Completed Event: Gymnastics versus NCAA Championship Final on April 19, 2025 , , 4th of 4 (197.2375)

Gymnastics
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Gymnastics
March 14, 1999
CORVALLIS, Ore. - The No. 3 ranked University of Utah gymnastics team picked a bad time to go to its "backup" plan. Minus regular all-arounders Deidra Graham (flu) and Theresa Wolf (knee), and with all-arounder Angie Leonard competing on just one event due to a sore back, the Utes went to plan B. Too bad they tested it on an Oregon State team that chose that day to set a new school record. The result was a 197.325-196.700 loss by Utah, its first setback of the year.
"We had a good meet, not a great meet," said Ute Head Coach Greg Marsden, "But Oregon State was just red hot. That's the best performance by any team we've faced this year. We need to be in this kind of situation as much as we can. It's good for our athletes to know they need to keep improving all the way into the post-season."
Utah kept pace at the start, despite a school-record vault effort by Oregon State. A fine bar set by the Utes meant the two teams went into round two tied at 49.475. Kulikowski and Leonard each scored a 9.95, which tied them for first on the event. Leonard would call it a day after her bar victory. She was not even scheduled to compete at all, due to back problems, until the morning of the meet when Graham woke up sick.
Marsden did acknowledge that the substitutions hurt his team's chances for a victory. "While the people who filled in did a nice job for the most part, we were missing some big scores without Angie, Theresa (Wolf) and Deidra," he said.
Minus Leonard, Graham and Wolf, all members of Utah's vault lineup, freshmen Lindsay Tanner and Kylee Wagner got their first chance at vaulting to count. Tanner, a walk-on who had competed only in exhibition in Utah's previous 10 meets, and on floor at that, started things with a 9.650. Wagner, an Oregon native performing before a large gathering of friends and family, one-upped that with a 9.80. Kulikowski's career-best 9.85 was Utah's best score on the vault and the Utes' 48.975 was just shy of OSU's 49.075 bar score. After two rotations the Beavers led 98.55-98.45.
Utah fared well on its third rotation, scoring a 49.125, but fell further behind the sizzling Beavers, who shattered their school beam record with a 49.375. Kulikowski led Utah on that event as well, scoring a 9.90. After three rotations, OSU led 147.925-147.575.
The Utes finished with a beam set that, but for a fall by Wagner and a few bobbles, was solid. Kulikowski (9.90) and Shannon Bowles (9.95) helped the Utes stay close, but a record-breaking 49.40 floor set by OSU put the meet away.
One person even the record setting Beavers couldn't beat was Kulikowski, who won her fifth straight all-around title with a 39.600. Denise Jones finished third all-around (39.325). Kulikowski also tied for first on bars (9.90), while Bowles captured beam with a 9.95.