Utah's gymnastics team overcame a slow start in its home opener to easily win the meet. But this week? No way are the fourth-ranked Utes believing they'll have that same luxury when Pac-12 rival UCLA visits Friday.
So it's no surprise that coach Greg Marsden is a little worried.
"The thing that is a little bothersome is we aren't seeing in meets what we are seeing in practice," he said. "Last Thursday we had a run-through and we were lights out and I thought, 'Oh boy, here we go. It's a home crowd and get ready for a big one,' but we never got that snowball rolling downhill, so to speak."
The Bruins opened their season with a 196-195.4 win over Oregon State.
"From what I see right now, the Pac-12 championships is a three-team race with us, Stanford and UCLA," Marsden said. "Stanford isn't hitting on all cylinders yet but they've had some injuries; they are going to be a good team. UCLA was down a little bit last year but they are right back in contention this year. It's going to be a great early-season test for us."
The Utes believe their slow start last week — in a four-way meet including Southern Utah, Boise State and UC Davis — was more about early season jitters than anything else and they are confident they can perform better this week.
"It was kind of uncharacteristic for us but we are still adjusting," senior Tory Wilson said. "I think we'll come out and do well this week."
Lineup notes
Marsden hopes senior Becky Tutka, who hasn't competed this season due to an inflamed tendon in her wrist, will be ready to go on Friday.
Tutka is one of the best gymnasts the Utes have in the floor exercise, earning first-team All-American honors in 2014.
"She has been working hard to stay ready to go as best as she can even with a cast on her wrist," Marsden said.
The hope is Tutka can be available for the vault lineup soon.
"There isn't as much impact on floor as vault so we will have to wait and see," she said. "I'm just focusing on this week of training right now and getting ready for floor."
Around the state
The Aggies take on BYU Friday at 6 p.m. in Provo. USU is coming off a 196.025-194.525 loss to No. 17 Denver.
SUU sees the Boise State Broncos back-to-back as the T-Birds host Boise State on Friday. Last week SUU scored a 195.5 to beat the Broncos (194.525) in Salt Lake City.
In the rankings
SUU is ranked No. 23. … Utah's Georgia Dabritz is ranked No. 1 in the all-around with a 39.6 and Wilson is tied for sixth (39.375). Dabritz is also tied for 10th on the vault (9.9), fifth on the uneven bars (9.913) and fourth on the floor (9.913), SUU's Stacie Webb is seventh on the balance beam (9.875)
