ATHENS, Ga.–Georgia head coach Suzanne Yoculan predicted that an SEC team was going to the win the 2008 NCAA Gymnastics Championships. Fortunately for Yoculan, her Georgia Bulldogs were there to back up her claim.
In the end, Georgia used the home crowd to its advantage and took the Super Six with a 197.450. The Gym Dogs’ .325 margin of victory was the smallest at the national championships since 2002. Utah was the only team that managed to make things interesting for the home squad.
“I think we prepared for this all season,” said Utah head coach Greg Marsden. “It’s just a team that developed a lot of confidence in themselves. No matter what happened, they kept plugging along and never gave up.”
What presented Utah and Stanford with the most difficulty going into the National Championships was the intense environment a national event in Southeast Conference country would be. The environment lived up to its billing, but Georgia was the only SEC team that stood up to the pressure.
Florida started off shaky on bars, and the Gators’ woes followed them to beam. Not even back-to-back scores of 49.400 on floor and vault could put them into the top three.
Alabama had an even harder time getting anything going. The Crimson Tide had to count several falls on beam and had to settle for last place, despite scoring a championship best of 49.525 on floor.
LSU, who made it to the Super Six for the first time in head coach D.D. Breaux’s 30-year coaching career, finished fifth after the Tigers followed up three solid rotations with a rough beam set of their own.
Stanford had multiple falls as well, but didn’t have to count any as its four solid rotations resulted in a third place finish for the Cardinal.
Utah’s ability to withstand the pressure of competing in their biggest rival’s home gym made the night bittersweet for Marsden and the Utes.
“I’d be lying if I said I’m not (disappointed),” Marsden said. “We wanted to win. You always want to win, but I don’t think we could have had a much better season. I don’t think we could have had a much better championship season and I’d much prefer to focus on the unbelievable number of things this team did accomplish.”
Utah didn’t make it through Friday night clean, but it also didn’t have to count a fall. The Red Rocks haven’t had to count a fall all season, which the U athletic department believes is the first in team history.
That feat, combined with the fact that Utah stayed strong when most of the other teams could not, speaks of just how strong Marsden feels his team was this year.
“I think it was a team that didn’t buckle through the whole season,” Marsden said. “They never beat themselves. If anybody was going to beat them, they had to do it themselves.”