Red Rocks open their rugged Pac-12 schedule Saturday at No. 21 Oregon State

In collegiate gymnastics the win-loss records mean very little. All teams advance to their respective conference championships and seedings for the NCAA Championships are based on score averages, not records.

So why then is it so important for the Utes to win at Oregon State on Saturday? The Utes know there still is something to be said for reputation.

“If you do well in the regular season Pac-12, then when you get to championships people are like, ‘oh they belong,” senior MaKenna Merrell-Giles said.

“But if you don’t do well [in the regular season] and you do well at championships, people might think, ‘eh, it’s just a good day for them and they don’t really deserve the scores.’”

The Utes have done very well in the league since joining in 2012, never losing more than one regular season meet a year and going undefeated in 2015.

The UCLA Bruins have most frequently been the team to beat Utah, doing so in 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2018. Stanford was the team to beat the Utes in 2014 and Oregon State got Utah in 2017.

The Beavers traditionally give the Utes a tough time in Corvallis, with Utah holding a 17-9 lead. Junior MyKayla Skinner believes the Beavers are a little extra motivated because of Utah’s ranking, just as BYU seemed to be in the close contest last week.

“We are on their home turf and it’s their chance to beat a big school,” Skinner said. “I get it. They are working as hard as we are and they want to be ready.”

The Utes aren’t going into the meet cocky by any means. They say they have respect for their Pac-12 opponents, especially with UCLA (No. 2), Cal (No. 12), Arizona State (No. 19) Washington (No. 20), Oregon State (No. 21) and Stanford (No. 24) all ranked.

Granted it’s early, but coach Megan Marsden believes conference foes will push the Utes, starting with Oregon State.

“To their credit, they along with other programs have raised their expectations to get to a higher level,” she said. “We have a target on our back every meet and every weekend and I know they will be at their best against Utah.”

While they want to win, the Utes acknowledged they have to consider the bigger picture too, getting ready for the end of the season. They are still tweaking lineups and finding places to work their younger gymnasts into the meet.

Doing so could lead to mistakes, but Marsden said it is necessary to find the best lineups and see who can compete under pressure.

Last week freshman Hunter Dula made her debut on the bars and scored 9.75, freshman Adrienne Randall scored 9.625 in her floor debut and sophomore Alexia Burch had a 9.775 in the beam lineup.

“We were pleased with what we saw last weekend,” Marsden said. “We are taking risks but we feel pretty good.”