It’s time to work on thefi ner points of the game forthe U gymnasts they enterthe stretch run before theNCAA Championships. TheUtes start that quest thisevening, hosting Washingtonat 7 p.m. in the HuntsmanCenter.The Huskies are 10-6, comingoff of a third-place fi nishat the Salbasgeon Suites Invitational,which includedNo. 11 Oregon State.Washington’s season-highscore of 195.275 is one inwhich the Utes’ season lowwas matched. The Huskiesare scoring in the 193-194range, which on average iswell below the Utes.While the Huskies are anopponent the Utes shouldeasily dispatch, the Utes arefocusing on improving theirgame before the regionals,an event that takes place afew weeks from now.Having had almost all oftheir upgrades in place, theUtes will now attempt tostylize their routines andperfect them.”We have to make it seemas if our routines are effortless,”Ute senior AnnabethEberle said.Ute head coach GregMarsden believes stylizingtheir routines will separatehis players from the teamsin the rest of the country.”When you get to the NationalChampionships, everyone has thebasic skills down,” Marsden said afterlast week’s meet. “You have tostylize your routines to set yourselfapart from the rest of the rest of theteams.”Now that the gymnasts have implementednearly all of the upgradesneeded for the rest of the season,paying attention to detail will betheir main objective.”In order to stylize your routine,you have to have your routine downso you can concentrate on otherthings like rhythm,” Marsden said.Besides working on the detailwithin their routines, Marsden hasthree simple goals for his gymnaststo follow for tonight’s meet and forthe rest of the season.”We need to stay healthy, happyand motivated,” Marsden said.At this point in time the Utes arevery healthy, except for one thing-sickness. “We are all very sick rightnow,” U senior gymnast Eberle said.Many of the Utes have a cold, butother than that, the Utes are veryhealthy. Marsden has every gymnastavailable to him and the Utes are incrediblydeep, which helps the Utesin two ways.”It’s so hard to fill the lineup everyweek with so many gymnasts,” Eberlesaid. “It makes us work harderfor our positions in our lineup and itincreases the competition and makeseveryone better.”Besides the increased competitionin practice, the Utes have great depthin all events-in case somebody getsinjured.As for the team’s happiness, Marsdenpoints to the increased class loadat this point in the semester.”Our team takes their classworkvery seriously,” Marsden said. “Wehad a team GPA of 3.6 last semesterand at this point in the semester,these types of things can take you outof focus.”Although motivation shouldn’t bean issue for a team that is ready tocompete for a national title, it’s easyto look ahead to the NCAAs at thispoint in the season.”We need to maintain our focus,”Marsden said. The focus should be onthe Huskies tonight, as the Utes lookto win their second straight [email protected]