in and out. This will hopefully give us another road score that we can count.”
The Wolverines (9-3, 4-1) have other plans in mind, though, and will do their best to keep Utah in check for the team’s final home meet of the season. They are also hoping to improve on their No. 5 ranking, and a win over the Red Rocks with a good score will do enough to help the Wolverines keep climbing the polls before postseason rolls around.
But with the experiences the team has already had over the last three weeks, with two straight road trips already done and dusted, Utah co-head coach Megan Marsden hopes her team’s confidence will be able to help carry them past a tough Michigan team.
“It’s certainly been helpful that our girls have been on the road for two weeks already, and had good outcomes and performances,” Marsden said. “It has to build their confidence that even on someone else’s floor they are able to do a great job.”
Even though Marsden is hoping to get the win over their Big-10 competition, her main objective is to grab more high road scores for Regional Qualifiers. A win will just be the icing on the cake.
“It will take a great job at Michigan for us to have the chance to come out as victors,” Marsden said. “I think at this point as coaches we continue to work toward high scores … If we get a win, great — if it’s on the heels of them, that sends a message to Michigan. I think there’s more than one way for us to have success this weekend. I don’t think it has to be a win, but a win would be fun.”
With injuries affecting the Red Rocks once more this week, the coaching staff is expecting that Erika Muhaw will continue to shine after her well-executed vault in her competitive debut last Saturday against Cal. Muhaw is also looking forward to facing another top gymnastics competitor during her freshman year.
“I’m excited,” Muhaw said. “We’re looking forward to going out there and show our hard work that we’ve been doing in practice. I think we’re prepared and ready to go.”
A high road score and a win against the Wolverines won’t be an easy task for this young team, but the Red Rocks feel that they have the motivation and competitive drive to finish off their last road meet of the season on a positive note.
Utah will take on Michigan this Saturday at 5 p.m. MST.
@chad_marquez