During the Utah gymnastics season preview, fans showed up to the Huntsman Center on Friday, Dec. 9, to cheer on the Red Rocks as they showcased their talents for the upcoming season. Although there was not a final score at the end of the meet, scores were still given across each event for each gymnast, and it went in Olympic order — vault, bars, beam and floor.
In all-around scoring, senior Baely Rowe led with 39.625 points, followed closely by sophomore Sabrina Schwab with 39.6. Third and fourth in all-around went to freshman Mykayla Skinner and sophomore MaKenna Merrell with 39.575 and 39.1 points, respectively.
“I thought this night was amazing, and I was very impressed with a lot of the younger athletes that went out there and did their job, just like what we do in practice every day,” Rowe said. “They had calm, cool, collected confidence throughout the entire meet so I was very impressed with that.”
In between each event, the Red Rocks got the chance to warm up for the event that was coming up, and they gave their fans a chance to see what to expect with the event began.
As the Utes took on the vault in the first event of the night, the majority of the girls scored 10’s across the board. Up first was Rowe who set the standard for her team on this event.
After vault, the girls headed over to the bars to tackle their next challenge of the night. While none of the those who competed in the event managed to score a 10, some came pretty close. Rowe, again, was the highest scorer of the event at 9.875 with Schwab following with a 9.85 and junior Tiffany Lewis with a 9.8.
As the girls took on the beam in their next event, only Merrell and junior Maddy Stover score 10’s. One routine that got cheers from the coward was Rowe’s when she chose a Michael Jackson song, and she performed the moonwalk on the beam. But her routine didn’t do enough to impress the judges enough, and she finished with a 9.9
In the last event of the night, Skinner finished with a 9.95 in her floor routine. Following Skinner was a three-way tie between Schwab, Lewis and Rowe, all scoring a 9.85.
“We are really pleased,” said co-head coach Tom Farden. “We are a young team with one senior, but we looked as if we were not young. I’ve been here seven years, and this is one of the best preseasons we have had.”
For their first meet of the season, the Red Rocks will take on Michigan in the Huntsman Center on Saturday, Jan. 7. The meet is set to begin at 5:00 p.m.
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