(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Cristal Isa and Utah head coach Tom Farden react after Isa lands her dismount from the uneven bars, in PAC-12 gymnastics action Utah vs Arizona, at the Huntsman Center onSaturday, Jan. 23, 2021.
It’s still very early in the collegiate gymnastics season, but so far Utah is showing the kind of mental fortitude that made 2020 such a special year, which bodes well for the 2021 campaign.
Everything was set up for the Utes to have a less than stellar meet Saturday against Arizona since they were coming off their first loss since the 2019 season, had a short week of practice, were going up against an opponent that they knew shouldn’t have much of a chance of upsetting them and were competing in a near-empty Huntsman Center.
But instead of a mundane day, the Utes had their best effort of the season, topping Arizona 197.075-195.650.
The final total was the season high for the Utes. Impressively, the Utes earned the high mark even with several lineup changes.
Most notably, the Utes rested Cristal Isa and Maile O’Keefe on floor since they have competed in the all-around the last two meets.
In their place went Lucy Stanhope and Adrienne Randall. Stanhope had a step out and scored 9.65, and Randall had a 9.825.
Even though Stanhope’s score was dropped, the Utes still have to be excited about the depth they are showing on the power event.
Utah coach Tom Farden is mindful that positive virus tests could force him to make some radical changes to his lineups, so he is experimenting with several variations.
“The more depth you have, the more of a luxury it is,” he said.
The Utes totaled a 49.325 on floor, which would be a big score even with their strongest lineup in the event.
Farden thought he had a lot of depth on the floor, and it seems the Utes are proving him right.
Of course, a big floor score doesn’t make for a good meet in itself, which gets back to why this meet was such an impressive one overall.
Even though they didn’t have the march out and all the big fanfare they are accustomed to having in a packed Huntsman Center, the Utes showed they were ready to go right from the start with a 49.275 on vault. That score was matched on bars and a 49.2 on beam set up the floor effort.
Farden noted the evenness of the meet afterward, perhaps remembering the frustrations of seasons past in which the Utes seemed to have three great events, then one subpar effort that would halt the team’s momentum, not to mention bring down the score.
But Saturday’s effort was much like the opener when the Utes scored 196.9 with very few big breaks and came out strong.
Being determined from the start is something that is important to the team, O’Keefe said, particularly after the loss at Oklahoma.
“The vibe with the team was to get right back into it,” she said.
While the floor score was earned with a new lineup, the vault score was earned with some upgraded vaults as the Utes had four that were worth 10.0.
Getting those upgrades in was important to Farden to make the Utes more equal against the elite teams.
A couple gymnasts had steps on their landings, but given the upgrades and a shortened practice schedule, it was an extremely solid effort.
“That was the biggest takeaway from the day to see those 10.0 vaults,” he said. “That bodes well for down the road.”
The meet in general bodes well. It doesn’t seem like the Utes are going to let the loss to Oklahoma affect them, and they’ve moved on and up with their results.