The No. 1 ranked Utah gymnastics team (4-1) suffered three falls on floor, but standard scores in three other events willed them to an easy 195.700 to 193.375 win at Washington (2-3).
The score will likely bump Utah, who averaged 196.731 over its first four meets, out of the No. 1 slot in the national polls.
Utah was well ahead after two events, after opening with scores of 49.125 on bars and 48.975 on vault.
Theresa Kulikowski tied for first on bars with a 9.950, and Veronique LeClerc was all alone in first on vault with a 9.900.
But disaster struck on the floor, just a week after the U ran into trouble on bars. Despite entering the floor exercise ranked No. 1 in the nation, falls by LeClerc, Shannon Bowles and Deidra Graham sank Utah to its lowest score of the year in the event, a 48.300.
“I simply can’t explain the mistakes we made tonight, they were so uncharacteristic,” said coach Greg Marsden.
The falls overshadowed quality performances by sophomore Melissa Vituj (9.925, second place), Kulikowski (9.900, third place) and freshman Annabeth Eberle (9.825, fifth place).
But Utah would recover on beam. Bowles and LeClerc responded with first place scores of 9.900 each, and Vituj added a 9.875.
“We did a great job finishing off the night on beam,” Marsden said. “It has definitely been our most consistent event so far.”
A score of 49.300 kept the Utes comfortably ahead for the victory.
The meet was the second of five straight meets outside Utah’s home floor due to the Olympics.
Next week, the U gymnasts stay in the state in a meet at unranked Utah State.
“We obviously still have work to do in terms of competing well outside the Huntsman Center,” Marsden said.