Utes' teamwork pays off in win

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Feb 24, 2007 | by Linda Hamilton Deseret Morning News

Gymnastics is a bit of a hybrid: It's an individual sport that requires teamwork.

Having gotten a jolt of sorts by losing for the first time this season at Georgia last week, the University of Utah's gymnastics team, 8-1, made itself much more of a team, in terms of helping one another, during workouts the past week.

It showed Friday night when the Utes downed a badly hurting, 9-3 Michigan 196.225-193.80 in the Huntsman Center.

"We're on a mission to get it together," said sophomore Kristina Baskett.

For three events and the first three people, the Utes were more like U. teams of the past, hitting some season- and career-highs, smiling and having fun and working through any problems that came up.

But then there's that individual thing, and good athletes are good because they are strong-willed and have confidence in themselves, said Ute coach Greg Marsden, who was regretting a decision he made to let senior captain Nicolle Ford do her double layout skill on floor even after he'd noticed her limping a bit after other events.

He asked Ford, who was leading the all-around competition at that point, if she was OK for floor, and she assured him she was.

But then she didn't quite take off the way she needed to, tucked a bit in mid-air and landed the double layout short and crumpled in pain, her right ankle an obvious problem. She did not finish the routine, though she was able to walk off the floor, walk onto the mat for post-meet ceremonies under her own power and make it into the interview room on crutches.

Luckily for the Utes, the preliminary diagnosis is that probably she bumped bone-on-bone in the ankle and just bruised the bones, said Marsden.

But X-rays will be taken Monday, and Marsden doubts Ford will be able to do vault or floor next Sunday at Nebraska, though he wouldn't rule out anything from her competing there to possibly missing the season if damage is found by the X-ray.

"I'm OK. It's just been sore," said Ford, who first injured it at Georgia last week and had the ankle taped. She'd spent the week landing on softer surfaces in the training gym and found it only hurt when she landed short, which is what she did Friday.

Ford had scored 9.875 on vault and bars and 9.925 on beam but got no score for floor as her fall happened at the end of her first tumbling pass.

Immediately following Ford, Baskett landed short on her final tumbling pass and touched her hands down for a 9.225 that had to count in the Utes' score because of Ford's miss.

"I'm mad. I shouldn't be falling on that," Baskett said, adding that the trauma from seeing Ford go down had nothing to do with her miss, though she felt she had to "pick it up on floor."

After seeing the team come together during the week, it was a letdown to fall.

"We made a change in attitude," Baskett said. "We felt like a team. We're so close we could grab it."

It showed especially on beam, where the Utes hit their first 49- plus score of the season, 49.25, after making a decision to attack that apparatus, said freshman Sarah Shire.

Sophomore Nina Kim, perhaps showing how close she is with Ford, argued with Marsden to let her do her old roundoff-layout mount onto the beam instead of the easier one she's been doing. She landed it but had a big wobble that still didn't dampen the enthusiasm of one who often has confidence issues. "I was happy that I wasn't on the ground," she said, hoping Marsden allows her to use the mount again.

Ashley Postell was close to being herself again after struggling in several meets, and she ended the floor set with 9.90, opening with her triple twist but not doing the Arabian double-full at the end because she strained a quadriceps muscle at Georgia and had to play it a little safe.

Postell won the all-around with 39.50, thanks to a 9.90 vault and 9.875 beam.

"There were some things I wasn't too happy about, but that's kind of me," she said, glad she hit all four events after misses in the last three.

Postell added she is pleased the Ute freshmen are stepping up strongly.

Freshman Sarah Shire had two career highs, 9.875 on vault and 9.90 on beam; Beth Rizzo had 9.80 on floor; Stephanie Neff completed a 9.775 floor routine that was her first routine to count this season as she's coming back from a preseason back injury and an illness initially diagnosed as mono two weeks ago -- which luckily turned out to be false. Freshman Daria Bijak competed three events and did well except her first tumbling pass was so big she landed out of bounds and took a deduction. Other youngsters did well in exhibition while freshman Annie DiLuzio sat out with a sore ankle.

E-MAIL: lham@desnews.com