The No. 6 Utah gymnastics team will be looking to continue its good run of form as it welcomes the Washington Huskies to the Huntsman Center on Saturday.
The Red Rocks (4-1, 2-1) are hoping to build off of their impressive overall scores from the last two meets against Arizona and UCLA, while the Huskies (1-3, 1-1) want to regain their composure after their loss to Oregon State, hoping to claim their first win over Utah in their gymnastics history.
Utah will also be aiming to continue its consistent performances before the team dives into its toughest stretch of the season that starts with three straight road meets against Stanford, Cal and Michigan.
With this meet being one of the final home meets of the season, the Huntsman Center is expected to be rocking once again with a full-capacity crowd, which will hopefully cheer the Red Rocks to victory over the Huskies.
Utah co-head coach Megan Marsden knows these two last home meets are a big deal, and she wants her gymnasts to rack up as many points as possible to help further their scoring for the regional qualifiers.
“We would not only like a win [against Washington] but also have another great performance throughout all four events, and another high score,” Marsden said. “We only have two more opportunities to earn high scores at home, and our regional qualifying score includes home scores. We hope to use this meet to throw away some 196s we had at the beginning of the season at home.”
The meet with Washington provides the best chance for the Red Rocks to score high. Even though the Huskies have been doing reasonably well compared to other Pac-12 competition, they have yet to beat Utah in their history. Doing so would provide a lot of confidence heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
But if the Red Rocks come out with the predicted win, they will be one of the few teams to reach the 50-win mark over another opponent. Even though that’s not a main motivator for Utah gymnasts, they hope the win will inspire more confidence within the team.
Senior team leader Breanna Hughes wants to use this occasion to improve on their routines before they head on the road for the next three weeks.
“We want to take another big step forward and just go do our routines like we do in practice,” Hughes said. “We just need to trust ourselves and put in four more solid events. I think that will give us a big confidence boost going forward. We just need to continue to build the momentum.”
Freshman star Sabrina Schwab also feels that building more confidence is key in order to finish strong before heading towards the Pac-12 Championships in Seattle.
“Another win would be great,” Schwab said. “[This meet] will give us another opportunity to hit our routines under more pressure. It will make us more confident before we go on to postseason. All we need is just more confidence before heading into the last part of the regular season.”
The Red Rocks will take on the Huskies this Saturday at 7 p.m. MST. The meet will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.
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