SALT LAKE CITY — College gymnastics was in the air Friday night in the foothills of Salt Lake City, which of course meant that the Jon. M Huntsman Center on the campus of the University of Utah was packed to the brim. Over 14,000 fans —14,417 to be exact — filled the stands clad in red with one goal in mind: to cheer their beloved Red Rocks on to victory.
Per usual, Utah gymnastics did not disappoint and defeated No. 12 Kentucky 196.425-195.350. It was the seventh consecutive season opening victory for No. 5 Utah and a win filled with highlights.
Senior and team captain Kim Tessen provided many of them, as the Orem native — by way of China — had the finest meet of her career. Tessen earned three scores of 9.90 or better, including 9.9 on vault and floor exercise and a career-high 9.925 on uneven bars.
“It feels amazing,” she said. “I feel so blessed for the opportunity every day to be on this team. Over the years, I’ve had a lot of injuries that have prevented me from training on events like floor and beam, but my body feels manageable right now.”
Tessen credited her standout outing, which included events wins on bars, vault and floor — Cristal Isa won beam — to confidence, something she “chose” to have.
“I chose confidence today,” she said. “That is something that I have to work on as an individual every single day, but today I told myself that I needed to be confident for myself and my team. I’m hoping that can carry over to the rest of the team.”
It did, as gymnasts like Isa and Abby Paulson scored 9.9 or better on balance beam, with Paulson’s success coming on her first competitive event as a Red Rock.
“It was so much fun,” Paulson said. “A lot different than I was expecting. It wasn’t actually as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be, especially beam. I love beam, unlike most people. It is really easy for me to stay confident there.”
Confidence was the theme of the night and when it was present, it facilitated the more impactful moments of the meet.
One instance came when junior Sydney Soloski kicked off the competition with a vault, the first of her collegiate career. Her effort earned her a 9.800. That in and of itself was something, given that Soloski trained very little on the apparatus during her first two years at Utah.
“Being the first one up on vault is the most stress I ever feel when I compete,” she said, which showed as she later earned a 9.90 on floor to tie with Tessen for the event win.
“I was just so excited for that first one to be one that was almost stuck. I’ve had to work really hard on vault, especially this preseason, because we needed me to vault. I just felt so much pride and I was so happy that I was able to do that.”
For as much pride as Soloski felt for herself, she and the rest of the Red Rocks felt even more on the very next vault, when sophomore Cammy Hall hit the first vault of her Utah career.
Hall tore her Achilles prior to last season and while her body has recovered, confidence in herself on the event isn’t always present. It is something she has struggled with throughout the preseason. After she scored a 9.825 on her debut vault, the celebratory moments that followed were something special.
“For her to come out and do that big of a vault, I know everyone wanted to cry for her,” Soloski said. “She has really worked so hard to get where she is right now.”
For all the talk of confidence, it was absent at times and when that happened, the Red Rocks left tenths of points on the floor. Misses came on all four events, especially bars, and momentum was hard to come by.
“We never really got momentum,” head coach Tom Farden said. “It was broken.”
As such, the victory, successful as it was — ”Overall I was pleased that we were able to have a nice opening score and hit all our routines without any major errors out there,” Farden noted — was lacking.
“Not our best,” Soloski said. “Definitely not our best. I don’t think that was a great reflection of the team that we are.”
“It is our first meet and we have a young team,” Tessen added. “That is something we will be hearing all season, but we aren’t going to use that as an excuse. All of our newcomers are extremely talented. We are an extremely talented team. We are ready to get back into the gym and get to work.”
For what exactly?
Well, expectations have not fallen at Utah, not in the least.
“No one expects us to be national champions, but that is something that we expect of ourselves,” said Soloski. “That is all that really matters. Regardless of what people think of us. We are not going to settle for what we did tonight. We are going to work hard and prove a lot of people wrong this year.”
Farden put it in even simpler terms.
“They are hungry,” he said. “And they can do more than what they showed tonight.”
A TEMPORARY BOOT: Two Red Rocks did not compete Friday night, freshmen Jillian Hoffman and Jaedyn Rucker.
Rucker’s absence was hardly a surprise as she is recovering from an ACL injury, but Hoffman was a different story. Expected to compete, most likely on floor, Hoffman sported a boot on her right foot throughout the meet.
“She sprained her foot,” Farden said. “She will be out for a couple of weeks here. Nothing severe, nothing broken. It is much like an ankle sprain and we’ll have to work back from that.”