Greg Marsden was eager to get the Red Rocks’ first meet of the season over with so he could better assess what each of his gymnasts need to work on to improve. He likely didn’t lose much sleep on how he can help Kristina Baskett improve, but rather how he can help her duplicate Friday’s performance on a weekly basis.
Baskett earned a score of 9.900 in all four events to help lead the Utes to a 196.325-195.975 win over the visiting UCLA Bruins. Baskett’s combined score of 39.600 was a career-best and was good enough for first place in the All-Around, beating out teammate Ashley Postell by .325 points.
“I just wanted to go in and hit what I was doing,” Baskett said. “I just wanted to get a routine on my belt and stick it so that I can upgrade in the next couple of meets.”
Baskett scored her first 9.9 on a solid vault, which resulted in a stuck-landing and a big smile for the Ute sophomore. She then duplicated her vault score with another strong showing on bars, which Baskett admits is her least favorite event.
Probably the most impressive routine for Baskett was on beam, which is an apparatus she struggled to be consistent on last year. Moments after Baskett stuck the dismount of her seamless routine, a third-straight 9.900 flashed across the board, which trounced her previous career high of 9.775.
“I was so happy,” Baskett said. “As a lot of people know, I struggled with that event last year, and I worked a lot this summer. And it was one of my main focuses to work on my consistency on beam, and I couldn’t keep inside that I was excited.”
Baskett’s night was so dominant that her only score that was not tops came on the event in which she won the National Championship last year.
Though Nicolle Ford’s 9.925 on bars was the highest score on any event during the meet, the Ute captain struggled to find the consistency that has been the trademark of her career at Utah thus far.
After a shaky beam performance and an uncharacteristic stumble out of bounds on her floor routine, Ford’s facial expressions disclosed how she was feeling.
“I have a hard time not making faces… if I don’t like something,” Ford said.
Fortunately, the Utes did not need their captain to be at her best to beat the No. 5 team in the country.
Freshman Annie DiLuzio, who made her career debut in front of the large Huntsman Center crowd, made a valuable contribution to the team.
“I kind of knew what to expect, but it was totally different being out on the floor and competing,” DiLuzio said. “The energy from the crowd was awesome. I think our fans are amazing.”
DiLuzio’s first appearance came on vault where she scored a 9.850, which was the second-best vault score turned in by any gymnast.
“Annie did a really nice job for a first meet,” Marsden said. “This is a tough environment to come into. I don’t know how she could have been more solid than she was tonight for us.”
DiLuzio’s lowest score of the night came on the balance beam, but her 9.775 was still good enough for second on the team as the Red Rocks struggled mightily on their third rotation.
On the beam, Nina Kim fell on her difficult mount, while Jessica Duke struggled through a wobbling routine. Ford also wobbled and apparently left out an element, which resulted in a score of 9.600.
“It wasn’t there,” Ford said. “I didn’t do one of my connections.”
While Utah struggled on the beam, UCLA turned its .4-point deficit into a .075-point lead on its floor rotation. The final five Bruin gymnasts all scored 9.8 or better to give UCLA a small advantage going into the last rotation.
The Bruins’ lead did not last long, though, as Ashley Jenkins did everything wrong short of falling off the beam en route to an opening score of 9.1 for the Bruins. The subsequent three Bruin gymnasts all had significant stammers on their routines as well, and Utah made those mistakes hurt.
Duke, Katie Kivisto and DiLuzio responded with consistent floor routines before Baskett and Postell turned in back-to-back scores of 9.9 to all but sink UCLA’s chances of winning. Even with Ford’s stumble in the Red Rock’ final performance of the night, her 9.45 was enough to ensure that the Utes would get a season-opening victory no matter what 2005 All-Around National Champion Tasha Schwikert did on UCLA’s final beam performance.
Though any type of win over UCLA is a good one, the Utes likely won’t think too highly of the win as UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field admitted her Bruins were not at full strength.
“I don’t know where (Utah) is with their lineup,” Field said. “I know that we are about 60 percent of where we hope to be with our lineup in the end of February or March.”
With the Red Rocks entering Friday’s meet with their own set of injuries and setbacks, the level of competition in this meet was likely well short of the level this match-up will be at if these teams happen to be competing against each other for a National Championship in April.
Notes: Beth Rizzo scored a 9.850-which would have been third best on the team-during an exhibition routine on floor?Utah combined to score 9.9 or better six times compared with UCLA’s one-which came from Tasha Schwikert on UCLA’s last scored event?Utah’s win over UCLA was the fourth-straight season-opening win for the Utes since UCLA broke the Red Rocks’ vaunted 170-game home-winning streak to open the 2003 season.
Christopher PeddecordKristina Baskett performs her floor routine during the Red Rocks’ victory over UCLA at the Huntsman Center on Friday night