With three events in the books, the Gymdogs of Georgia and the U gymnastics team marched to their final events, tied at 147.775 apiece.
In the end, Utah faltered on beam and Georgia cleaned up on floor and the defending National Champions edged Utah 197.150 to 196.725.
“We would have been happier to win the meet,” Utah head coach Greg Marsden said. “With that said, I was pleased with the way the team performed. I knew we were coming into a very difficult situation8212;there’s really no situation more difficult than coming into Georgia.”
Utah moved to 1-1 on the season with the loss, which came on the team’s first road trip of the year. Georgia’s Courtney Kupets won the all-around with a combined score of 39.60. Utah senior Kristina Baskett led the Red Rocks in the all-around as well as the vault and bars with a total score of 39.45.
“We did better than last week,” said senior Nina Kim. “We came out here to accomplish that and the scores we got were kind of “iffy’ but we can’t help that. We’re happy how we did coming in here and fixing the mistakes we had last week.”
Kim, who struggled in the opener against UCLA with her floor routine, shined on the floor this week, leading the Red Rocks on the event with a 9.90 alongside Annie DiLuzio.
“The way we prepared mentally and physically, we did great as a team,” Kim said. “I mean we did have a few falls, but it was a real team effort today.”
Junior Jamie Deetscreek added to the strong team effort from Utah, something coach Marsden has taken notice of during the first two meets of the season.
“The person that is really blowing me away is Jamie Deetscreek,” Marsden said. “The amount of improvement in (Jamie) between last season and this season is just phenomenal. She’s playing such a huge role right now in filling the gaps left by our three seniors that graduated last year.”
For the second time in as many meets, Utah sophomore Kyndal Robarts was forced to watch from the sidelines. Early last week it seemed a possibility that Robarts would compete on vault for Utah, but in the end, she didn’t.
“She just wasn’t ready to compete,” Marsden said. “We thought she would be further along this week. She’s doing better, but it’s just going to take a while to get her routine down again.”
Now, with Georgia behind them, the Red Rocks will return home today and begin a short week of preparation before hosting Washington this Friday.
“It will be a short, tough week,” Kim said. “But we went over it coming into Georgia and we’re prepared for it. I mean, it will be a short, tough (week) but we’re ready to get things done.”
Lennie MahlerKristina Baskett led Utah with an all-around score of 39.45 but fell short of the all-around title. Georgia defeated the Red Rocks on the final rotation.