It was a close call for Greg Marsden and his Red Rocks on Thursday night. But with the first night of Nationals behind them, Utah will now turn its attention to the Super Six.
“It comes down to one meet,” said head coach Marsden. “And you have to move forward.”
The Red Rocks will now do everything they can to put Thursday night behind them. Their 196.625 was their third lowest score of the season and it couldn’t of come at a worse time.
“We had thought that we had not made it,” Marsden said. “And we were devastated so we feel like we’ve got a second chance and I hope we take advantage of it.”
The rest of the Super Six field will be made up of the afternoon winners8212;the No.1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs, the Florida Gators and the LSU Tigers and the Arkansas Razorbacks and Alabama who both advanced out of the night session with Utah.
A 196.625 may have gotten Utah through to the Super Six but a score bellow 197.00 likely won’t cut it for the finals. Thursday night Georgia was the top qualifier- scoring a 197.450 led by senior Courtney Kupets who scored a 10.00 on her balance beam routine and a 39.800 on the all-around, winning the all-around competition.
Jamie Deetscreek will look to improve from her first night at nationals where she scored a 38.625-, which was her lowest all-around score all season long. Deetscreek struggled with her beam routine scoring a 9.125 and the junior failed to break the 9.900 mark all night long.
But in order to beat the likes of Georgia and Alabama, senior Kristina Baskett knows it has to be a team effort and that no one person is going to be able to lift Utah to a championship alone.
“We just need to relax,” Baskett said. “And enjoy that were actually in the Super Six, we just have to have fun. Tonight proves that anything can happen and we almost didn’t make it to (Friday). We just have to enjoy it cause we get to be there and somebody else doesn’t.”
And it very well could have been someone else, UCLA in particular.
“I really just feel for UCLA,” Baskett said.
But Utah will have to put UCLA behind them if they are to win a National Championship and considering what happened last night- anything can happen on any given night.
Utah has now made 17 Super Sixes and has been on the opposite side of what happened with them and UCLA. Nebraska and Utah tied in the Super Six qualifier and the Red Rocks were left on the short end of the stick. Fortunately, the scores and slates are wiped clean and it’s any of the six team’s championship to win.