Red Rocks Grab Top Spot
Utah had its strongest showing of the year this weekend against Oregon State. Thanks to that performance, the Red Rocks find themselves as the No. 1 team in the nation in Monday’s poll. Utah’s weekend score of 197.050 boosted the team’s season average to 196.70, good enough to leapfrog the University of Georgia, which was top in the polls last week.
Georgia, after winning against North Carolina State, had an off week, failing to break the 196.00 barrier as a team for the second time this season. Georgia is the only team in the top five to fall short of 196.00 twice at this point in the year.
To go along with being the top team in the nation, Utah continued to show its strength on the vault, grabbing the top national ranking in the event with an average score of 49.30. Kristina Baskett ranks third in the country as an individual on the vault with an average score of 9.912.
Other notable individual rankings include Annie DiLuzio, whose continued improvement and success on her floor routine earned the junior the third ranked spot on floor. Kyndal Robarts debuted at seventh in the country on balance beam with her score of 9.875.
The Calm Before the Storm
The U gymnastics team will use this week not only to prepare for its meet Friday, but also to get as much rest as possible before the difficult stretch it will face next week.
Starting Friday night, when Utah hosts BYU, SUU and Texas Women’s at the Huntsman Center, the Red Rocks will have three meets in eight days, two of which are on the road.
After Friday night’s meet, Utah will travel north to Logan to take on Utah State on Monday at 7 p.m. After the USU meet, the Red Rocks will have a shortened week of practice before leaving the following Thursday for Lincoln, Neb., where they will take on the Huskers on Friday night at the site of this year’s National Championships. It will be a good test of endurance for the Red Rocks, preparing them for nationals, which is three days of competition back-to-back.
Tyler CobbThe Utah Gymnastics team took over the nation?s No. 1 ranking after their win at Oregon State.