It’s not every day that a team other than Oregon State walks out of Gill Coliseum with a win.
The last team to do it was Utah two years ago, and the Red Rocks did it again as they got the best of the No. 11 Oregon State Beavers 197.050 to 196.650 on Friday night in Corvallis, Ore.
“I didn’t actually know how hard it was to get a win (in Corvallis),” said Utah junior Jamie Deetscreek. “We kept hearing they hadn’t lost a meet at home in 600-something days, they were throwing big scores and their fans are really good for them. It was a really big win for us and it will give us confidence looking to our next meet.”
To be exact, it had been 695 days since the last time OSU lost a home meet, which came in a quad meet where Utah outlasted the Beavers by .075 of a point March 16, 2007.
Deetscreek led the way for Utah, setting a career high in the all-around competition with a score of 39.350
“Everything was pretty solid,” Deetscreek said. “But I didn’t feel like I had an amazing night on any event, I had one of my better floor routines but other than that, everything was solid. It turned out to be a great night.”
For the fourth meet in a row, Utah improved on its team score, setting its new season high in all-around at 197.05. The Red Rocks broke the 197 mark for the first time by setting new season highs on vault and beam with scores of 49.450 and 49.150 respectively. Those two events produced Utah’s lowest event scores in last week’s meet against Washington. Friday night marks the first time this season that Utah has posted scores higher than 49 on each rotation in one meet, including a 49.150 on beam.
“We won the meet tonight on the balance beam,” said head coach Greg Marsden. “We are a good beam team and have had two good road meets on that event, even though it didn’t appear that way at Georgia because of the score. It says a lot about our composure.”
Sophomore Kyndal Robarts made her season debut in competition Friday night when she led off for the Red Rocks on beam, setting a career best with a score of 9.875, which was good enough for best on the team in that event.
Senior Kristina Baskett had a rough start when, for the first time in two years, the 2006 bars national champion took a fall on her specialty8212;the uneven bars. But she bounced back on vault and won the event with a 9.950.
“That’s why I love this team,” Baskett said. “Everyone takes their turn. Tonight, they saved me, sometimes I save them. It wasn’t my night, but what is important is how well we did as a team and the fact that we broke 197 on the road, in (Gill Coliseum).”
Baskett’s 9.950 was just one of many impressive scores the Red Rocks recorded on vault on their way to setting their season high. Junior Annie DiLuzio and senior Nina Kim each broke the 9.9 mark with scores of 9.925 and 9.9 respectively.
“Our vaults have been big all year,” Marsden said. “But we stuck our vault landings tonight and I was especially happy with Annie DiLuzio. She upgraded her vault to a one-and-a-half and it was huge.”
The Red Rocks have continued their trend of increasing team scores as well as setting season highs week after week and will now return home to host BYU, SUU and Texas Women’s on Friday.
Thien SokJamie Deetscreek earned the top all-around score for Utah with a 39.350 the red rocks beat Oregon State 197.050-196.650. Utah was the first road team to win at Oregon since Utah last did it, two years ago.