In her first meet with Utah, freshman MyKayla Skinner won all-around against Michigan with 39.550 points. For her performance she was awarded Pac-12 Gymnast and Freshman of the Week. Skinner said that while winning all-around was fun and exciting, she thinks it sets her up pretty well for the rest of the season.

Skinner thinks she went out with confidence and was trying to be strong, noting that training had been going really well and that all of the girls had been working really hard. However, what made Skinner win all-around were the tricks she performed and the ones she nailed during her routines.

Skinner is known to perform some of the most difficult tricks in collegiate gymnastics history, like a double twisting double back on her floor pass. According to Skinner, throwing difficult tricks doesn’t phase her because when she was younger she was just a daredevil.

“I wasn’t really scared of throwing big tricks,” Skinner said. “Doing elite, being with that experience and having to do difficult skills has just helped me be able to come to college and still be able to throw some of those. It has just been fun and exciting. I just love going out there and showing off big skills.”

New season, new leadership

During the team retreat, the Red Rocks voted for team captains and found them in junior Maddy Stover and senior Baely Rowe. According to Stover, it’s the best role she could ever be given and it was even more of a confidence booster for her and Rowe when it came from their fellow teammates.

“Baely, obviously being the senior, has been around this program a long time and me being a junior, I’m getting there,” Stover said. “This is my first year being an upperclassman, so I’m getting used to the ropes and I kind of get to be a big sister to all the young ones on the team.”

Stover added that she and Rowe have taken a new approach to leadership this year. Last year, there was a council that consisted of four girls, but this year, there are just two appointed leaders, so they hope to try to bring everybody together. Every week, Stover and Rowe put a quote up on the team board to try to motivate the team to work for a common goal.

“We have a vision board and our motto this year is to unify the moment, so just making sure everybody is on the same page the whole season, working towards a common goal, along with facilitating team chemistry, which is super important to Baely and I this year,” Stover said. “I feel like no other team has the bond we do as the Red Rocks this year so we are excited.”

Coaches poll

In the 2017 preseason Pac-12 coaches poll, Utah finished in a close second to UCLA by only two points. In another preseason poll, Utah finished sixth in the nation. Though these rankings seem a bit of an understatement with the success the Red Rocks have had, it is fairly accurate according to co-head coach Megan Marsden.

“There is no question that [the poll] would be accurate, because UCLA is in front of us and if you look at their roster, you will see they are packed with talent,” Marsden said. “I would like to think we are ready to go to battle and that our work in preseason has put us in a position to go head-to-head with any team in the country, but I think in the beginning, the ranking is very accurate.”

No matter where they are ranked on the polls, Marsden and her team are ready to battle for the first place position.

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