Maybe it should have been expected, but it still was a surprise to see.
Competing in their first meet since losing senior captain Tory Wilson, the Red Rocks sure didn’t look like the third-best team in the nation. In fact, through two full rotations of Saturday’s NCAA Regional competition in Berkeley, the Utes were actually just the third-best team in the region, which meant that halfway through the meet they were in position of missing their first National Championship meet in program history.
Leading up to this meet Georgia Dabritz said that she actually felt more pressure at the Regionals than at Nationals, because she didn’t want to be a part of the first team that missed it. Well, the Utes can give a big thank you to Dabritz that they are headed to their 40th straight National Championships after her performance in Berkeley.
Dabritz won the all-around title with a 39.750, winning every single event in the process to help Utah overcome a slow start and punch its ticket to the National meet with a second-place finish on Saturday.
Replacing Wilson was naturally going to lead to losing a few decimal points, but the Utes made life a lot more difficult on themselves. Breanna Hughes and Kassandra Lopez both over rotated on handstands on bars and caused Utah to count a 9.625 on its first event of the night, and things only got worse when the Red Rocks headed to the beam.
Wilson’s replacement on beam, Kailah Delaney, fell off the apparatus, and then Kari Lee followed suit, forcing the Utes to count a fall, and suddenly Utah was in a dogfight for its season.
“I am disappointed that we dug ourselves in such a hole after the first two events—really disappointed,” said Utah co-head coach Greg Marsden in a university release.
After the beam, the Utes headed for their first bye of the meet, and while they were resting, Georgia and Cal both overtook their two-rotation score, and through two events Utah was on the outside looking in.
The Red Rocks had two events to make up the ground, and from the very first performance after the bye, the Utes looked like a different squad.
Tiffani Lewis, who was performing in place of Wilson on a number of events, started the Utes with a 9.850 and from there everyone seemed to calm down. The Utes were solid on floor, all scoring over 9.825, headlined by Dabritz’s 9.950, that put the team in a good position heading into their strongest event — the vault.
And oh was it was ever strong.
Delaney, Corrie Lothrop and Kari Lee all scored 9.90, Dabritz scored yet another 9.950 and the Utes scored a more normal 39.950 for the event.
“Georgia [Dabritz] was absolutely brilliant, which she has been the entire season, and Corrie also did a nice job,” Marsden said in the release. “We expect that from our seniors and they delivered. I was really proud of Tiffani Lewis. She handled it (replacing injured senior Tory Wilson) brilliantly.”
The Red Rocks finished with a season low 196.575, and because of that were forced to sweat out the final rotation on bye, as Cal and Georgia finished up their meet.
Georgia was able to overtake Utah, scoring a 197.025 and win the Regional, but Cal faltered on the beam and finished with an overall score of 196.00, meaning the Utes claimed second in the meet and a secured a spot at Nationals.
“It felt too much like prelims at nationals last year,” Marsden said in the release. “I was proud they didn’t give up and I’m happy that we’re going to the championships. I hope they view it as an opportunity to show what they are capable of.”
Utah will head to the National Championship meet beginning on April 17 in Forth Worth, Texas.
Individual Winners:
Vault: Georgia Dabritz (Utah), Toni Ann Williams — 9.950
Bars: Georgia Dabritz (Utah) — 9.95
Beam: Georgia Dabritz (Utah) — 9.90
Floor: Georgia Dabritz (Utah) — 9.95
All-Around: Georgia Dabritz (Utah) — 39.750
National Championship qualifiers
Morgantown Regional: Florida, Stanford
Ames Regional: LSU, Nebraska
Norman Regional: Oklahoma, Oregon State
Columbus Regional: UCLA, Michigan
Auburn Regional: Alabama, Auburn
Berkeley Regional: Georgia, Utah
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