The No. 4 University of Utah gymnastics team traveled to Corvallis, Ore. to take on the No. 11 Oregon State Beavers on Saturday, Feb. 11. However, the Red Rocks could not withstand another shaky meet, and they lost their first meet of the season 196.550-196.525. 

In all-around, freshman MyKayla Skinner tied for first with Oregon State’s Kaytianna McMillan with a total of 39.5 points

Utah went to the bars in the first rotation. After struggling the week before on bars against Cal, the Utes were having a difficult time through warm-ups, and they didn’t have a great start as sophomore MaKenna Merrell hit a 9.6 as the first Red Rock up.

Fortunately, when co-head coach Tom Farden managed to tighten the bar, the Utes were back on track as Skinner scored a 9.825. freshman Missy Reinstadtler and sophomore Kari Lee both finished with a 9.8. Though the Utes managed to bounce back, the Beavers maintained a 0.1 lead.

As the Red Rocks went to the vault for the second rotation, they had a shaky start there too. Senior Baely Rowe started the event off with a solid 9.8, but sophomore Erika Muhaw stumbled back on her landing and received a low score.

The Utes bounced back as Skinner scored a 9.9 and junior Tiffani Lewis followed with a 9.825. Though it still wasn’t enough for the Utes to take the lead, they managed to close the distance with their opponent, only trailing behind by 0.025 points.

Skinner and Rowe had great floor routines in the third rotation of the meet as Skinner scored another 9.9 and Rowe scored a 9.85. With another mishap on the floor during this rotation, the Utes could not take the lead and trailed by 0.025 going into the last rotation.

With the Red Rocks on beam; Merrell, Reinstadtler, Skinner and Rowe all scored a 9.875 — but it wasn’t enough to overcome some of those mishaps as the Utah gymnastics team took its first loss of the year.

Up next for the Red Rocks, they will be back in the Huntsman Center on Saturday, Feb. 18 to compete against No. 5 UCLA. The meet is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. MT.

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