A week ago Utah co-head coach Greg Marsden walked away from Utah’s win over Washington thinking his team had one of its best performances of the season, the judges’ scores just didn’t show it. They did on Saturday.
No. 4 Utah went over 198.000 for the first time this season, beating No. 16 Stanford 198.050 – 195.900 and staying undefeated on the year.
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“It sends a message that we are going to compete this year,” Marsden said about the score.”There are a number of teams that are scoring right at that score and I think if you want to be perceived as somebody who has a chance to compete at championships then you got to be able to do that.”
The Utes (9-0, 5-0 Pac-12) were rolling right out of the gate, posting a season high on vault with a 49.650 — an event that featured an odd scoring exchange.
Georgia Dabrtiz won the Huntsman crowd with another near-perfect one-and-a-half vault, and when the scores were announced half of the Huntsman Center’s 15,202 fans cheered, while the other half booed.
One side saw the score of the judge that awarded a 10.0, while the other side saw the other judge’s 9.90. On the very next vault, the same thing happened, but this time it was switched.
After Kailah Delaney stuck her landing, she knew it was something special and she and her team met in frantic celebration. The judge that awarded a 9.90 to Dabritz gave Delaney a 10.0, while the other, who saw perfection in Dabritz, gave Delaney a 9.95.
Dabritz just missed out on a perfect score in the vault, but she left no doubt on bars. At this point for the Utah senior it’s just a typical day at the office.
Sticking a routine, thousands of fans rising to their feet, judges showing a 10.0. It’s all happened before. For the third time this season, Dabritz was awarded a perfect score. It’s the sixth of her Utah career, and fourth on bars. She’s not getting sick of it.
“Every time it’s such an accomplishment,” Dabritz said. “Not many people can say that they have achieved that. When I get that 10.0 it’s still really exciting for me, and for my teammates clearly.”
Dabritz’s performance anchored what Marsden called the best bar set of the year. The set also included Kassandra Lopez and Corrie Lothrop scoring above 9.90.
The Utes all stayed on the beam. Freshman Kari Lee scored a career-best 9.95 to win the event.
Notably absent from the beam lineup was Dabritz. The senior has had problems in the past with the apparatus and fell off last week against Washington. Dabritz did perform in the exhibition, though, posting a 9.85.
After the performance on beam, the Red Rocks needed to get a 49.400 on floor in order to reach the 198.00 mark. The Utes got three scores of 9.90 or higher, including one by all-around winner Tory Wilson, and scored a 49.450.
“It is a big score, and we try not to focus too much on the scores, but it is a confidence booster and it will help us in future competitions,” Dabrtiz said.
Utah will next travel to Corvallis to face Oregon State on Friday.