For the last week, the Utah gymnastics team has been gearing up, getting rest and giving all they have in practice to be prepared for their final challenge this year.
With the NCAA National Championships next week, the team’s goal remains the same as it has always been — compete in the Super Six and finish on top. Even though that specific goal didn’t happen last year with Utah’s 2015 team — who finished as the nation’s runner-up — the Red Rocks believe that this year the job can be done.
Co-head coach Megan Marsden knows this young team can accomplish the task, despite a few problems at the beginning of the season.
“This group has been more of just ‘steady eddies,’” Marsden said. “I think early on in the year they were prepared for everything except floor. These girls have been trying to take this little team into a variety of scenarios, many of which have been extremely competitive, and see if they can get out there, do their thing and get the scores we need in the meet. I like that about them.”
Sophomore all-arounder Samantha Partyka agrees and feels that the team’s main motivation this season was to prove all the doubters wrong. This will continue to be the case next week when the Utes travel to Texas.
“We’re an extremely young team,” Partyka said. “But I think we wanted to get through the season wanting to prove everybody wrong. A lot of people thought that it was going to be a rebuilding year for us and we just wanted go out there and do the best that we can. I feel that we did a great job doing that, and I can’t wait to see where it takes us.”
Partyka is right. This year was expected to be one of the only occasions where the Red Rocks weren’t as competitive as they usually are. With a young team and a change in the coaching department, the expectation to deliver became more daunting, but according to Marsden, the team’s youth and lack of experience is what makes them a winning squad.
“[The team] is just so young, even the seniors are young,” Marsden said. “I don’t really like to say this but this team’s ignorance is bliss. I’m not absolutely sure that they understand quite what they’re up against. [Co-head coach Tom Farden] and I think that’s a great thing, so we’re rolling with it and trying to make the team feel as prepared to get out there and rock ‘n’ roll.”
With Utah’s ignorance and confidence instilled by Farden and the rest of the coaching staff, the Red Rocks were able to compete with some of the best in the country, continually be ranked in the Top 7 and only lose two meets this year.
Farden wants to make certain that his team knows that they can beat the best and tells them that week in and out, according to Marsden. This upped their game and elevated them to their current position.
“[Farden] tells them before and after practice at least two times a week that they are an elite-level team and [he] would put them up against anybody,” Marsden said. “He’s been building that confidence within this group for a lot of weeks. They’re in the palm of our hands and they believe it.”
Everybody on the Red Rocks squad now believes that they can compete with the best, but according to freshman Sabrina Schwab, they also developed trust within each other and know that they can beat any team they come across.
“We just have a ton of chemistry between all of us,” Schwab said. “We truly trust everybody in every event. We trust that they will do a great routine. So just knowing that everybody believes in you, it gives us confidence to do the best that we can. We all love each other so we believe in each other as well.”
In gymnastics, confidence is key, and this Red Rocks team is drenched in it. With this mindset, Utah is ready to grab its first national championship since 1995 and prove that the Red Rocks boast the best program in the nation.
@chad_marquez