Utah Gymnasts Start Long Road Season At Minnesota

Jan. 27, 2003

SALT LAKE CITY -

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Despite losing two close meets this season, Utah shot to No. 1 in the latest national rankings by virtue of its season scoring average, an impressive 196.90 ... The Utes, 1-2 with losses to then top-ranked UCLA and then-No. 3 Arizona State, heads to Minneapolis this week for a meet with No. 25 Minnesota (2-3) on Saturday ... It is Utah's first road meet of the season ... Former Ute assistant coach Jim Stephenson and his wife Meg are co-head coaches at Minnesota.

LONG GONE

This Saturday's meet at Minnesota is the first of four straight road meets for the Ute gymnasts, who won't compete at home for virtually all of February. It is a repeat of last year's schedule when Utah couldn't compete at home in February due to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. This time, Utah goes to Minnesota, Utah State, Arizona and Oregon State before returning home for a meet with Michigan on Feb. 28.

THE RANKINGS

The rankings this week are based on average score for the first time this year, which allowed Utah to leap from No. 5 to No. 1. The Jan. 27 rankings follow: 1. Utah 196.900, 2. Alabama 196.856, 3. Georgia 196.800, 4. Nebraska 196.770, 5. UCLA 196.535, 6. Arizona State 196.317, 7. Florida 196.267, 8. Denver 195.692, 9. Stanford 195.625, 10. Washington 195.575, 11. Michigan 195.517, 12. Oregon State 195.512, 13. Arizona 195.383, 14. Auburn 194.900, 15. Louisiana State 194.900, 16. Brigham Young 194.700, 17. Oklahoma 194.550, 18. Kent State 194.337, 19. Iowa 194.162, 20. Penn State 194.087, 21. Illinois-Chicago 193.992, 22. Arkansas 193.950, 23. North Carolina State 193.733, 24. West Virginia 193.675, 25. Minnesota 193.608.

LAST WEEK

Utah lost its second home meet of the season, 197.150-197.450 to then-No. 3 ranked Arizona State. Despite the loss, it was a season-high score for Utah and there were several bright spots. The Utes were led for a third straight meet by junior all-arounder Melissa Vituj, who tied for first in the all-around with a 39.60. Junior Veronique Leclerc scored a season-best 39.425 in the all-around. Freshman Natalie Nicoloff filled in for injured all-arounder Kim Allan on two events and scored a 9.850 on beam and a 9.80 on floor. Nicoloff also hit her first bar routine of the year for a 9.825. Allan was able to compete on bars and made the most of it, winning the event with a career-best 9.95. The first 10.0 of the year came from Annabeth Eberle on the floor and it was also her first-ever perfect score.

UTE NOTES

Utah could start getting some injured athletes back as soon as this week. Senior All-American and three-time NCAA champion Theresa Kulikowski has been cleared to resume training on bars and beam, and depending on her progress, could be available in a limited capacity for the Minnesota meet. Senior All-American Kim Allan's Achilles that she tore in 2001 is still sore, so she is questionable to compete on anything but bars for a second straight meet ... The last time Utah lost two home dual meets in a season was back in 1976 ... Utah is averaging 10,154 spectators per meet in three home meets ... Melissa Vituj is Utah's top ranked individual performer. Vituj is ranked fourth in the all-around (39.608), second on floor (9.958) and fourth on beam (9.942). Allan is ranked ninth on bars (9.883).

SERIES SHORTS

Utah leads the series with Minnesota 19-1 ... Minnesota's only victory came in a quadrangular meet at Arizona State in 2000 ... Utah is 6-0 vs. the Gophers in Minneapolis and 15-1 in regular season competitions.

UTAH COACH GREG MARSDEN

Greg Marsden, the most successful coach in collegiate gymnastics history, is in his 28th year at the U. He is college gymnastics' only 700 win coach (765-121-5). In regular season competition, Marsden is 379-53-2. He has spent his entire career at Utah and has won 10 national championships, double that of any other coach. Four of those titles came in the '90s (1990, '92, '94, '95). Fifteen of his teams have placed in the top-three at the national championships, most recently in 2000 (second). Marsden is a seven-time National Coach of the Year recipient.

GOPHER UPDATE

Placed ninth at the 2002 NCAA Championships ... currently 2-3 ... ranked No. 25 with a season average of 193.608 ... nearly two points better at home (195.525 in only home meet to date) ... 2002 floor exercise All-American Annie Laatsch is UM's only all-arounder (39.10 best) ... co-head coaches are Jim and Meg Stephenson ... Jim is 147-124-1 in his 11th year as head coach and Meg is 75-51-1 in her sixth season as co-head coach.

