FORT WORTH, Texas — Utah gymnast Georgia Dabritz closed out her career Sunday at the NCAA individual finals, and she did so in storybook fashion. Dabritz, who has dominated the uneven bars for most of her career, finally reeled in the event title with a 9.9625 to top Florida’s Bridget Sloan (last year’s champion) and Georgia’s Brittany Rogers. The title had eluded the Massachusetts native, with her best finish coming in 2013 when she was the runner-up.
Dabritz also competed on floor, recording a 9.9125 to finish in the top 5.
As big as a star as Dabritz became for Utah, few would have ever guessed she was once one of the shiest kids around. Her mom, Karen Tosti, said she had to uncling Dabritz’s arms from her leg when she was young.
“I was so incredibly shy and made my mom go with me everywhere,” said Dabritz. “I really credit gymnastics for helping me break out of my shell.”
Break out of her shell may be an understatement, but her mom admitted the growth she’s seen in Dabritz’s confidence can be heavily attributed to her time at Utah.
“My teammates really supported me and have always kept me going in everything,” said Dabritz. “And my coaches have been so amazing through this.”
Dabritz spun her way to the Red Rocks’ first individual title since Ashley Postell won beam in 2007, in an unorthodox way. She didn’t wear bars grips during her career, a decision she and her late club coach Laura Tebo, who passed away in February of this year, stuck with during her club days.
“Laura wrote in a scrapbook after I won the Junior Olympic bars title my senior year, that it was our last bars win together,” said Dabritz. “I didn’t think anything of it because I thought she would see another one. This was for her.”
Dabritz was the bars favorite heading into the championships, but had a rough start during Thursday’s practice session when the bars splintered fiberglass. The bars were repaired, but Dabritz’s hands had already taken a beating. It didn’t matter though as Dabritz became the first gymnast to record 10.0s on bars in both sessions of the NCAA championships before earning the bars title Sunday.
She’ll leave Utah an NCAA individual champion and as one of the school's all-time best. She also gave Utah assistant coach Tom Farden, who oversees bars, his first individual champion. It was the fifth bars title by a Utah gymnast and the first since Kristina Baskett won in 2006.
With Dabritz wrapping up her career, it was Kari Lee who shined as Utah’s other individual competitor. Lee, a freshman who’s been dubbed the future of the program, had Dabritz cheering her through both her vault and floor efforts. It seemed a passing of the torch. Lee finished the day with a 9.875 on vault to finish in the top five, and a 9.6125 on floor.
“The individual finals were exciting and having Georgia there with me was incredible and made this event better,” said Lee.
In review, Utah finished second as a team in the Super Six on Saturday and had its first NCAA individual champion since 2007 with Dabritz winning bars Sunday.
Individual winners
The Pac-12 had a strong showing in the individual finals with Dabritz winning bars, Stanford freshman Elizabeth Price grabbing vault (9.9333) and UCLA’s Samantha Peszek winning beam (9.95). Florida’s Kytra Hunter won floor (9.9625) to round out the titles.
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