A gymnast usually sports one of three faces after finishing a routine.
There’s the stare that is a cross between extreme focus and “I dare the judges to give me something lower than a 9.9.” Ashley Postell has made this face a staple at Utah for the last four years. There’s also the look that says, “I’m so relieved to be done with that routine, and hey, I didn’t fall either.” Nina Kim and Jamie Deetscreek have pulled that face out from time to time. Then there is the face that says, “That was so much fun. Can I go back out there and do that again?” Kristina Baskett has become famous for that face.
Whether it’s on vault, floor, beam or bars, fans are not often left to wonder whether Baskett nailed the routine or not.
“I’m just the kind of person that shows my emotion on my sleeve,” Baskett said. “You can tell if I’m mad, but usually I’m really happy and smile a lot, and I can’t keep it inside.”
Sometimes the most entertaining moments in a Utah meet is when Baskett is on vault.
She starts with a run down the ramp and flings her body like a rubber band into a Yurchenko 1 1/2. When she drops down out of the sky and sticks the landing, her teammates can’t make their way down the ramp fast enough. The result is so common, it seems like an extension of her vault routine. Typically Baskett does a little leap and follows with one hard clap of her hands that emits a small poof of chalk. She follows that with a bear hug for her coach, Greg Marsden, who is typically stationed near the vault.
“I think it shows that I do love this sport, and I get excited for my team and for my performances, too,” Baskett said. “I hope that’s not a bad thing.”
This year has been a reunion with the love for gymnastics that she developed as a kid. Like many of Utah’s gymnasts, 2007 was a rough year in and out of the gym.
Baskett, who is always one of the U gymnastic team’s strongest students, had her worst semester in school, and she often found herself wary of coming into the gym.
But over the summer and during the fall of 2007, Baskett found herself again.
She moved out of the house she shared with fellow junior Red Rock, Nina Kim, who doubles as one her best friends.
The move had nothing to do with her relationship with Kim and everything to do with Baskett discovering who she is and her sense of independence.
“I live by myself, but that’s how I like it, and that’s what I like to do.” Baskett said. “We do our own thing because we’re our own people.”
That sense of Baskett being her own person extends to the tumbling mats. Naturally, on the event where a gymnasts shines the most, one gets the sense of who Baskett is when she is performing on floor.
While most gymnasts add their personal touches to her floor routine, Baskett takes it to another level. That effort starts with her selection in music.
Baskett prides herself on using the most original and random sounds she can find. She then takes those beats and compiles them for some of the most crowd-interactive music in the country.
“I’m really, really picky with floor music,” Baskett said. “I try to stay away from what’s on the radio. I like to look for weird stuff-like unique, funky weird.”
Baskett takes the music and sends it on to Tamara Diles, who was an older girl on their club team at Puget Sound Gymnastics.
Baskett also loves a good beat, particularly with her floor music, which is perhaps the best way to describe the Normandy Park, Wash., native. If nothing else, Baskett always seems to be upbeat-except maybe when she gets lost while driving.
“It’s pretty scary,” Kim said. “It gets pretty bad. I’m like, ‘Kristina, you need to settle down.’ People probably won’t believe me, but she gets really pissy. I don’t think people want to see that.”
For someone as talented, athletic and smart as Baskett is, she is also surprisingly down to earth. Unlike some athletes, Baskett is more than accommodating for autographs and photographs. She said she has been a fan before, is still and will be when she is done at Utah. When the inclination to get bugged about another autograph creeps up, she tries to put herself in the other person’s position.
“I wouldn’t want to be blown off or have someone rude to me,” Baskett said. “It means a lot to them. It would mean a lot to me if I was in their shoes, and I only have one more year, and that will be over.”
Next year as a senior, Baskett figures to be the face of Utah gymnastics. For now, she is more than happy to be the set-up person for Ashley Postell, who is “one of the best athletes ever to come into this program,” Baskett said.
Although it would be hard for anyone not to fly under the radar when someone like Postell is your teammate, Baskett isn’t exactly a slouch herself.
Last weekend, Baskett scored a 39.400 in the all-around, which has as much to do with Utah’s success as anything. She might be the No. 2 in Utah’s one-two punch, but she couldn’t be happier with where she is right now.
“This year I feel like a little kid again,” Baskett said. “I’m just enjoying it.”
Baskett and the rest of the Red Rocks will have the chance to enjoy it even more when they go to Athens, Ga., and can somehow steal the NCAA Championship away from Georgia. Nationals begin April 24.