The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues
Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues

Red Rocks Down Penn State 197.175 to 194.450

University+of+Utah+womens+gymnastics+senior+Kari+Lee+performs+on+the+floor+in+a+dual+meet+vs.+Penn+State+at+the+Jon+M.+Huntsman+Center+in+Salt+Lake+City%2C+Utah+on+Saturday%2C+Jan.+5%2C+2019.++%28Photo+by+Kiffer+Creveling+%7C+The+Daily+Utah+Chronicle%29
Kiffer Creveling
University of Utah women’s gymnastics senior Kari Lee performs on the floor in a dual meet vs. Penn State at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019. (Photo by Kiffer Creveling | The Daily Utah Chronicle)

The chalk is out, the beams are up and the Utes are in prime form, as seen on Friday night.

The fifth-ranked University of Utah Red Rocks (1-0 overall, 0-0 Pac-12) opened up their 2019 season with a 197.175 to 194.450 victory over the Penn State University Nittany Lions (0-1 overall, 0-0 Big10). The opening meet saw a nearly sold out Huntsman Center, with over 13,000 fans in attendance.`

Senior Kari Lee had a strong performance on the vault to start the meet, scoring a solid 9.875. True freshman Cristal Isa kept up the team’s energy when she scored a 9.825 on her first vault at the collegiate level. Alexia Burch and Macey Roberts kept the consistency going on the event with their scores of 9.800 and 9.850, respectively. The Huntsman blew up once MaKenna Merrell-Giles nailed her vault routine with a score of 9.900. The event was rounded out by MyKayla Skinner, who was nearly perfect on her routine in scoring a 9.950.

University of Utah women’s gymnastics junior MyKayla Skinner performs on the uneven bars in a dual meet vs. Penn State at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019. (Photo by Kiffer Creveling | The Daily Utah Chronicle)

According to Skinner, she has tried to stick her vaults and she was not expecting them to land.

“I have tried so hard to try and stick my vaults and I feel like if I don’t think about it, it makes it a little bit easier,” she said, referring to the stuck landing. “I wasn’t expecting to land it, so it was cool to come out in the first meet and already have a stick. It helped having Kenna lead off with that and I was like, ‘I got this. Kenna’s got it, I got it.’”

At the end of the first rotation, Utah led PSU 49.400 to 48.950.

Utah then moved to the bars for the second rotation, where the team continued to dominate over the Nittany Lions. Kim Tessen started things off on the right foot with her bar routine that scored 9.850. Lee continued the high scores on the event with a 9.825. Merrell-Giles and Missy Reinstadtler both scored 9.850 for the Red Rocks on this event, going into the fifth sport where Isa took over. Isa, a two-time Junior Olympic national champion on the bars, shined with her performance. She scored 9.925 on a performance that included a stuck landing on her dismount. Skinner rounded out the bars for the team, showing off her new dismount which garnered her a 9.95 on the event.

To co-head coach Tom Farden, it was Isa’s talent was evident on bars with the night’s performance.

“Cristal is a two-time national champion on that event and it was evident tonight,” Farden said. “To place a freshman in the five spot shows that we trust her and know she can deliver big scores.”

At the end of two rotations, the Red Rocks still lead, 98.700 to 97.575.

During the third rotation, both teams stuttered. The Lions had consecutive falls on their first three floor routines.

University of Utah women’s gymnastics sophomore Sydney Soloski performs on the floor in a dual meet vs. Penn State at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019. (Photo by Kiffer Creveling | The Daily Utah Chronicle)

While Utah’s wasn’t so obvious, the beam did not treat the Utes as well as they would have liked. Things started on the better side when Shannon McNatt scored a 9.700 on the event. Adrienne Randall was good in her first collegiate meet as she scored 9.85. Merrell-Giles got things back on track with her 9.9 on the event. The good scores didn’t last long due to some unusual mistakes by both Reinstadtler and Lee. Reinstadtler and Lee scored 9.25 and 9.675, respectively, on this event. Skinner rounded out the event with a score of 9.85.

The Red Rocks’ lead had shrunk from 147.800 to 145.450 by the end of the third round.

The beam was not the only event for the Red Rocks where the scores were not where the team had hoped for. The first three girls who performed for Utah were Lee (9.6), Macey Roberts (9.875) and Reinstadtler (9.775). The last three scores were enough to put the team over 49 points for the event. Sydney Soloski scored a 9.850 on her first event of the season. Merrell-Giles got the crowd back into the meet with her performance, scoring a 9.925. The evening ended with a bang with Skinner’s explosive floor performance in which she scored a 9.95.

The Red Rocks also showed off the depth they have on the team with the exhibitions they had tonight. Burch had an exhibition performance on the beam in which her score would have been a 9.8 and Randall showed off her floor routine in which she would have scored a 9.725.

The Red Rocks will hit the road for the first time this season as the team heads down to Provo to take on rival No. 24 BYU on Friday, Jan. 11 at 7 pm.

[email protected]

@s_mora99

 

Leave a Comment
About the Contributor
Sammy Mora, Sports Editor
Sammy Mora is the sports editor for the Chrony this year. Sammy is a senior at the U who is majoring in journalism This is Sammy's fourth year working for the Chrony, this year she has been covering the football and the gymnastics teams. Sammy hopes to continue covering sports teams upon her graduation in spring of 2021.

Comments (0)

The Daily Utah Chronicle welcomes comments from our community. However, the Daily Utah Chronicle reserves the right to accept or deny user comments. A comment may be denied or removed if any of its content meets one or more of the following criteria: obscenity, profanity, racism, sexism, or hateful content; threats or encouragement of violent or illegal behavior; excessively long, off-topic or repetitive content; the use of threatening language or personal attacks against Chronicle members; posts violating copyright or trademark law; and advertisement or promotion of products, services, entities or individuals. Users who habitually post comments that must be removed may be blocked from commenting. In the case of duplicate or near-identical comments by the same user, only the first submission will be accepted. This includes comments posted across multiple articles. You can read more about our comment policy at https://dailyutahchronicle.com/comment-faqs/.
All The Daily Utah Chronicle Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *