The hits just keep on coming, ladies and gentlemen, and Friday night's red-vs.-blue gymnastics meet at the Huntsman Center was nothing short of a classic, to say the least.
Utah (197.925), led by the record setting of rookie Veronique Leclerc, who wasn't supposed to be in the spotlight, and BYU (197.375), led by junior all-arounder Kelly Parkinson, both hit all-time high scores in a meet that went down to the last event with the two rivals just ticks apart (148.125-147.75).
Then Utah tossed off what is thought to be the second-highest floor score ever recorded in the NCAA, 49.80, to put a little bit of chalk dust between the clubs and preserve its 164-meet, 22-year-old regular-season home win streak for another year.
The postseason is next for both clubs.
Theresa Wolf told the Cougars that they'd forced fifth-ranked Utah into a record-setting final event. "We were very impressed," Wolf said.
Ute gymnasts are supposed to ignore the other team's scores but, Wolf said, "I've always known. I need to know. That fired me up."
"The adrenaline was pumping. It was a close meet to the end," observed Ute coach Greg Marsden. "The way (BYU was) competing, if we made any mistake, they could have won."
Utah's only senior, Wolf finished her final home regular-season meet with three 9.95s and a 9.775 on vault for a career-best 39.625 all-around while her parents watched in the audience of 10,897. "I couldn't really have asked for a better night," Wolf said. She tied Parkinson for second.
"We all kind of try and ignore it," said Utah's Shannon Bowles about the scoring, "but you're somewhat aware. You can tell from the crowd and the energy in the arena." She said it must have helped because, "obviously, we've never had a floor set like that."
Bowles' 10.0 was her first perfect floor score and came just as Parkinson was on beam. The crowd's uproar seemed to affect Parkinson, who balance-checked, but she later said a wobble earlier in her routine was more the cause.
Parkinson tied her own school all-around record set last week despite the 9.825 on beam. She was most happy that BYU relaxed and mostly ignored Utah's scores, a goal for this meet. "I don't think any of us really noticed that we were that close," she said.
The all-around winner was freshman Leclerc — like Wolf, a Canadian in Utes' clothing.
Leclerc, who'd never done a college all-around, was pressed into service just minutes before the meet began when freshman Annie Medcalf fell during bars warmups and hit her head, sustaining a slight concussion and sore neck. "I was a little bit nervous, but I knew I was ready," Leclerc said. "I was going to warm up anyway — I always try to come in prepared."
Was she ever. In her first career attempt, Leclerc scored 39.675, tying the seventh-best total in Ute history with the highest Ute freshman-debut score ever.
"It just gives me more good options," Marsden said. His team hosts the NCAA regional April 7, when top all-arounder Deidra Graham should be back full-strength from the knee injury that kept her off everything but bars Friday and when Medcalf is expected back. Medcalf filled in with a 9.9 on beam last week when Graham went down.
And Friday, Leclerc put together 9.95s on vault and floor with a 9.9 in her first-ever competitive collegiate bars routine and a 9.875 on beam. "I could have done better, but I'm happy with what I did," she said.
It was reminiscent of the way Utah — with four people out, including Bowles and Theresa Kulikowski — pulled together to take second at the 2000 NCAA Championships. "We've had to learn," Wolf said about making up for the missing.
"It's kind of fun to pull together as a team," Bowles said.
Career bests for both teams were almost too numerous to count, and probably the meet's highlight came when BYU was on floor and Utah on beam in the third rotation with the score as tight as could be. After each team's opening routine, they exactly matched each other for the next five scores, which were the ones that counted in the team totals. Leclerc's 9.875 was matched by BYU's Angie Hickman's 9.875. Melissa Vituj's 9.9 was met by Kari Dye's, and 9.95s by Utah's Wolf, Kulikowski and Bowles were tied by the same from Jeni Lopez, Kim Little and Parkinson.
Beam isn't BYU's best event, but it still matched the school record at 49.275. It just couldn't match Utah's 49.80 on floor in the final rotation.
"I'd take these kind of scores — even if beam wasn't perfect — and go home any day," said BYU coach Brad Cattermole, whose team has broken the school record two meets in a row and should move up in the national rankings from 12th on Monday. "That was a good meet," Cattermole said. "I'm pleased with being able to stay in the game and do what we came to (score 197+)." His team had school-record totals on vault, beam and floor.
E-mail: lham@desnews.com