MARSDEN SAYS

"This will be an important meet for us. As is the case most of the time, the NCAA Championships are not in your home arena, so it's important that you get comfortable dealing with other environments and the situations that arise. On the one hand, it's difficult to be on the road for so long. On the other hand, if we can use it in the right way, we can be much stronger at the end of the season. Travel can be a great team bonding experience. "In general, the big things are going well. Where we need to begin to improve are areas like steps on landings and small execution errors. "It's always fun to go to Minnesota. The gymnasts love shopping at the mega mall and (associate head coach) Megan and I enjoy our relationship with Jim and Meg Stephenson. Minnesota runs a good meet and it nearly always goes down to the last event."

2003 UTE SCORECARD

Kim Allan, Sr.-Former Canadian National team member might be limited to bars for second week due to sore Achilles (Allan tore her Achilles in 2001) ... ranked ninth in nation on bars (9.883 average) ... won bars with career-high 9.95 vs. ASU in her only routine on Jan. 24 ... went all-around in first two meets, scoring 39.10 vs. UCLA and 39.125 vs. BYU ... set new career high on beam (9.90) on Jan. 17 ... has "hit" 9-9 routines this year.

Dominique D'Oliveira, Fr.-South African National team member broke her ankle while home for the holidays and expected to miss another 3-5 weeks ... she hopes to return on at least bars before season's end ... she is back training on bars in the gym.

Annabeth Eberle, So.-Former U.S. National team had season-best 39.25 all-around score vs. BYU on Jan. 17 ... first career 10.0 came last Friday on floor vs. ASU ... won bars vs. BYU with career-best 9.95 ... has also scored a 9.90 on vault and 9.825 on beam ... has "hit" 9-12 routines this year.

Crystal Gilmore, Fr.-2000 Canadian Olympic team member has yet to compete due to back and leg injuries ... hopes to return to training this week or next ... helped Canada to a best-ever ninth-place team finish in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

Gritt Hofmann, So.-Former German National team member has been impressive in first real collegiate action (she did just one vault all last year) ... 9.775 best on vault and 9.875 best as lead-off on beam ... has "hit" 6-6 routines this year.

Theresa Kulikowski, Sr.-Former U.S. National team member, 12-time NCAA All-American, three-time NCAA champion and two-time NCAA runner-up has missed all three meets this year with rib injury ... recently cleared to train on bars and beam, she could possibly compete as early as this Saturday ... Utah team captain has won 98 event and/or all-around titles and has 11 career 10.0's ... she has "hit" 137-149 (92%) of her career routines.

Veronique Leclerc, Jr.-Former Canadian National team member and NCAA All-American has gone all-around in all three meets ... season-best 39.425 all-around score came against ASU on Jan. 24 ... has "hit" 11-12 routines and is 84-94 for her career ... 15 career victories.

Natalie Nicoloff, Fr.-Has competed in all three meets, doing season-high three events vs. ASU on Jan. 24 ... scored career highs on all three events in that meet: bars 9.825, beam 9.850 and floor 9.800 ... has "hit" 4-6 routines this year.

Gabriella Onodi, Fr.-Hungarian National team member since 1995 arrived in Salt Lake City on Dec. 25 and began training after one-month layoff following World Championships in late November ... Hungarian national all-around champion from 1998-2000.

Kristen Riffanacht, Fr.-Has competed on vault, bars and floor in all three meets and put up big scores on each ... high score of 9.875 on vault, 9.850 on bars and 9.875 on floor ... has "hit" 8-9 routines this year.

Melissa Vituj, So.-Six-time All-American is Utah's best all-arounder this year and is ranked fourth nationally (39.608 average) ... also ranked second on floor (9.958) and fourth on beam (9.942) ... career-tying 39.625 all-around score vs. BYU on Jan. 17 ... won all-around on Jan. 24 vs. ASU with 39.600 ... career-bests this year have come on bars (9.875) and floor (9.975) ... has "hit" 12-12 routines this year and is 101-108 (94%) in career routines ... leads Utah in wins with 4 (1 all-around, 2 beam and 1 floor) and has 10 career victories.

Kylee Wagner, Jr.- 2001 balance beam All-American is back for a second senior season after missing all but the first meet in 2002 with an ankle injury ... competed on season-high three events vs. ASU on Jan. 24 ... has 9.80 or better on beam and floor ... has "hit" 6-6 routines this year.

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