Gymnasts are taught not to peek at the routines of others while they're still competing, but University of Utah junior Ashley Postell might start doing it more often now, at least during the individual event finals.
She admitted she did it, and it turned out to be fine because Postell finally won that personal NCAA title that has eluded her for more than two seasons. She finished second in the all-around the last two years, and she found herself a little too worn out in three individual events last year at Oregon State and didn't place highly.
Saturday night at the Huntsman Center on the final night of the 2007 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, the event finals, Postell was leading the floor exercise when it was time for her to go up on beam — the two events are run concurrently.
"I did peek on accident before beam, and I knew," she said, that Alabama's Morgan Dennis and Georgia's Courtney Kupets had hit scores on floor that were better than her 9.925, "but by that time, I was ready to beam, so it didn't really matter."
Postell tossed off a 9.9375 on her favorite event, the one she won in the 2002 World Championships, and then held her breath as the last few competitors walked the plank. "I was just on my toes waiting," she said.
When it was all over, Postell was the 2007 NCAA balance beam champion by .0375 point, a fairly large margin.
She would have liked both titles, but beam's her favorite, and "I'd rather have one than none," she said.
While Postell was readying to do beam, coach Greg Marsden was scurrying up the north tunnel. He never watches any Ute balance beam competitors in the postseason. Sometimes he sees regular-season meets, but his wife and associate head coach Megan Marsden sends him away. Beam is her event, and she's in charge.
"I didn't jinx that tonight," said Greg Marsden, who will have to watch the films to see just what Postell did that was so special.
It's the second straight year the Utes have taken home a national event title, as Kristina Baskett was co-winner on bars last year. Before her, it was Theresa Kulikowski on beam in 2001.
"It definitely is not the same as (worlds)," said Postell, "but it's nice to know that wherever I am, I can still be up there sometimes."
She learned from the fatigue she suffered last year and spent her time after Friday's team championships (Utah was second to Georgia) trying to get some rest, stay hydrated and to eat fruits and good things to keep up her strength for three more events. She was third on floor exercise with 9.925 and seventh on uneven bars.
Postell's freshman teammate Annie DiLuzio rose up and took the silver plaque on vault, her favorite event, averaging 9.8875 for two different vaults, placing behind Georgia's Kupets (9.9188).
"I'm pretty excited. You can always do better," DiLuzio said. "Even if people think it looks really good, I still have a lot of stuff I like to improve on, but I was happy."
Her first nationals was a bit of an eye-opener and confidence-builder, she said. "It's incredible being around all these people. This championships was full of good gymnastics. Everywhere you looked was something big and something good, and I think that's just even more motivation for next year."
Senior Nicolle Ford took 12th place on vault, the second year in a row she'd qualified for finals in the event she least likes. It was her final routine as a Ute, but she said she will think of Friday's team finals as her last competition and Saturday night as an exhibition appearance.
Neither Baskett nor Kupets defended their bars co-championship of 2006. Kupets (9;9125) tied for second, and Baskett was right behind with 9.90 for fourth.
"It was cool to be in bars (finals) again," said Baskett, who is apparently growing to like an event she did not care for. "There's so many good routines. Almost everyone stuck their landings, and I think everyone won because everyone was so good. I don't know how the judges pick a winner.
"I was happy with my routine. I'm happy to end with that one. It was a nice landing. It felt good to end the season with."
Freshman teammate Daria Bijak took eighth (9.80), just behind Postell's seventh-place (9.825).
Bijak said it was more a chance to enjoy the crowd and being on the floor one last time this season than an attempt to win a title, somewhat like what she experienced at a couple of world championships. But this time, the team competitions were the focus, and she did her best on Thursday night in the preliminaries to help Utah advance to the Super Six. "It wasn't a perfect routine like on Thursday night, but we are all tired and sore, and it was the third day, so I'm happy with my routine. That's all I want. I wanted to hit it," Bijak said.
Another freshman, Beth Rizzo, a walk-on who had to redshirt last season to get good enough to crack the lineup, scored 9.8375 to finish 12th in the 18-woman field on floor exercise. "Yeah, I'm a walkon, and yeah, I'm a redshirt, but I don't really think of it, and nobody treats me like that," Rizzo said. "I knew it was going to happen — not this soon, but I knew it was going to happen when I was 5 years old. I always used to tell my parents that one day I was going to be a big gymnastics star. Didn't know how it was going to happen.
"I have faith in myself."
E-mail: lham@desnews.com