Upcoming Event: Gymnastics versus Red Rocks Preview on December 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Gymnastics
vs Red Rocks Preview
The University of Utah Athletics
Utes Dominate Individual Competition at NCAA Championships
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Gymnastics
April 25, 1999
SALT LAKE CITY -
Utah lost a shot at the team title at the 1999 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, but got some consolation on the last night by "winning" the individual competition. Utes won two of four event titles and finished second in two others to dominate the individual championships on Saturday, April 24. Beam, the event that knocked Utah from the team competition, was a highlight this night, with Utes placing first and fourth in the nation.
Leading the way was fantastic freshman Theresa Kulikowski, who won the NCAA all-around title two nights earlier. On closing night, Kulikowski won the beam crown with a 9.90, tying with Kiralee Hayashi of UCLA and Andree Pickens of Alabama. She finished second on both vault (9.8275) and floor (9.90). Senior Angie Leonard closed her career with a bang by winning the uneven bars title with a 9.95. Sophomore Shannon Bowles gave Utah four top five finishes by tying for fourth on the beam with a 9.85. Freshman Deidra Graham was 10th on bars (9.825). Kulikowski also competed on bars, but fell near the end of a beautiful routine.
It was the best effort at an individual event championship by Utah since 1992 and the best ever by a Ute team that didn't win the national championship. Not since Missy Marlowe and Kristen Kenoyer combined to win five titles in 1992 has Utah boasted two NCAA individual event titlists in a single year. Kulikowski became just the second Ute ever to win two individual titles as a freshman. She replicated the standard set by Sue Stednitz in 1982, who also won the all-around and balance beam titles as a freshman.
As great as Kulikowski was, the emotional victory of the evening went to Leonard, who brought down the house before, during and after her winning bar routine. Leonard, a fan favorite her entire four years at Utah, had never won an NCAA title, although she made the bar finals her last three years.
Bowles made it two for two in first-team All-America beam performances with her 9.85 routine. She finished fourth, although her score was the second best of the night (due to the three-way tie for first). Graham's 10th-place finish on bars gave Utah four first-team All-Americans.
A crowd of 6,602 showed up to cheer their 1999 Utes one last time, pushing Utah's three-day attendance total to 25,612-third best in NCAA Championships history.
Utah Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2025 | Gymnastics' Georgia Dabritz
Monday, October 13
Fan Fest 2025 Coaches and Players Interviews: Gymnastics
Sunday, August 17
Seven New Inductees to Join Utah Athletics Hall of Fame in October 2025
Monday, July 28
Utah Gymnastic's Grace McCallum call out from University of Utah President Randall
Thursday, May 08