Coming off of a victory over the top-ranked team in the nation, the U gymnastics team now holds that honor.
The Utes are No. 1 in the national rankings, while UCLA slipped one spot to No. 2.
Although the Utes are the top-ranked team in the nation, the honor doesn’t hold much weight at this point in the season.
“It’s fun to talk about, but we know it’s early in the season,” said U gymnastics coach Greg Marsden.
After such an exciting meet at home, the Utes will head north this weekend to compete in a meet against Utah State. There could be somewhat of a letdown after the opening meet of the season at home.
“[Competing at Utah State] will be challenging for all of us,” Marsden said. “Rather than being in the comfort of our own facilities, we have to go out on the road.”
This situation cannot be compared to last year’s when the Utes defeated UCLA in California. After the meet, the Utes had to play tough teams such as Nebraska along with rival BYU.
Utah will not only have to deal with getting ready for a less exciting meet, but they will also be without one of their best gymnasts.
Sophomore Rachel Tidd, who won two events last week, was recovering slowly from a back injury. On Monday, however, Tidd tweaked her back in practice on a dismount from the bars.
“It was discouraging because she was going to start tumbling and we didn’t even get to that,” Marsden said. “It was spasming yesterday.”
Recovery time for Tidd is uncertain, but Marsden knows he can’t rush her back to competition.
“We have to be as patient as we need to,” Marsden said. “We need to put her in control of the situation because she can listen to her body.”
Fortunately, the back injury should not last too long.
“We had it checked out and there wasn’t any structural damage,” Marsden said.
The worst-case scenario is that Tidd would miss the rest of the season, but be completely healthy for her junior season.
Besides the injury to Tidd, the Utes are healthy and everyone else is just about at full strength.
Gymnastics Rankings
January 10, 2005
No. Team High Score1 Utah 197.6752 UCLA 197.3003 Oklahoma 195.900 Michigan 195.9005 Arizona State 195.7006 Michigan State 195.4757 Auburn 195.3258 Oregon State 195.2009 Iowa State 194.92510 Georgia 194.85011 Washington 194.62512 Florida 194.45013 Arkansas 194.25014 Nebraska 194.20015 Maryland 193.97516 Alabama 193.875 Denver 193.87518 Illinois 193.82519 Minnesota 193.80020 LSU 193.72521 Arizona 193.42522 Cal State-Fullerton 193.22523 Missouri 193.05024 Central Michigan 192.35025 Sacramento State 192.275