Utes co-head coach Megan Marsden doesn’t like the color blue, but she’s going to be seeing a lot of it tonight.
Utah (7-1-1) will join North Carolina State (10-5-1) in the Marriott Center as they take on BYU (7-6) in Provo. Utah has never faced NC State, but is 88-2 all-time against BYU. Both of the losses came in Provo, but the Utes have won the last 30 meetings since being beaten 196.050-195.975 in 1998.
Even though the series has been lopsided, Marsden still loves the rivalry between Utah and BYU. The challenge for her is getting her gymnasts excited, since so many of them are from out of state and aren’t as familiar with the ongoing battle between the red and blue.
Marsden’s feelings are rooted in her own days as a Utah gymnast from 1981-1984, and she’s done her best to make sure the current Utes have an appreciation for the history between the two schools.
“If they don’t feel it themselves, they’ve at least heard it enough to know that they have to live it a little bit this week,” she said.
Tory Wilson, who is from Albuquerque, N.M., said she had somewhat of an idea what the rivalry was all about when she came to Utah, but it has been made explicitly clear to her since then.
“No wearing blue,” she said.
Hailee Hansen grew up in Utah and has always been familiar with the rivalry, but said her family remained neutral for the most part. That changed when she came to Utah, but her favorite color is still blue. She said sometimes Marsden gets on her back to change clothes, even if it’s something as small as blue socks, but Hansen wouldn’t want it any other way.
“As much as we give her a hard time with the whole ‘blue’ thing, we love it,” Marsden said. “It makes it a fun atmosphere for practice and gets us all in that mind-set of going down to BYU and taking on that rivalry.”
Utah looks to have the edge over its two competitors this weekend, as neither of them has scored over a 196 this season. Utah has scored less than that only twice.
The Utes will be looking to prove they can put together four good rotations on the road as they get nearer to postseason competition. Bars and beam have given them trouble this year, and Marsden said the way to fix this problem is not to worry about it.
“The chance for mistakes that could be costly, like a fall, are much easier to have happen on bars and beam,” she said. “We consider them even more technical events, and to be stellar on those events you’ve got to be on your game, and you’ve got to reign in your nerves.”
Though many gymnasts said competing against BYU does give them some extra motivation to perform, Lia Del Priore and Mary Beth Lofgren both said there is a lot more to it at this stage of the season.
“I think it’s the point in the season that we really need to start stepping up and getting ready for postseason,” Del Priore said.
The meet will start at 7 p.m. and will be televised on BYUtv.