Heading into the biggest meet of the year, the Utah gymnastics team has time to reflect on the Pac-12 Championships and the regular season. Although the Red Rocks finished below expectations by not winning their third consecutive Pac-12 title, the team can look forward to its top-seed in the Salt Lake NCAA Regional, taking place this Saturday.
Utah can also be proud of the fact that the team brought home more individual awards and titles than any other team in the Pac-12, which includes Kassandra Lopez winning Specialist of the Year, Breanna Hughes earning Scholar Athlete of the Year and Sabrina Schwab earning her first major individual award, Freshman of the Year.
Schwab, who has had a sensational first year in the lineup at Utah, felt like it was one of the biggest moments in her gymnastics career when the judges called her name.
“It was really exciting,” Schwab said. “I wasn’t expecting it at all, so when they called my name it was the best feeling ever.”
Schwab was, of course, disappointed that the team didn’t reach its Pac-12 goal, but overall she felt that her first season as a Red Rock was a success for her and the rest of her teammates.
“The season has been going very well,” Schwab said. “I think the team has been great, and we’ve been really consistent. Every team is bound to have an off day, so ours was at the Pac-12 Championships. We will bounce back from it, and I think Regionals and Nationals will be really great, so I’m excited. I think this team just has a lot of chemistry and will be great for the rest of the season.”
It was, of course, a challenging year for Utah from the beginning. With a team in transition that was full of young and inexperienced faces, the Red Rocks knew each meet would bring individual difficulties for the new faces of the program.
One of Schwab’s challenges competing at the U for the first time was her competiveness. Although that can be a positive trait for most teams, it can also be a downfall in gymnastics.
Schwab learned to control her competitive drive over the course of the season and used it when she needed it most in her big-time events. Co-head coach Megan Marsden felt that Schwab did an excellent job controlling her emotions to help her become one of the best on the bars and floor for the team.
“[Co-head coach Tom Farden] and I have recognized her brilliance from the start of her arrival on campus, and we’ve been so proud of her,” Marsden said. “She’s improved tremendously from the competitor she once was. She struggled to do her best work in competition, and on both bars and floor she’s just been a mainstay with high scores meet after meet.”
With consistent performances in every meet she competed in, Schwab is looking to have a big influence at Regionals this weekend. But the coaching staff is also excited for the future of their top freshman and have big plans for her this summer when they are hoping to promote her to one of the team’s all-arounders for the 2017 season.
“We hope to develop her into an all-arounder next year as a sophomore,” Marsden said. “We’ll have to see what kind of summer she has, but we really feel that she has some big-time years ahead for us.”
Reaching those heights will be another challenge Schwab will have to face, but with her determination and competitive drive, fans of Utah gymnastics will be seeing her as the face of the Red Rocks for years to come.
@chad_marquez