There’s no place like the Huntsman Center.
That’s the vibe among the No. 4 Red Rocks as they return home to host No. 11 Oregon State in another Pac-12 battle Saturday night.
Utah went on the road Monday to take on Stanford, and the trip wound up being a nightmare as the Red Rocks lost the meet and recorded a season-low score. They will need to have a short memory with OSU coming to town, a team that has a wealth of experience competing in the Huntsman Center.
“I know they are a good team,” says co-head coach Megan Marsden. “They have a good set of coaches that prepare them well for coming into an arena with lots of people, so usually they compete relatively well here.”
This week has been unusual for Utah because of the small preparation window it has had since returning home after Monday’s meet against the Cardinal. Despite the condensed schedule, gymnasts remain confident that the short week will have no effect on the outcome of Saturday’s meet.
“We are pretty far into the season that it’s not critical that we do gymnastics every day,” says senior Corrie Lothrop. “It’s nice that we’re getting to do conditioning and keeping our bodies in shape while also taking care of them and not pounding on them every day.”
In Monday’s meet against Stanford, the Red Rocks carried a half-point lead into the final rotation. As the road team, they finished the competition on beam, which was the disastrous portion of the day. Minutes before Utah started its beam set, coaches decided to put Georgia Dabritz in the lineup in place of Breanna Hughes. It was Dabritz’s first beam routine of the season. Because the set was so poor, Marsden says she still has no idea who will be in the lineup on Saturday evening.
“I don’t know if we’ll go back to the lineup we had for a couple weeks or if we will stick with that change. We haven’t talked about it,” she says. “I do know that we have tried to come up with some plans for the girls to maybe help them with some of the issues on beam to get out of this little funk.”
Getting out of the funk will be easier said than done, but the team has gotten together and vowed to get back on the winning track.
“We decided to change things a little bit,” Lothrop says. “We decided to change our approach. I think just working on each person individually and figuring out what they want and trying to get these little things out before it really counts in postseason.”
Marsden has taken notice of her team’s commitment to come back stronger than it was before Monday’s loss.
“They are very determined to make a big turnaround,” she says. “I feel a little sorry for Oregon State in that respect. This group of girls were on a roll, and they want to get back on a roll. They don’t want to waste any time.”
The meet will begin at 6 p.m. in the Huntsman Center, but fans are encouraged to get in their seats by 5:45 p.m. to recognize former gymnasts as part of Alumni Night.