Deidra Graham couldn’t have summed up the Utah gymnastics team’s Senior Night romp over BYU on Saturday night any better.
“I can’t think of a better way to go out,” she said. “It felt good to go out and get a meet under our belts before Regionals.”
The U didn’t just break, but shattered the school record score of 197.925. Utah’s 198.425?195.250 win was the first time in school history U gymnasts have topped the 198 plateau, and it marked the highest score in the nation this year.
“We had been on the edge of doing this for so long, it feels great to have gotten it done,” Marsden said.
Graham echoed those sentiments. “We did what we were capable of, finally.”
It was a fitting finale in the final Huntsman Center meet for seniors Graham, Shannon Bowles and Lindsay Tanner (Kylee Wagner is also a senior, but is expected to be granted a medical hardship for an extra year of eligibility after she badly sprained an ankle in the season opener).
The three seniors gave the last three U performances on the floor exercise Saturday to rousing ovations from the 14,285 in attendance, mixing up the normal floor rotation.
“It was important the three seniors had their time to shine at the end of the meet,” said Melissa Vituj.
Yet, the senior trio tried not to approach their last performance in the Huntsman Center differently.
“I tried to think of it as just the same as any other meet,” Bowles said.
“I tell myself, ‘I want to do this.’ I get really aggressive, I want to get into it,” Graham said.
Get into it she did. After competing on just one event (bars) for five straight weeks after discovering she had four bulging disks in her back, Graham returned to the all around.
“It was important for her to be back for Senior Night,” Marsden said. “It will be a real struggle at Nationals, if she has to compete in back-to back days.”
Graham tied a career high in the all-around with a 39.725. She won bars and floor with scores of 9.950 on each event, and she added a second place 9.900 on vault and a sixth-place 9.925 on beam.
“Few people could do what she’s done, not training for five to six weeks. She did one set (of all-around events) last week and one this week?most kids couldn’t pull that off, but that’s Deidra. She’s a competitor,” Marsden said.
Graham’s inspiring return to the floor of the JMHC for Senior Night was second only to Bowles’.
Bowles suffered a neck injury in a Nov. 22, 1999 training accident. She suffered a fracture to her seventh cervical vertebrae, but returned to gymnastics the following year.
Bowles came back to claim 14 total wins and earn All American beam status as a junior.
Saturday night, Bowles competed on three events, scoring 9.950 on bars, 9.950 on beam (the event in which she ranks No. 3 in the nation) and 9.925 on floor.
Her bars score, which tied a personal best, tied for first with three other Utes.
Still, Bowles found herself out of the all-around lineup for just the second time this year. Marsden and Bowles decided she would perform her 10.0 valued pike-half vault as exhibition to take pressure off her.
Bowles scored a 9.775 on the exhibition vault. If the vault had counted into her all-around total, Bowles would have tied her career high all-around score, a 39.600.
Finally, Lindsay Tanner, a former walk-on who eventually earned an athletic scholarship, ran her string of routines without a fall to a perfect 50 of-50.
Although she came to the U on an academic scholarship, Tanner has shown she can compete at the Division-I level.
With scores of 9.900 on floor and 9.825 on vault Saturday, Tanner kept intact her four year streak of performances without a fall.
In all, it wasn’t a bad way to go out for the three departing seniors.