With 40 years of Utah gymnastics history watching from the Huntsman Center stands, the 2015 Red Rocks added a little of their own Friday night.
In the first event of Utah’s 197.825- 194.100 win over Arizona State, two Red Rocks did something that had only been done once in Red Rock history– hit back-to-back perfect 10.0s.
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In 1993 Kristen Kenoyer and Aimee Trepanier accomplished the feat on floor and with both sitting in the stands for Utah’s 40th anniversary celebration, Tory Wilson and Gerogia Dabritz vaulted their names right beside them.
Wilson went fourth in the vault lineup, and when she nailed her landing, Utah co-head coach Greg Marsden knew she may have done something special. He saw a judge raise her eye-brows to other one, and soon his suspicions were confirmed – Wilson was given a 10.0.
“It was exciting and what you never know is whether the judges are willing to do that,” co-head coach Greg Marsden said.
When Wilson’s score was displayed the crowd stood in approval and with the Red Rocks storming around the senior, Wilson never even got a chance to see the score.
“I just saw the reaction from everybody so I gathered that that’s what happened,” Wilson said. “It was kind of unexpected, I feel like I’ve kind of been out of my groove so far this season, and my theme for tonight was not to be average – so it worked out.”
Going next in the lineup, Dabritz was also anything but average, but she had to regain focus first.
“I was so excited for (Wilson) and then I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ I have to focus on me now,” Dabritz said.
She focused just plenty, nailing her one-and-a-half vault that once again made the Huntsman Center crowd come to its feet.
“Once they gave Tory a 10.0 and then Georgia follows it up and nails that one-and-a-half (the judges) really didn’t have much choose at that point,” Marsden said.
It was the first back-to-back 10.0s from the Utes in vault and only the second one in their history.
“There was just an energy that I’ve never really felt before and it was amazing,” Wilson said.
The Utes used the energy to match their team season high, set last week at Arizona.
“What I really wanted to do was continue with the demeanor that we had last week at Arizona,” Marsden said. “Some things were better tonight (than they were last week) and we made some little mistakes that we didn’t see last week. We’re not seeing anything big, and the little things are slowly but surely getting better.”
Though the Utes couldn’t match the historic performance on vault in their other three events, they were still solid in everything.
Dabritz won the bars (9.950) and floor (9.950), and the Utes were able to keep everyone on the beam.
“We had some balance checks tonight that we can eliminate,” Marsden said. “But what’s neat this year about balance beam is I don’t get nervous or scared while they are up there, they seem very comfortable. And while we may have a balance check from time-to-time it’ll just be the rare occasion that we come off the balance beam.”
With over 70 alumni in the stands to celebrate the past, the current Utes gave every reason to cheer about the now.