After the afternoon session of the 2009 NCAA Gymnastics Championships went how it was designed on paper, Utah nearly ended its season early.
The top three teams in the afternoon session advanced in order of national ranking8212;Georgia (197.450), Florida (196.300) and LSU (196.300). But in the evening Utah hardly looked like the class of the session, let alone the No. 2 team in the land. Between scoring their lowest score of the season on beam (48.775) and their third lowest score all year on the floor (49.175) Utah found itself in a tie with the UCLA Bruins for the sixth and final spot in today’s Super Six and had to use a tie-breaker to advance.
“It wasn’t a great night for us,” said head coach Greg Marsden. “We made some mistakes that are uncharacteristic of this team. Once we made some mistakes, I think we felt the pressure and we continued to do things we don’t typically do throughout the night.”
The Red Rocks and the Bruins were knotted up at 196.625, which was Utah’s third lowest score of the year and their lowest since their last trip to Nebraska when they beat the then No. 12 ranked Cornhuskers with a 196.525.
To break the tie the sixth scores from every event were counted and configured into the final score and the No.2 ranked Red Rocks just edged out the Bruins for the final spot into the Super Six.
“It was an emotional rollercoaster,” Baskett said. “And were just really happy we get a second chance. We need to appreciate where we are. This really grounded us going into (Friday).”
“We’re very happy,” Marsden said. “This isn’t the way we planned to do it, and it was a real nail-biter because it came down to the tie-breaker. None of us knew how they did that so we didn’t have any idea who it was going to be between us and UCLA.”
The Red Rocks had an average run through their first event, scoring 49.275 on the bars, but Utah dug itself into a real hole when they rotated to the balance beam. Junior Jamie Deetscreek scored a season low 9.125 on the apparatus with her first fall of the season while sophomore Gale Mackie scored a 9.350. Baskett stayed steady through both events, keeping Utah afloat with back-to-back 9.900s.
“We had a pretty good bar set to start the meet,” Marsden said. “But then we went to beam and we had a few falls there and we tightened up a little bit for the rest of the meet.”
Once Utah moved on to the floor routines, normally dependable junior Annie DiLuzio took a misstep on one of her passes, scoring a season low of 9.275. But Baskett again kept Utah within reaching distance by scoring the only 9.900 on the team.
Utah concluded the night by scoring a 49.400 on the vault, led by seniors Nina Kim, who scored a 9.900 and Kristina Baskett. In Utah’s last run of the night, Baskett stepped up, just as she had all night and delivered in the clutch, scoring a 9.950. It was her third straight 9.950 dating back to the regular season finale.
“I went in thinking I needed to do a great vault and stick my landing,” Baskett said. “I didn’t try too hard, I just tried to set up a good vault and be ready for the landing, it just felt really good.”
Baskett’s impressive score resulted in a 39.600, which was good enough for second place in the all-around national championship. Georgia’s Courtney Kupets ruined the hopes of another Utah gymnast for the top individual honor in the country as she scored a 39.800 in the afternoon session to take home the all-around honors.
For the Super Six, Utah will be a guest star in a repeat of the SEC Championships.
Finishing ahead of Utah was Alabama (197.025) and Arkansas (196.950), and the three schools will join Georgia, Florida and LSU in the Super Six tomorrow. The Super Six gets underway tonight at 6.00 p.m. CT.
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The Associated PressNina Kim scored a 9.850 on the beam during the preliminary round of the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships in Lincoln, Neb. The Utes will advance to the Super Six after scoring 196.625.