The Utah gymnastics team looked plenty comfortable in its first road meet of the year and took home a 196.700-195.625 win over No. 20 Arizona State.
All week, coach Greg Marsden emphasized the importance of a good meet outside of the Huntsman Center, where Utah is 2-0. His team took note, producing a season-high score …
“I told the team beforehand that this is where it all has to start. Both regionals and nationals will be held in hostile road environments and we need to start preparing now,” said Marsden. “I am very pleased that we continued to make progress and that several different gymnasts stepped in and performed well. If we can stay healthy, I’m going to keep giving different people an opportunity each week – either to count or as exhibition. …
The change of locale certainly didn’t affect Ashley Postell, who won her third all-around title in as many weeks, scoring a 39.475.
Utah looks better to me than they did finishing second at Championships last season. Ashley Postell is fantastic. Kristina Baskett is one of the most charming and entertaining College gymnasts of all time. (Except after the big wobble on beam. She was seriously unhappy about that.)
With strong individual routines from the rest of the team. And Canadian Olympian Gael Mackie yet to make her debut, no one should count Utah out of the running for the Championship.
My only criticism of the Utes last night was their tumbling. Aside from Postell’s drop-from-the-sky triple twist, It’s not strong. The routines are clean and safe. But to me the Arizona girls were more dynamic and exciting tumblers.
The Sun Devils have plenty to be optimistic about. They have some great potential. Last night they made too many mistakes, some unnecessary. Happily, Nicole Harris was a rock, with a season-best all-around score of 39.35.
The attendance was better than I estimated, 1,911, the third largest attendance in Sun Devil gymnastics history. And most of those, like myself, left happy. NCAA women’s gymnastics is great entertainment, despite the near absurd scoring system. Fans love seeing very high scores.
Note: Utah had their own live blogger on site. Much more informative than this one.
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