No. 5 Utah Gymnasts Host No. 10 Michigan On Friday

Feb. 24, 2003

SALT LAKE CITY -

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QUICKLY

The No. 5 ranked Utah gymnasts (4-3) have their first home meet in over a month this Friday, hosting No. 10 Michigan (8-4) ... The University Park Marriott Classic starts at 7 p.m. in the Huntsman Center ... Utah went 3-1 on its recent extended road trip with wins over Minnesota, Utah State and Arizona and a loss to Oregon State ... Michigan is coming off its best meet of the season, a 197.025-195.750 win over No. 13 Denver ... Utah is averaging 10,154 spectators in its three home meets this year.

THE RANKINGS

In the first ranking of the season based on regional qualifying score (RQS), Utah is ranked No. 5, a two-position drop from last week. The RQS is reached by taking a team's six best scores, of which at least three must be road meets, dropping the high score and averaging the remaining five. The new top 25 follows: 1. UCLA 197.980, 2. Alabama 197.100, 3. Nebraska 197.035, 4. Arizona State 196.870, 5. Utah 196.800, 6. Florida 196.770, 7. Georgia 196.750, 8. Stanford 196.430, 9.Oregon State 196.200, 10. Michigan 196.085, 11. Auburn 195.680, 12. Washington 195.615, 13. Denver 195.505, 14. Ohio State 195.490, 15. Louisiana State 195.445, 16. Iowa State 195.225, 17. Arizona 195.200, 18. Penn State 195.155, 19. Oklahoma 195.040, 20. Iowa 194.845, 21. Kent State 194.775, 22. Utah State 194.730, 23. Minnesota 194.530, 24. Central Michigan 194.500, 25. California 194.445.

LAST WEEK

Three falls on the beam sent Utah reeling to its first loss since Jan. 24, 196.900-196.325 to No. 9 Oregon State in Corvallis. It was the worst score of the year for Utah, which had counted a fall in just one previous meet and had not counted two falls all year. Positives for Utah were Annabeth Eberle, Theresa Kulikowski and Kim Allan. Eberle won her second all-around of the year (39.575) and also won the vault with a career-best 9.95. Kulikowski made her injury-delayed return on the floor exercise worth the wait, winning in her first attempt with a 9.95. She also captured bars (9.95) and beam (9.95). Tying Kulikowski for beam honors was Allan, whose 9.95 was a career best. Allan also scored a 9.925 on bars.

UTE NOTES

Three Utes are ranked in the top 10 nationally: Melissa Vituj is No. 6 in the all-around (39.40 RQS) and No. 3 on floor (9.945) and beam (tie 9.935); Annabeth Eberle is No. 10 in the all-around (39.34), No. 5 on floor (9.925) and No. 10 on vault (9.895); Kim Allan is tied for No. 4 on bars (9.905) ... Sophomore Eberle has become a national player in the all-around, averaging a 39.556 in the last four meets ... Theresa Kulikowski has won bars in all four meets she's competed in to date and has won 6 of her 9 total routines ... Kylee Wagner and Gritt Hoffman suffered their first falls of the season last week at Oregon State-both on beam.

STREAK STRUCK

Utah is 1-2 at home this year, losing for the first time in 23 years in its season opener to UCLA on Jan. 10 and then losing again to Arizona State on Jan. 24. Utah's only home win to date was on Jan. 17 against Brigham Young. Prior to those losses, the Utes had won 170 consecutive home dual meets, dating back to 1979 and marking the longest home court win streak in the history of NCAA sports. Utah's two home losses are its most since the program's first year (1976).

SERIES SHORTS

Utah leads its series with Michigan 10-6 ... Utah is the most recent victor, beating Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Championships last year. Earlier in the season, Michigan handed the Utes a dual meet loss in Ann Arbor ... Utah leads 5-1 in Salt Lake and is 4-0 in regular season competitions in the Huntsman Center ... Neither Utah or Michigan has won a regular season dual meet on the other's home floor.

COMMON FOES

Utah and Michigan have met just one common foe this year, with both teams defeating Minnesota. The Wolverines beat the Gophers 194.700-191.850 on Jan. 17 in Ann Arbor. The Utes beat Minnesota 196.400-194.750 on Feb. 1 in Minneapolis.

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 (768-122-5). In regular season competition, Marsden is 382-54-2. 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.

MICHIGAN REVIEW

Ranked No. 10 ... 8-4 ... season-high 197.025 last week in win over Denver (195.75) ... 1-3 in road meets, with first win last Saturday in Denver ... steadily improving after rash of early season injuries ... 2000 U.S. Olympic team captain Elise Ray has yet to compete this year due to a shoulder injury. Ray, who placed 14th in the all-around at the 2000 Olympic Games, was the NCAA all-around champion as a freshman in 2001 and won the NCAA balance beam championship last year ... Michigan is spending its spring break this week training in Denver before coming to Salt Lake for Friday's meet ... top all-arounders are Jenny Deiley (39.55), Calli Ryals (39.55) and Janessa Grieco (39.35) ... Head Coach Bev Plocki is 261-76 in her 14th year.

MARSDEN SAYS

"Michigan is a team that's beginning to peak. They easily disposed of a good Denver team on the road this past week, so once again, we should have our hands full. I made our schedule with the thought of seeing as many teams as possible that we would have to compete against in the postseason. Michigan is a program that is always a factor in the postseason. "In spite of our record, I'm fairly pleased with where we are at this point. Half of our team was new and inexperienced going into the season and we've faced some very good teams. We've been right there with everyone. Of course, I hope we can get a little stronger in the last half of the season, but I still believe that this team has the potential to do some great things. "The road was good in many ways. It really brought the team together, as you might expect, and there were some extreme highs and also some lows that we learned to deal with together. Obviously, we're looking forward to coming home to our fans."

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