Utah edges UCLA in season debut, Baskett leads way

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jan 13, 2007 | by Linda Hamilton Deseret Morning News

With his top two upperclassmen feeling the pressure of their own expectations and not having fun the way sophomore Kristina Baskett is, Utah gymnastics coach Greg Marsden told his team it was in a pretty good place following Friday night's 2007 debut.

The second-ranked Utes, whom he considered to be at about 70 percent of their expected power, were able to come from behind in the final event and defeat UCLA, which is at about 60 percent of what it hopes to be two months from now, 196.325-195.975 at the Huntsman Center.

For the Bruins, still toting serious injuries from last season as well as some new problems, it was a second meet and a 2 point improvement from their 194-188.175 win last week over Washington, which will compete in the Huntsman Center next Friday.

"I think it was what you might expect for the first meet," said Marsden. "I think we did well enough that we can feel good about it, but I think everybody realizes that there's plenty of room for improvement -- and we need to make a lot of improvement.

"It's always fun to beat UCLA," he added.

The Bruins dominated collegiate gymnastics until a couple of years of injuries left them trying to regain their traditions.

With senior captain Nicolle Ford and junior standout Ashley Postell each having sub-par routines on balance beam, where they are normally among the best in the NCAA, and Ford overdoing her last pass on floor and sliding out of bounds for a 9.425 -- she underdid in the 2006 opener and overcompensated Friday -- the Utes still came from .075 behind after three rotations to win comfortably.

Marsden said he hopes to get through especially to Ford but also to Postell that they need to compete more freely, like Baskett, who won the all-around with a career-best 39.60 on four straight 9.9s.

"I need to get them to relax," Marsden said. "They are putting a lot of pressure on themselves."

Both are ultra-competitive and have had setbacks that took practice time from them recently with Ford having cartilage problems in a hip and Postell bruising a heel last week

Baskett, the 2006 NCAA bars champion, said she still stresses about that event. "All these girls know bars is still an extremely hard event for me. After nationals, it didn't get easier," she said, adding her confidence is a little better on that event.

Her new crusade is beam, which often kept her out of the all- around lineup as a freshman. "I was so happy," she said of her exit from the beam Friday with a strong performance. "I couldn't keep it inside. I made faces, too."

She was referring to the way Postell and Ford made funny faces following their beam routines that reflected their own dissatisfaction with what they had done.

Nina Kim and Katie Kivisto each came back from stomach viruses to contribute well, Kim scoring 9.85 on bars and 9.80 on vault and Kivisto had a career-high 9.80 on floor and passed a personal test on bars. Her bars routine scored only 9.50, but it was the event on which she tore up an elbow last year, so Marsden was pleased with what she did.

Because they were able to compete when he wasn't sure they could, freshman Jamie Deetscreek had to go only in exhibition, and Annie DiLuzio was the only newcomer in the lineup, scoring well on vault and floor.

The meet gave the Utes a read on what to practice next. "It's easier to go through a meet, and they know exactly what you need to work on. It's definitely a relief," said Postell, whose 9.90 on floor was a nice comeback from the beam problem.

Marsden said bars were definitely Utah's best opening event, and there were a number of very stuck dismounts to prove that, along with a 49.375 team score.

Vault, he said was pretty good, and the Utes now need to find more amplitude, make the vaults look bigger. Beam was a little strange because the three who are usually really solid made the mistakes and the ones he wondered about -- Jessica Duke, Baskett and DiLuzio -- all did well.

Floor and vault will get some difficulty jumps in practice, and there may be some upgrades in the lineup by next week.

"I think we can be a very good team," Marsden said, adding it's too early to start talking about contending for a national championship.

E-mail: lham@desnews.com