As the Utah gymnastics team continues to prepare for Oregon State this Saturday, a lot of emphasis will be put on building on last weekend’s meet against SUU.
There were plenty of takeaways, both positive and negative, from the Red Rocks’ first road trip of the season, especially with mishaps on the beam and floor.
This included both Tiffani Lewis and Karli Lee falling on the floor, and Bayley Rowe falling in her beam routine.
Though these blunders did show areas of inconsistency for the Red Rocks, co-head coach Megan Marsden felt that a lot of it had to do with nerves and the high amount of adrenaline they had on their first away meet of the season.
“It is a process to put a full meet together,” Marsden said. “This young team is still learning how to handle their adrenaline. I think some of them are running out of steam by the end of the meet, so we need to help them learn how to temper with that and find times to rest so they can do the whole floor set.”
Delaney set for return
Last week senior Kailah Delaney had to be cut last-minute from the lineup due to a knee injury during warm-ups.
Delaney, who could have been a major contributor on the vault, beam and floor for the Red Rocks, was forced to sit out the win. But since returning home to Salt Lake, the coaching staff feels confident she can return for Utah’s Pac-12 opener.
Marsden was quick to mention how difficult losing Delaney was but also hopes Delaney can be back to her former self Saturday for vault and beam.
“It took her out of three events,” Marsden said. “Thankfully it wasn’t anything serious. She has a knee that bothers her at times. She tweaked it a little and gave out on her on take-off. Our trainers feel that they can get that under control, and she’ll be able to be back out there.”
With Delaney taking a break on the floor, sophomore Maddy Stover will be making her scoring debut in that event in her place.
Hughes earns Pac-12 honors
Due to career-high event scores in Utah’s victory over SUU, senior Breanna Hughes was awarded Pac-12 Specialist of the Week, her first Pac-12 award since she was named Freshman of the Week in 2013.
Hughes got the night started by tying for first on bars with fellow senior Kassandra Lopez, both earning 9.925 scores. She then won the vault with her 9.90 routine and finished the night off with a 9.875 win on the floor. It was a career night for Hughes, who set career-highs on the vault and floor.
Hughes felt this honor was fitting after all the hard work she and her teammates put in for last Saturday’s meet, where they felt they had something to prove after falling to No. 7 in those week’s rankings.
“It was a super exciting meet,” Hughes said. “The energy was super upbeat with the huge crowd. I had such a good time going in front of that crowd and showing them what the team has been working towards.”
@chad_marquez