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Red Rocks Travel to Arizona

The Red Rocks head to the desert to face the Wildcats of Arizona on Sat., Jan. 31

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The No. 5 Red Rocks (5-0, 1-0 Pac-12) head to Tucson for their first road Pac-12 meet to take on the No. 18 Arizona Wildcats (4-2, 1-1 Pac-12) on Saturday, Jan. 31 in Tucson, Ariz at the McHale Center. The meet starts at 4 p.m. MST. Utah leads the all-time series 55-0 (11-0 in Tucson) against Arizona.

The Wildcats are coached by Bill Ryden, who is in his 17th season. Arizona had their season high in the most recent meet at Washington, posting a 196.050, winning their first Pac-12 meet on the year. Arizona has fallen to No. 15 UCLA and No. 6 Alabama, both on the road, and defeated Illinois-Chicago, Sacramento State, and Wisconsin-Stout in a meet at home.

Utah is led by 2014 Pac-12 Coaches of the Year, co-head coaches Greg and Megan Marsden. Greg is in his 40th season at Utah and is the NCAA career leader in wins (1,023-205-7). Megan is in her sixth year as co-head coach (31 total years on staff) and has a career record of 107-44-1. The Red Rocks have wins at BYU, and at home against No. 12 Boise State, No. 22 Southern Utah, UC Davis (four team meet), and No. 15 UCLA. The Red Rocks posted their highest season opening score of 196.900 at BYU (and their current season high) in their only road meet so far this season.

Due to sore Achilles' tendons, freshman Kari Lee was limited to beam (scoring a season-best 9.90) against UCLA and could not participate in vault or floor. Her condition will be evaluated in practice this week to determine whether she will be able to participate on vault and floor at Arizona. Tiffani Lewis, Lee's replacement in the vault (9.825) and floor (9.80), scored season bests in the meet against UCLA in both events. Senior All-American Becky Tutka returned from injury that caused her to miss the first two meets. She competed in floor against the Bruins, scoring a 9.60. Tutka was a first team All-American in 2014 on floor and is tentatively scheduled to compete in floor against Arizona.

Utah is scheduled to have three gymnasts compete for the all-around: senior All-American Georgia Dabritz (who will anchor vault, bars and floor) and is tied for first in the nation in all-around score (39.588), senior All-American Tory Wilson (one all-around win on the season), and sophomore Baely Rowe. Dabritz has a team high seven wins so far this season. Arizona's best gymnast in the all-around is senior Allison Flores, whose best all-around score on the season is 39.425.

Corrie Lothrop will anchor the team on beam, an event she is an All-American on. She won Pac-12 Specialist of the Week last week for her performance against UCLA, scoring season highs on bars (9.90) and floor (9.8750). She tied for first in the meet on bars. She is slated to compete in bars, beam, and floor against Arizona.

There will be a familiar face on the opposing coaching staff in former Utah All-American Meredith (King) Paulicivic, who is in her first year as an assistant coach at Arizona. She lettered for the Utes from 1991-94 and was a vault All-American in 1992-94. The Red Rocks have two Arizona natives: junior Kassandra Lopez (Tucson) and Lee (Peoria).

Live streaming of the meet can be found on arizonawildcats.com, as there is no television coverage. Live scores and commentary can be found at utahutes.com as well.