Completed Event: Gymnastics versus NCAA Championship Final on April 19, 2025 , , 4th of 4 (197.2375)
Final Score
Gymnastics
4th of 4 (197.2375)
vs NCAA Championship Final
Friday, March 23
Salt Lake City
7:00 PM MT
University of Utah
197.925
vs
197
BYU
Ute Gymnasts Use Gigantic Second Half To Edge BYU
3/23/2001 12:00 AM | Gymnastics
March 23, 2001
SALT LAKE CITY -
Theresa Wolf, the only Ute alive the last time a Utah gymnastics team lost on its home court in a regular season competition, helped make sure "The Streak" survived for another season. But first, the 10,897 fans in the Huntsman Cener and a live television audience saw "The Streak's" life flash before their eyes. Utah's 197.925-197.375 win over arch rival Brigham Young came after one of the hardest fought competitions in the past 22 years of gymnastics in the Huntsman Center.
In the end, both teams broke or tied their school scoring records. Fittingly, it took a school-record on floor for Utah to keep BYU at bay. None of the red-clad fans in the seats breathed easy until Wolf took the floor as Utah's final competitor. By then, the Utes had finally pulled away from the pesky Cougars, who entered the final rotation trailing only by a miniscule .025.
Get this, though. Utah's tiny lead came despite a near-record setting balance beam performance. Ahead by the same total after two events (.025) as three, Utah rallied from a sub-par bar set to post a 49.625 on the beam. The school record is 49.650. Unfortunately for the Utes, BYU matched that score with its own school record on the floor, sending the meet down to the wire.
The first Cougar on the beam, Brooke Craig scored a 9.800 to start off the deciding rotation. Utah's first floor exercise entrant, Lindsay Tanner, settled for a 9.775 after being docked .10 for stepping out of bounds on an otherwise solid routine. But instead of getting tentative, the Utes exploded. Freshman Veronique Leclerc, competing in the all-around for the first time in her college career, received a 9.95 in just her second floor routine all year. That was followed in quick succession by 9.95s by Melissa Vituj and Kylee Wagner. Meanwhile, over on the beam, the Cougars were turning in a steady stream of 9.875s. If Utah's last two gymnasts hit their sets, "The Streak" would live to reach 164. Shannon Bowles made sure Wolf , the team's lone senior, could cut loose on the final regular season routine of her career. That's because Bowles, as the fifth competitor up, flipped to a perfect 10.0, the first of her career on that event and her third ever. Wolf's send-off to a howling crowd was a personal-best of her own, a 9.95.
Heroes were many in this photo finish, starting with some fine relief efforts. Freshman Annie Medcalf became the second Ute in as many weeks to injure herself during pre-meet warmups on the uneven bars, suffering a grade two concussion after peeling on her Jaeger. The week previously, star all-arounder Deidra Graham sprained her knee on the same event in warmups. Fellow freshman Tacia LaBatte, who the week before replaced the injured Graham, only to fall midway through her routine, did much better this time around. Now Medcalf's substitute, LaBatte kicked off the set with a sterling 9.875 performance. After a 9.90 by Leclerc and a career-best 9.95 by Wolf, the Utes nearly blew it. Shannon Bowles tried to fall a few times before finally giving into gravity. She scored a 9.05. Graham, her bum knee heavily bandaged, gave a bar routine a go, only to fall on the dismount. It was Graham's first fall since the season-opener. Suddenly, Utah was staring at a potential deficit. Theresa Kulikowski kept the Utes on top, albeit barely, with a 9.95 that would tied her for first place on the event. Kulio has now won 11 of 12 bar competitions this year.
Next came the beam and Utah's heroic 49.625 that let it maintain its small lead. Utah finished its beam set with a triplicate of 9.95s, starting with Wolf and finishing with Kulikowski and Bowles. The trio all tied for first on the plank.
Leclerc finished the night as the winning all-arounder and her 39.675 was the best debut ever by a Ute freshman and tied the seventh best score in school history. Wolf tied for second with BYU's Kelly Parkinson, scoring a career-best 39.625.
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