Whereas the men’s basketball team got to enjoy a pair of games in the Huntsman Center during the Olympic break, the gymnastics team was stuck with life on the road.
Which is too bad, considering the Red Rocks entered the month of February?and five straight road meets?with the No. 1 ranking in the nation, a 3-0 record and on the heels of the sixth-best score in school history (197.475).
But, as coach Greg Marsden noted before the trip, the Regionals and Nationals won’t be in the Huntsman Center, so the Utes better learn how to compete on the road.
Even with the warning, the Utes couldn’t construct a full, four event meet in four tries.
Utah finished 2-2 over the break, losing to a pair of top 10 teams, while defeating two unranked teams. Now ranked No. 4, the Rocks wrap up the five-week adventure at BYU on Friday.
“We’re going to continue to try and relax and compete more from the heart and less from our heads,” Marsden said. “We’re a very talented team that is underachieving right now.”
Utah opened up the Olympic holiday with a 196.125 to 196.100 heartbreaker at No. 10 Louisiana State.
Despite being ranked No. 1 in the nation on the uneven bars, a poor bars start plagued the Utes. Kim Allan and Shannon Bowles couldn’t stay on the apparatus, as the Utes had to count a fall. Utah turned in its worst bars team total (48.600) of the season.
Utah rallied on its final event, beam, as Veronique LeClerc scored a 9.875, Bowles a 9.900 and Theresa Kulikowski a 9.950. But Utah’s score was just 0.025 short of victory.
LeClerc captured her first all-around of the season with a 39.275.
In Utah’s next meet at Washington, it was a different event that gave the Utes fits. LeClerc, Bowles and Deidra Graham, who all hadn’t missed a floor event all year, suffered falls in the event.
LeClerc and Bowles both responded with scores of 9.900 on beam, and Melissa Vituj added a 9.875. The beam effort gave Utah the 195.700 to 193.575 win, even though the team turned in its worst score of the year.
In Utah’s next meet, a 196.350 to 193.600 win at Utah State, counted falls on bars and beam would’ve been the story, had it not been for Kulikowski’s triumphant return to the all-around.
The 1999 NCAA all-around champion took the final step in her gradual process back into the all-around. The junior competed in her first four event meet since tearing her ACL Jan. 28, 2000, and she did so in stunning fashion.
Kulio scored a perfect 10.0 on beam, the 10th flawless score of her career, and her all-around score of 39.800 tied for the third-best in school history.
Aside from Kulio’s heroics, Utah had to count falls on bars and beam, and staple all arounder Graham competed in only one event due to an injury. Graham was limited to bars due to bulging disks in her back.
Next up for the Utes then was No. 5 Michigan, who now sit ahead of Utah at No. 3 in the polls.
Against a team where it could not count a fall and still win, the Utes again hit the mat. The Rocks opened up the competition with two falls on their first event, bars.
This time, it was even stranger, because it was Bowles and Kulikowski, both bars All-Americans.
Utah rebounded with scores of 9.950 and 9.925 by Vituj and Kulikowski, respectively, on floor. Kulio topped that with a 9.975 on beam.
After the meet, Marsden quipped, “The good news is that we haven’t faced a team we can’t beat if we just hit our routines.”
Marsden took the blame for Utah’s falls, claiming he had put too much pressure on the same gymnasts who successfully completed the same routines in practice.
The comfort of the Huntsman Center is a week away, but Utah has to get its road woes figured out in a hurry?it doesn’t have another away meet until Regionals on April 6.