The Utes are heading to Los Angeles on Wednesday to compete at nationals for the 38th straight year. They are the only team to have qualified for every Super Six since the 2000 season, but they will have to overcome some top-notch competition in the semifinals Friday night if they want to qualify for the 14th consecutive year.
Utah has certainly drawn the tougher of the two semifinal meets and will have to put in one of its better efforts of the year if it is to advance.
The No. 10 Utes will be up against four of the top seven seeds in the championship, including two-time defending champion Alabama, which beat them 197.4-196.4 in their regional meet. Also in Utah’s semifinal are conference foe UCLA and No. 2 Oklahoma.
Some of the juniors on the team said it is difficult to compare 2013 to other years, but this might be the toughest semifinal they have had yet. Even though it appears especially challenging, Mary Beth Lofgren said things shouldn’t be all that different.
“They are always hard,” Lofgren said of nationals. “When you get to the national championships, the 12 teams are the top, so you’re not going to find easy teams to beat or anything. Whoever’s on that night, it’s their night.”
Both Lofgren and Lia Del Priore said they would love to keep the Utes’ Super Six streak alive, but it isn’t something they draw motivation from. In fact, Lofgren said gymnasts have to avoid putting any extra pressure on themselves and just do their best.
But there is some added excitement for the team this year. At this point in the season, there is often a “do it for the seniors” mentality, but Utah has no seniors. That means the Utes will be battling through some inexperience on the biggest stage of collegiate gymnastics, but they will also be getting a preview of how good they could be next year.
In that regard, Del Priore said it wouldn’t be all that disappointing if the streak of 13 Super Six appearances came to an end.
“At the end of the day, if we make it to Super Six, it’s going to be amazing,” she said. “But if we do our best and we’re not at Super Six, that’s OK. We still had a great year, and we’re going to have everybody back next year. That’ll give us even more motivation to make it [next] year.”
Del Priore also said this year’s semifinal meet probably won’t be any more difficult than the one the Utes were in during her freshman year, which featured Nebraska, Florida and the Crimson Tide. That meet came down to the final routine as Utah edged Stanford by .075 for a berth in the Super Six.
While there was certainly a lot of pressure in that moment, Lofgren said the Utes will have to ignore the stakes this time around if they want to keep Utah’s streak alive.
“We’re doing this sport because we love it, and we shouldn’t put a ton of pressure on ourselves,” Lofgren said. “We just need to go and have fun and not have any expectations for where we place. There have been times when we’ve put pressure on ourselves, and that didn’t turn out the way we wanted. I think we’ve learned from that.”