Over the course of the past year, many followers of the Utah gymnastics team were wary of the season, and they had every reason to be.
After a spectacular 2015 season, the team had to overcome many changes, including a retiring head coach, top seniors departing and many other internal changes that would rock the boat for any college sports program. Utah also had to live up to its reputation of succeeding year in and year out — 2016 was no exception.
Flash forward to the end of March, and the Red Rocks have once again impressed with their top seeding in the Salt Lake Regional and a potential berth at the NCAA Nationals in Texas. If the Red Rocks can hold off their heated competition, including Pac-12 rivals UCLA and Oregon State, as well as in-state teams SUU and Utah State, they will have a guaranteed pathway to the National Championships once again.
Even though this year’s team had a lot of individual and group accolades, this squad has a long way to go in order to match the top team that took second at Nationals last year. With the team not getting the job done as a collective effort at the Pac-12 Championships, going to Nationals is the only way co-head coaches Megan Marsden and Tom Farden can consider this season a success.
With that in mind, prepping this young team for a big event like Regionals is no easy task. Many of these gymnasts have not yet experienced a meet of this size and magnitude, and it will be a team effort to make sure everyone is on the same page. Senior leader Breanna Hughes agrees that prepping the new freshmen is one of the biggest keys to success this Saturday.
“We’ve just been preparing the younger ones for the different things that are thrown at you at postseason,” Hughes said. “They don’t really have that experience, so I think that’s the biggest thing is getting them prepared, but other than that it’s pretty similar. We approach it all the same and do the same stuff in the gym and meet.”
The last two weeks have allowed the younger gymnasts to get a grip on the importance of this big meet at the Huntsman. Even though they know the situation, having the two weeks to prep for Saturday will do wonders for the team.
This Utah team has also developed into one of the closest units over the past couple of years. Maddy Stover, who is hoping to start on the beam after her recovery from injury, believes that this team had to overcome a lot of adversity in order to be where it is today, which shows this team’s determination.
“This team is really young, but it’s cool to be part of a team so young that has taken the … challenges and created them into awesome opportunities,” Stover said. “We had a ton of individual accolades at the Pac-12s and filled the podium even though we didn’t necessarily finish where we wanted to, but it still proves that there is a lot of talent on this team. I know we’re young, but there’s a lot of leadership coming from the young group, which is encouraging and exciting. It’s made the team who we are.”
Having a squad this young also creates a great storyline to follow up last year’s success. If this team can perform to its best this postseason, and match the performances of the 2015 squad, there is a lot of hope for the current Red Rocks’ future.
They might even be considered one of the best if things go well, starting this weekend.
@chad_marquez