After finishing second at the Pac-12 Championships and ninth in the NCAA semi-final Championships last season, the Red Rocks are ready to come back and claim their title. Altough the team struggled toward the end of the season, head coach Megan Marsden said that her girls exceeded expectations throughout the entire year.
However, with a great regular season where the team only lost one dual match against UCLA, the team was disappointed in two of their three postseason meets. Struggling at the Pac-12 Championships on the balance beam costed the Red Rocks their title, the girls battled back and came close to winning and took a close second, which Marsden found most exciting.
When the team went to regionals, the athletes stepped up on the first day, but faltered on beam again under the pressure and it took them from being a super-six team to ninth place.
“All of that was more disappointing, because we had had really good moments throughout the regular season,” Marsden said. “We had beaten some big time teams, but for whatever reason, it didn’t seem to manifest itself on the two meets that mattered the most to the team.”
Marsden believes that the team right now has a little bit of revenge on their mind, because the last thing they remember is the National Championship performance. But what she liked the most is that she watched a group of women work outside their comfort zone, younger ones had to deal with more of a leadership position, and it made it all the more it fun to watch them grow. So no matter the end results of last season, Marsden found a silver-lining.
Looking onto this next season, Marsden thinks the team is coming along after having a good preseason. Although the team is still young, every single athlete is talented and Marsden is excited about this group of girls.
Junior Maddy Stover is excited to see what everyone can bring to floor.
“We have a lot of underclassmen and it shows how much talent we have pulled onto this team,” Stover said. “We talk about how everyone brings in different qualities to the team. We have really artistic gymnasts, we have very powerful gymnasts, but it brings a really good blend as a team.”
Stover added that the team has great chemistry and she is excited to see how it reflects out on the floor. Having a really competitive team — both internally and externally — Stover and the Red Rocks are ready to get the season started.
But in order to perform better this upcoming season, Marsden thinks several of the girls will have to continue to work on their mental approach in a meet scenario. Physically, they are all doing their routines easily, but Marsden has no idea if their mental toughness will be there when they need it.
“Tom [Farden] and I will continue to try to leave no stone unturned in challenging our girls to be able to hit their stuff no matter what. Whether it is their worst day or best day, whether all their rituals worked out or not, whether the other team is really good or not that good — all of those things will need to be addressed as we prepare for postseason this year.”
While Marsden hopes for a better season, She tries to not to set specific goals. But Marsden thinks the girls all care about having goals that will not only put them in a position to win another Pac-12 championship, but hopefully it will put them in a position to be in the Super-Six at Nationals.
“For me, I want to contribute what I can up on the balance beam for the Red Rocks this season,” Stover said. “For the team, our main goal is to really go into every single competition confident in our abilities and our skills knowing that we have exponential opportunity to thrive this season.”
The next meet for the Red Rocks will be against BYU in Provo on Friday, Jan. 13.
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