WEST VALLEY CITY — Heading into Saturday night’s first-ever Best of Utah quad meet against BYU, SUU and Utah State, No. 4 Utah’s dominance against in-state competition could not be overstated.
The Red Rocks have owned the state from the very beginning, with a combined 212-5 all-time against in-state foes. That included a 99-2 record against BYU, a 89-3 mark against Utah State and an unblemished 24-0 mark against Southern Utah.
After the night’s action in the Maverik Center in West Valley City, you can add three more wins to the total.
Utah won the inaugural Best of Utah meet in convincing fashion, posting season-best scores on each event. The Red Rocks scored a 197.000 to top BYU (195.575), SUU (194.650) and Utah State (194.150).
“I thought we came out of the gates and did a really good job,” Utah head coach Tom Farden said. “We picked up some tenths with athletes who were in a little bit more of a scoring rhythm tonight. We build off routines better tonight.”
That led to a 49.175 on vault, a 49.225 on uneven bars, a 49.275 on beam and, finally, a 49.325 on floor. Making those scores all the more impressive was the fact that the Red Rocks did so on podium, but that was something Farden saw coming.
“We practiced here yesterday and I told the athletes I thought they did a really nice job in podium practice,” he said. “I was confident they would hit nice sets, because they made the adjustments they needed to yesterday. They did brilliantly.”
None more so than senior Kim Tessen. Tessen followed up a career-best meet against Kentucky in the season opener with another stunner that included event wins on both bars (9.95) and floor (9.90).
“Kim is in a good spot,” said Farden. “I do think she is enjoying her senior year. She had a full preseason, and she is in great shape and staying in the moment.”
Other standouts for Utah included freshman Abby Paulson, who scored a 9.900 on beam, her second in a row, sophomore Cammy Hall, who led the team with a 9.875 on vault, and sophomore Cristal Isa, who recorded three 9.875’s, on bars, beam and floor.
“Thank goodness for the practice day,” Isa said. “We found our timing and now, I love it (podium). I think I love it.”
The all-around title went to BYU’s Abbey Miner (39.250) while BYU’s Sadie Miner claimed the vault title with a 9.900.
The event that drew the most praise from the Red Rocks themselves was beam, though Isa did remark that all four events and the overall meet with it were a success for the Utes.
“I’m really proud of our beam team,” said Tessen. “That event is the make it or break it event and in the past we’ve had a history of cracking under pressure on beam, but we have been working really hard and it is showing up in competition.”
“Beam was great tonight,” said Farden. “Really good effort by the beamers. We have some goals as a team and I believe we hit our stick ratio tonight. We are moving them along in a progression.”
The progression on each event led to the Utes’ first 197 of the season, but the expectation is that there will be many more of those, higher scoring at that.
“I think we can squeeze some micro-tenths out of all the events and get into that mid-197 range,” said Farden. “It took us long enough (to get a 197). Tonight we started out on the first two events really well. After bars I told them I needed them to be a little more aggressive under pressure if we wanted to max out our score tonight. For 14 new routines, the youth of this team and three new coaches, I am honestly very proud of this group and excited for this season.”
And for the future of the Best of Utah meet.
“6,500 people and it was pretty loud in here,” said Farden. “It was really cool to see the teams out there. I thought it was a great jumping-off point for this event and I couldn’t be more happy.”