When a team enters the postseason and has to travel across the country to compete in a format different from the one it has participated in all season, things can get stressful.
However, that can be made easier when it feels like going home.
Utah gymnastics coaches Megan Marsden (wife of head coach Greg Marsden) and Jeff Graba both have ties to Minnesota that could make competing at the North Central Regional Championships in Minneapolis, Minn., a bit easier for the Red Rocks.
The team must finish in the top two at the regional competition on Saturday to advance to the NCAA National Championships in Athens, Ga., later this month.
Finding the Sports Pavilion, where the competition will be held, won’t be difficult for Graba. The assistant coach grew up in Minneapolis and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1992. He is familiar with the city and the campus.
Graba’s brother owns the Midwest Gymnastics Center in Arden Hills, Minn., just a short drive from the twin cities. Graba used to co-own the gym before coaching at Utah State and then at the U.
While at Midwest Gymnastics, Graba coached an Elite gymnast named Ashley Mutchler. Mutchler is now a senior at Minnesota, and Graba said he is excited to watch her compete in her last home meet with the Gophers.
Most of his family still lives in the twin cities area. Graba estimated that about 180 relatives live locally.
“We’ll have quite a bit of a crowd there,” Graba said.
He doesn’t expect the majority of them to attend the meet, but he knows of about 25 people who will be there for sure. He expects his brother to bring some of his Midwest Gymnastics athletes to the meet and maybe even to practice.
Marsden isn’t from Minneapolis, but her home town of Cedar Falls, Iowa, isn’t more than a four-hour drive away. Her parents still live in Cedar Falls and will make the trip to watch the team perform.
“I knew it was the only regional that they could come see,” Marsden said.
Her cousin lives in the Minneapolis area and will attend the meet with his family as well.
Marsden’s knowledge of the surrounding region will come in most handy when the team has downtime. The team will have most of Thursday and Friday to kill time in anticipation for the meet on Saturday.
Marsden said she plans to take some of the gymnasts shopping to keep their minds free of stress. Outside of nightly team meetings and practice, the team has few other commitments. But not everyone will be going to the stores.
“Some girls really like to just lay low and stay in their room most of the day,” Marsden said.
She is not one of those.
“I’m going (shopping) whether anyone’s going or not,” she said.
Marsden is also excited to see Minnesota co-head coaches Jim and Meg Stephenson. Jim Stephenson served as an assistant coach at the U for four years before leaving for Minnesota in 1992.
“(The Stephensons) are good friends of ours, and we like to go see them,” Marsden said. “They always put on a good meet.”
The coaches will utilize team meetings to keep the gymnasts abreast on how the long weekend will progress. During the nightly meetings, the team will discuss the next day’s activities, including lineups, schedules and how to handle certain situations. Marsden said that Friday night’s meeting will be used to gear the team up for competition the next day.
Aaron SchwendimanFinishing in the top two at the regional competition in Minneapolis this weekend would mean a trip to Athens, Ga. to compete in the NCAA National Championships for the Utes.