The No. 4 Red Rocks will go back on the road over President’s Day weekend when they travel to No. 10 Stanford to compete in their second Top 10 battle of the season.
“We know that they have some talented gymnasts on their team that were at the elite level,” says
co-head coach Megan Marsden. “They have the potential to be really good. This is a team that we have met in postseason on a regular basis. It’ll definitely be a test, especially on their floor.”
Utah and the Cardinal are both coming off big meets last week — Utah scored a season high of 197.825 and
Stanford garnered the 200th career win for head coach Kristen Smyth.
This matchup will be a little different for the Red Rocks, though, as Utah has never competed in Stanford’s venue, Maples Pavilion. In addition to the new environment, the meet will take place Monday instead of Friday or Saturday like normal.
“That’s a little weird,” says Corrie Lothrop about having the meet on a Monday. “But I think it’s just going to be another meet. We kind of go through the same rituals. We travel, we have meetings, and the next day we have the meet. For the most part, it’ll be the same.”
While the Red Rocks have accomplished some of their early-season goals such as staying on the beam and getting a high score, there are still some objectives that the team hopes to accomplish. Something Utah has not been able to do thus far is hit all 24 routines in a meet. While there have been meets the Red Rocks did not have to count a fall, they haven’t had a meet in 2014 in which no one faltered on any event.
“Having no falls is a goal of ours,” Marsden says. “That can always help on the events to build the score.” Being able to compete and hit on events in the Huntsman Center is an easier task than it is on the road, and that is still something Utah is working on.
“Road meets, in general, are a good chance for us to test our capabilities of dealing with adversity,” Marsden says. “None of these athletes on our team have competed at Stanford, so that will definitely be a goal — to go in and deal with whatever comes our way in terms of differences of what we’re used to.”
Competing against yet another ranked Pac-12 foe, the team relishes the opportunity to go up against high level competition, because gymnasts know these meets will make them better in the long run.
“It’s good for us and keeps us on our toes,” Lothrop says. “It keeps us striving to be better and to keep improving every week. It’s always fun to go up against someone who is really tough competition.”
The meet will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks and will start at 3 p.m. In addition, live stats and commentary
can be found on www.utahutes.com.