No. 4 Utah Gymnastics Hits Road for Final Time in Regular Season
University of Utah women’s gymnastics senior Missy Reinstadtler performs on the Floor in a dual meet vs. Oregon State University at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020. (Photo by Abu Asib | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
February 29, 2020
For the final time this regular season, the No. 4 University of Utah Red Rocks gymnastics team will compete on the road. This time, the Red Rocks will be competing in the Pacific Northwest as they head to Seattle to take on No. 13 Washington. This will be the first time since the 2018 season that the two teams have met during the regular season. The last time the two met during the regular season, Utah came out on top 197.700-196.250 in Salt Lake City.
Scouting No. 4 Utah
Record: 9-0, 5-0 Pac-12
Last Meet: W @ No. 3 UCLA 198.075-198.025
The Red Rocks are coming off a spectacular win over rival UCLA last weekend. The Red Rocks posted their first score of 198 on the season while freshman Abby Paulson posted the first perfect score of her young career on the beam. Multiple other Red Rocks posted new career-highs on the beam as well as the bars and the floor. The Red Rocks score of 49.775 on the beam was not only a school high score on the event but also the highest score in the nation on the event. The team also posted season-high scores on the floor and the bars.
In the rankings this week, the team comes in at No. 3 on the beam, No. 7 on the bars, No. 8 on the floor and No. 11 on the vault. At the individual level, Kim Tessen ranks No. 8 on the bars and No. 14 on the vault. Cristal Isa is No. 13 on the bars and beam and is No. 18 on vault. Sydney Soloski is the lone Red Rock ranked on the floor at No. 16. Abby Paulson and Adrienne Randall are tied for No. 22 on the beam.
Scouting No. 13 Washington
Record: 6-1-1, 4-0-1 Pac-12
Last Meet: T vs Arizona State, 196.875-196.875
The Huskies are coming off of a tie versus Arizona State last week. While this is one of the higher scores for the team, their highest score of the season (197.225) came in their upset win over Cal. Evanni Roberson tied with two ASU gymnasts for the all-around title with her score of 39.350. Kristyn Hoffa won the floor title with her 9.925. Hannah Vandenkolk won the beam with her 9.90 while Geneva Thompson won the event title on the bars. Arizona State took home the vault title.
Roberson ranks No. 15 in the nation in the all-around category. The team is tied for No. 6 in the nation on the floor and land outside the Top 10 in other events.
About the NQS
This week, college gymnastics moves over to the National Qualifying Scores to determine rankings. To find a team’s NQS, officials take six of the team’s best scores (three scores must be from road or neutral site meets). They then throw out the highest score and average the rest out. The switch to this system is why Utah ranks one spot below UCLA, even though the Red Rocks beat the Bruins head-to-head last week.
How to Watch
This week’s meet will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks starting at 3 p.m. Rich Burk will be doing the play-by-play, while Amanda Borden will be the analyst.
