Despite the best efforts of individual champions Breanna Hughes, Baely Rowe and Tiffani Lewis, the Utah gymnastics team fell short in its bid for a third straight Pac-12 conference championship. The No. 5-ranked Red Rocks finished in a second place tie with Oregon State, with a score of 196.925. UCLA, who handed Utah its only loss of the season, took home the championship with a score of 197.250.
Senior Hughes took home the individual all-around title with a score of 39.550. Rowe wasn’t far behind, scoring 39.500 and tying for second place with Oregon State’s Madeline Gardiner.
The Red Rocks entered the conference championship as the No. 1 seed and began their session against No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 California and No. 4 Oregon State.
Beginning on balance beam for the first rotation, the Red Rocks struggled early and couldn’t close the gap on UCLA. MaKenna Merrell and Samantha Partyka each slipped off the four-inch wide plank in their routines, costing Utah dearly. Even though Rowe won the event individually and made up for some team points with a career-high mark of 9.950, in addition to a 9.90 by Hughes, their team score of 48.775 was the lowest of any of the four teams in any rotation during the evening session.
Sophomore Maddy Stover, one of the top gymnasts in the country on the beam, was injured and unable to contribute.
“It’s certainly not the way we wanted to start,” co-head coach Megan Marsden said. “But those things can happen at times. The thing that we talked about as a group was that every championship includes beam for all teams, and we’re going to fight until the bitter end.”
The Red Rocks rallied in the succeeding events by grabbing the top scores in floor and vault, and finishing with the second best score on the bars. Partyka, who had a slip on the beam, regained her balance for the other three rotations and finished seventh all-around. Lewis earned the individual floor crown for Utah with her first place score of 9.925. Hughes also added the gold medal in vault to her collection with a 9.975, the highest score in the session.
All in all, the Red Rocks nearly swept the individual titles, but were unable to make up for the disappointing start on the beam.
Even after a second place finish in the Pac-12 Championships, the Utes are still in contention for a national championship and will have the next week free of competition before hosting the NCAA Salt Lake City Regional on April 2 at the Huntsman Center.
Austin Facer is a student contributor for The Daily Utah Chronicle