SALT LAKE CITY — In what should come as a shock to no one, Utah’s gymnastics team is one of the best in the country.
Ranked No. 3 in the nation after seven weeks of competition — they’ve been ranked No. 3 for three consecutive weeks now — the Red Rocks rate among the NCAA’s elite.
“We’ve got some work to do, but it is nothing that we can’t handle. If we can hit 24 of 24 routines, we are a very dangerous team.” — Utah junior Sydney Soloski
Of course, being one of the best isn’t the goal at Utah. It’s never been. The Red Rocks have their eyes on a much bigger prize, namely Utah’s 11th national championship (10th NCAA title).
That is why they were so disappointed with their showing against No. 21 Oregon State. The Red Rocks defeated the Beavers, but their score was low enough for them consider the victory a loss.
“It is a loss when you are trying to compete against the best in the nation,” Utah head coach Tom Farden said. “We are positioning ourselves in terms of optics and trying to remain an elite team and we missed on a huge opportunity.”
That reaction might seem extreme to some, the ‘there is no such thing as a bad win’ crowd, but the Red Rocks genuinely don’t care about wins and losses, at least not until April 18 in Fort Worth, Texas.
“We want to get a big score, that is what we are going after,” junior Alexia Burch said. “If it comes with a win, great, but we need big scores.”
Don’t be mistaken, Utah wants to win, badly. The squad just wants that win to be a national championship.
The question is, how realistic are those desires?
The only real way to know is to wait until mid-April. As Farden explained, “You don’t really know until they are landing on their feet and are saluting the judge. You can project and predict and use all these variables, but you never know what they are going to do in competition.”
Still, an examination of Utah’s scores thus far goes a long way into understanding just how competitive the Red Rocks could be when pitted against elite competition, like No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Florida, No. 3 UCLA (the Utes and Bruins tied at that spot this week), No. 5 Denver and No. 6 LSU.
Let’s start with vault.
For much of the season, vault has been the weak spot for Utah. The Red Rocks have consistently been ranked in the top 10 nationally on the event, but they lacked one of those big scores that title contenders so often boast. Prior to the Oregon State meet, their season-best score was a 49.200, recorded at Arizona.
Everything changed against the Beavers. The Red Rocks scored a season-high 49.450, the fourth-best vault score of the year nationwide, behind only the Sooners (49.775), the Tigers (49.575) and the Gators (49.475).
“Obviously our best vault rotation of the year,” Soloski said.
Utah still ranks No. 6 overall on vault, but after Oregon State, the team has shown the ability to compete with the best.
On uneven bars, things are a little different. The Utes are ranked No. 6 nationally, but have only recorded the ninth-best score by any team this season, a 49.425 in the comeback victory over No. 10 California. Oklahoma has a 49.675 on the event, Florida a 49.650, Denver a 49.575 and UCLA a 49.525.
The thing missing for Utah thus far, which Farden discussed after the team’s 49.350 against Oregon State, is the consistent hitting of all routines. In four of seven meets, Utah has had at least one routine scored at 9.775 or lower and in three meets there have been multiple routines earn that or lower.
Balance beam, meanwhile, has been by far the team’s strength. The Red Rocks are ranked fourth in the country on beam and boast two scores 49.600 or above. Only Florida (3) has more this season. Utah’s 49.625 score against Cal is the fourth-best beam score, trailing only No. 7 Minnesota (49.700), Florida (49.675) and Denver (49.650).
“They’re in a good headspace on beam,” Farden said.
Then there is floor exercise. Floor was the Red Rocks’ downfall against Oregon State — “we fell apart on floor,” Soloski said — and as a result Utah is ranked No. 12 in the country on the event. Things don’t get better when you look at season-high scores, either, as Utah is tied for 16th nationally with No. 15 BYU, Cal and Denver, with a score of 49.425. Only three-tenths of a point separate the Utes from UCLA’s nation-best score (49.725), though, and the Red Rocks are committed to improving on the event.
“I know we are all ready to get back in the gym and get to work, especially on floor,” senior Kim Tessen said. “Obviously we have seen much we we improved on vault after we got a little fire going under us. We are going to be extremely determined this week.”
Of course, breaking down individual events, while interesting, means nothing in the end. Championships are decided on the basis of an entire meets production, not an event here or there.
“You have to put together four events that are super strong when you are competing against the best of the best,” said Farden. “It is very important for every event to be at a high octane level.”
Thus far, Utah is off the national title pace. The Red Rocks are ranked No. 3 by average team score, but in early RQS (regional qualifying score) or NQS (national qualifying score), calculated by Road to Nationals, Utah is ranked No. 6 overall. Furthermore, Oklahoma and Florida are in a tier all by themselves, as the only teams to have scored above a 198 this season.
Utah is well aware of those scores and they know they have work to do. They are confident they can do it.
“We’ve got some work to do, but it is nothing that we can’t handle,” Soloski said. “If we can hit 24 of 24 routines, we are a very dangerous team.”
Just how dangerous remains to be seen.
Red Rocks on the air
No. 3 Utah (8-0, 5-0 Pac-12) at No. 3 UCLA (8-2, 3-1)
Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California
Sunday, 4 p.m. MST
TV: ESPN2