With the Salt Lake Regional edging closer each day, the Utah gymnastics team is working overtime to make certain all routines go according to plan.
After the blunders that occurred at the Pac-12 Championships, co-head coaches Megan Marsden and Tom Farden know the early mistakes at the beginning of last Saturday’s meet won’t happen again, because this time it will definitely cost them.
This is due to the fact that not only are the Red Rocks going against tough opponents who have done well over the course of the regular season, but they also will face familiar foes who know Utah isn’t perfect.
This includes Oregon State, who tied Utah for second at the conference championships; Southern Utah, who put up a fight in their loss against the Red Rocks; and, of course, the team that handed Utah its only loss in the regular season and stripped the Utes of their third-straight conference title, UCLA.
The Bruins, who defeated the Red Rocks in Los Angeles and in Seattle, are hoping to do the same amount of damage at the Huntsman while booking their tickets to NCAA Nationals.
But it’s also another opportunity for the Red Rocks to exact revenge on their Pac-12 foe. After all, not a lot of teams get a third crack against a top opponent like the Bruins.
Senior leader Kassandra Lopez is looking forward to the challenge next Saturday but is also wary of the other teams looking to beat Utah on its home turf.
“I think we’re all excited [to go against UCLA again],” Lopez said. “We want to beat them. We want to have a good meet against them like with any other team we face.”
Even though the Red Rocks will put a big target on the backs of the Bruins, UCLA is not the team’s main concern — it’s making sure that they focus on themselves and how to better all their competition with their individual skill, according to Marsden.
“It could certainly be gratifying [to beat UCLA],” Marsden said. “But what I think is most important for my team and the coaches is to keep in mind that there will be six teams on the floor. We don’t necessarily want to zero in on one team.”
That’s what makes gymnastics different compared to any other big college sport like football and basketball — you don’t necessarily focus on your rival, but instead on the team itself and the individual performers.
Sure, beating up on a rival like UCLA would be nice, but in a massive meet with a chance to head to Nationals on the line for the Red Rocks, Marsden is more concerned about “the Utah bubble” and how the team can be better than the other five teams competing in the Huntsman.
“In gymnastics, there isn’t a whole lot you can do in a night that has to do with the other team,” Marsden said. “It’s really about you, your team and your performances. So I will continue to encourage our athletes to stay in what we call ‘the Utah bubble’ and really focus on what we’re trying to get done, one routine at a time.”
The Red Rocks know their losses against UCLA will bring motivation, but it’s not the ultimate goal to exact sweet revenge on them — it’s to win a regional championship.
After its disappointing finish in Seattle, Utah has only one chance to redeem its season with an appearance in Fort Worth, Texas. Winning regionals will be a big deal in front of the home fans who will pack the Huntsman Center next Saturday — beating UCLA would just be a great achievement on the side.
@chad_marquez