Utah Gymnastics Dominates Home Opener

In front of 14,254 fans at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, the No. 4 Red Rocks (196.675) won their first home gymnastics meet of the season, defeating No. 24 Southern Utah (195.500), Boise State (194.525), and UC Davis (193.950). Utah was led by a strong performance from All-American senior Georgia Dabritz. She won bars (9.925), floor (9.95), which included a perfect 10.0 score from one judge), and all-around (39.60). Fellow seniors Tory Wilson (39.30) and Corrie Lothrop (39.175) finished second and third, respectively.

Dabritz was not scheduled to compete for the all-around, but her last-minute replacement of Kailah Delaney on beam made it possible. Dabritz usually does not compete on beam but posted a solid 9.85 score last night. In 2014, she only competed on beam and in the all-around twice.

"It was fun for me to go all-around," said Dabritz. "I haven't done it for awhile. While I want to go all-around, I can't expect to do it every meet."

Co-head coach Greg Marsden was impressed with Dabritz's performance on the night, saying, "If Georgia can perform night-in and night-out like that on beam, she is a good as any all-arounder in the country."

Despite the win, the event was far from perfect for the Red Rocks. The recurring theme so far this season is that the team is making mistakes in meets that they are not making in practice.

"Similar to last week, we did some things very well, but we can be better on every event," Marsden said. "I expect to be better on every event. They should expect to be better on every event. We will be better on every event."

Vault, the first event of the night, failed to produce a score of at least 9.90 for any Utah gymnast, a feat that only happened once last season. Dabritz (9.875) and Kari Lee (9.875) were the only Red Rocks to stick their landings in the team's 49.125 vault showing.

"We had deductions and the judges took them. We need to compete our routines in meets the way we are practicing in the gym," said Marsden.

Utah performed better on bars, scoring a 49.225. Dabritz (9.925), Lothrop (9.875), and Kassandra Lopez (9.875) led the way for the Red Rocks.

Utah took a full point lead over Southern Utah after the third event of the night, the balance beam. Dabritz led the Red Rocks with a 9.85 and finished second overall in the event for which she was a last-minute replacement.

The Red Rocks closed out the night strong on the floor exercise, recording their highest score of the night with a 49.250. Dabritz again led the Red Rocks, this time with a 9.95 score, including a perfect 10.0 from one judge.

"We need to do a better job of owning our gymnastics if we want to succeed in our Pac-12 schedule," Marsden said after the meet.

Utah will have a chance to show what they are capable of next Friday (Jan. 23) when UCLA comes to town for the annual Blackout meet. UCLA was ranked ahead of Utah at No. 5 in the preseason poll and will be the Red Rocks' main competition to win the Pac-12 title this season.