Maybe they’re too young to realize it’s not supposed to be this easy, or maybe they didn’t realize the magnitude of it all, or maybe they really are just that good. Whatever the case may be, the Red Rock freshmen sure didn’t perform like freshmen in their first National Championship appearance on Friday.
Maddy Stover, Kari Lee, Tiffani Lewis and Samantha Partyka all had what Utah co-head coach Greg Marsden called “season-best performances.” They picked a good time to do it, helping Utah punch a ticket to Saturday night’s Super Six.
Stover has replaced the injured Tory Wilson in Utah’s beam leadoff spot, and since the Utes began their journey to the Super Six on beam, that meant Stover was also leading off the meet.
“Tory was such a good leadoff person, and we really struggled on what to do there and normally you don’t put a freshman in that spot but we have so much confidence in Maddy,” Marsden said. “To add to that, she’s the first person up in the whole National Championships, and she just nailed it. She was great.”
Following her routine, Stover clenched her fists and gave a big embrace to Utah co-head coach Megan Marsden, before running in celebration to her team. She got a 9.850 for the routine and that was a score the Utes would soon need, as moments later Georgia Dabritz fell off the beam.
Kari Lee has been a key cog in three events all season for the Utes, and even was in contention heading into the NCAA Regional competition to snag a spot in the bar lineup and compete in the all-around. Lee was a rising star leading into the weekend, but after her performance on Friday, you may have to remove the rising part.
Lee hit a 9.950 on vault to tie for the session win, and qualify her for the individual event finals on Sunday. Lee will also be performing on floor come Sunday, after putting up a 9.90 in that event.
When Lee has struggled this season, it’s when a little extra pressure has been put on her. Each time she has stumbled off the beam, it’s been preceded by a teammates fall, with the most recent time being two weekends ago at the NCAA Regionals. She faced that same situation on Friday afternoon, but this time didn’t crack, staying on the apparatus and posting a 9.850 to keep the Utes hopes of Super Six alive.
“Kari had a breakout meet and was unbelievable,” said Greg Marsden.
After two events, Utah was in a good position to qualify, it was in third place and had its best two events — vault and bars — remaining. The Red Rocks, however, didn’t set the world on fire in their first two vaults — Patryka quickly changed that trend. Going third, the freshman posted a 9.90 to kickstart a run of four straight stellar vaults that put a strong hold on Utah’s chances of advancing to the Super Six.
“We opened up on two solid vaults but then Samantha just nailed her vault and really got us going and then we had a number of sticks after that,” Marsden said.
Lewis, who has replaced Wilson in three events (bars, vault and floor), was a model of consistency, sticking all her events and never scoring lower than 9.825.
“Tiffani did a magnificent job, she really upped her game,” Marsden said.
Individual qualifiers and All-Americans
Two Utes will vie for individual event titles on Sunday afternoon after their performances on Friday.
Georgia Dabritz will compete in floor and on bars, and joining Dabritz on floor will be Kari Lee, who will also be competing in vault.
Utah also had numerous All-American honors following Friday’s competition.
First-team All-Americans: Dabritz (bars, floor), Lee (vault, floor)
Second-team All-Americans: Dabritz (vault), Kassandra Lopez (bars), Corrie Lothrop (all-around, bars), Samantha Partyka (vault)
The Super Six begins at 5 p.m. MT on Saturday and can be streamed live on ESPN3.
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