Red Rocks Preview offers glimpse into Utah gymnastics’ potential for the 2020 season

SALT LAKE CITY — The 2020 season doesn’t officially begin for Utah gymnastics until Jan. 3 when the No 5. Red Rocks host No. 12 Kentucky, but Friday night at the Huntsman Center in their annual preseason showcase — the Red Rocks Preview — the team provided a glimpse into what the upcoming season might look like.

What exactly did that glimpse look like?

There was some good, a little bad and a clear showing of youth, but mostly Utah walked away pleased.

“Everyone had good composure, especially since we had five new people, plus Cammy (Hall) coming back from injury. We had great energy and I feel like we are ready for the season” — Sydney Soloski

“I was pleased overall,” Utah gymnastics head coach Tom Farden said. “We were really close to replicating what we see in the gym. It wasn’t a perfect mirror image. We see a little more crispness, a little more aggressiveness in the gym. There were a couple tendencies tonight that we don’t usually see, but we were close. For the first time out, and it is no secret that we have to replace 14 routines, I was pleased overall. With the youth of our team, I was really pleased.”

So were the gymnasts themselves.

“I was really impressed with the way everyone held themselves together,” senior Missy Reinstadtler said. “We have a lot of newcomers on this team, a lot of young gymnasts, and they did what they did in practice.”

The team performed 33 routines in total in the televised exhibition meet, eight on every event, save vault, where nine gymnasts competed. Twelve gymnasts competed on at least one event, with only freshman Jaedyn Rucker out for the season with an ACL injury.

“Everyone had good composure, especially since we had five new people, plus Cammy (Hall) coming back form injury,” junior Sydney Soloski said. “We had great energy and I feel like we are ready for the season.”

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The performance of the night belonged to sophomore Cristal Isa. Isa suffered a shoulder injury early last season, after starting the year as the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, and missed the majority of the year as a result. She showed little signs of rust in her return to the competitive floor, performing well on all four events.

“That was a big loss,” Farden said. “Losing Cristal and also Cameron (Cammy) and Missy on all the events — except bars for Missy last year — those were huge losses. Getting Cristal back, she is a fantastic all-around athlete. Right now we have her slated to go against Kentucky in the all-around and you can see why. She brings a huge boost, has a low ego and such a happy spirit about her. She comes in day in and day out and puts the work in. As a coach, you can’t ask for anything more.”

Isa was a little surprised with how well her return to action went.

“I almost thought it would be harder to get back into the groove of things,” she said.

The Red Rocks looked the most comfortable on two events: uneven bars and balance beam. The bars rotation featured at least six athletes who looked competition ready, including Emilie LeBlanc, Hunter Dula, Isa, Maile O’Keefe, Kim Tessen and Reinstadtler. As for beam, LeBlanc, Alexia Burch, Abby Paulson, Isa, O’Keefe, Adrienne Randall and Soloski all had notable performances.

“I think we’ve always had what we showed on beam,” said Reinstadtler. “I think we finally took what we do in practice and brought it to the competition floor.”

Competition is what awaits Utah at the turn of the new year and, like always, expectations remain high up on the hill.

“Being in that final day at nationals is really what puts the cherry on top,” Reinstatdler said, “and achieving even more than that on that final day. We have a lot of talent coming in and we still have a lot of talent from previous years. We are still in the running and are very capable of achieving the goals we’ve set for ourselves.”