The U gymnastics team might have had its best meet of the season over the weekend, but it still lost to No. 8 Georgia 197.275-to-197.150.
It was easily the Utes’ best road meet so far, but the Red Rocks just fell short of the 2004 NCAA Championships runners-up.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the job our team did tonight,” U coach Greg Marsden. “We got stronger and stronger as the meet went on. The only place we gave away a little was on bars, but after that it was our best meet of the year. In my thinking, we were winners tonight.”
The Utes fell behind by five-tenths of a point on the first event, the bars. An early fall also hurt the Utes.
Dominique D’Oliveira, the second competitor for the Utes, fell off the bars and scored a 9.175. Ashley Postell was the fourth competitor and scored a 9.675 due to a bad landing.
Because of the fall by D’Oliveira, the Utes had to count Postell’s 9.675.
Rachel Tidd saved the Utes with a great routine and scored a 9.925. While the Utes were on the bars, Georgia had a great vault set.
The lowest score the Bulldogs scored on the vault was a 9.825 and they had three competitors who scored at least a 9.90.
The Utes could not make up the ground on the second event, but tightened up the score on the floor. Postell scored a 9.90 on the floor and Annabeth Eberle matched her with another 9.90.
The Bulldogs had a tough time on the beam with an early fall by Kelsey Ericksen. The low score made it tough for the Bulldogs, especially when Katie Heenan scored a 9.675 and Georgia had to count it because of the early fall.
At the end of three events, the Utes were down by only one-tenth of a point, but a stellar floor set by the Bulldogs put the Utes away.
It’s not as if the Utes suffered on beam. In fact, it was a very good beam set for the Utes. Gabriella Onodi led off the event with a 9.825 and Kristen Riffanacht followed her with a 9.85. The Red Rocks really heated up after a 9.875 by Tidd. Nicolle Ford scored a 9.925 and Eberle and Postell both scored 9.95s.
Georgia’s floor score bested the Utes’ stellar event score of 49.55, however.
With four scores of 9.925 and above, the Bulldogs scored a 49.575 on the floor and defeated the Utes.
Because of the high scores, the meet will likely move both teams up in the national rankings.
The Utes will not have to compete outside Utah until the NCAA Championships. Next week they will compete in the Huntsman Center in a quad-meet with California, Florida and Stanford. The home meet will begin at 7 p.m.