No. 3 Ranked Utah Gymnasts Host No. 23 Minnesota Friday

Jan. 26, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY -

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QUICKLY

The No. 3 Utah gymnasts (3-0) will host No. 23 Minnesota (0-3) Friday at 7:00 p.m. in the Huntsman Center ... After spending two weeks as the nation's No. 1 ranked team, the Utes slipped to third in the new poll (see The Rankings) ... This Friday's meet is the first of two straight home meets against Big Ten schools. The Utes will host No. 8 Iowa on Feb. 6.

AUTOGRAPH NIGHT

The Ute gymnasts will sign posters following Friday's meet against Minnesota. It will be the only autograph signing session of the season.

THE RANKINGS

This week's Top 25 poll is based on season average for the first time of the year: 1. Alabama 197.150, 2. Georgia 196.837, 3. Utah 196.825, 4. Florida 196.758, 5. Iowa State 196.725, 6. UCLA 196.600, 7. Stanford 196.333, 8. Iowa 196.275, 9. Oklahoma 196.219, 10. Washington 196.108 11. Arkansas 196.075, 12. Missouri 195.967, 13. Nebraska 195.717, 14. LSU 195.642, 15. Arizona 195.592, 16. Auburn 195.400, 17. Michigan 195.350, 18. Penn State 195.087, 19. Arizona State 195.037, 20. Oregon State 194.967, 21. North Carolina 194.850, 22. West Virginia 194.775, 23. Minnesota 194.658, 24. Kent State 194.550, 25. Brigham Young 194.533.

LAST WEEK

Senior co-captains Annabeth Eberle and Melissa Vituj rallied the troops after a disastrous opening event and Utah beat Brigham Young 196.225-194.700 in Provo. Three of the first four Utes, all underclassmen, fell off the bars to start things out on a bad foot. But Eberle, Vituj and freshman Nicolle Ford sparked a comeback victory. Eberle won the all-around with the fifth-best score in school history, a 39.725. She also captured individual titles on vault (9.975), beam (9.95) and floor (tie, 9.925). Ford placed second in the all-around with a career-best 39.575 and Vituj was third with a season-best 39.475.

UTE NOTES

Junior All-American Annabeth Eberle is ranked No. 4 in the nation this week in both the all-around (39.617 average) and on vault (9.958 average) ... Utah is ranked No. 1 on vault (49.442) and four Utes are ranked in the top 20 on the event: Eberle (4), freshman Rachel Tidd (8), senior Veronique Leclerc (19) and freshman Nicolle Ford (20) ... Eberle's 39.725 all-around mark vs. BYU is tied for the fifth-best score in school history and is just off Eberle's career-high of 39.75 ... Every Ute has competed "to count" this year with the exception of freshman Jacey Draper, who is trying to work back from leg surgery ... Making her first collegiate appearance to count last week was sophomore Gabriella Onodi, who scored a 9.85 on beam ... Injured Utes Leclerc (ankle) and Gritt Hofmann (hip) could return on an event or two this week. Eberle learned on Jan. 21 that a calcium deposit had broken off her ankle. She made a decision to forego surgery to correct the problem until after the season. Her status in practice and meets will depend on the inflammation and discomfort level on that particular day.

SERIES SHORTS

Utah leads the series with Minnesota 21-1. The Utes lead 8-0 in Salt Lake City and 16-1 in regular season competition. Utah has won five straight since its only loss to the Gophers, which came in a quadrangular meet in Tempe, Ariz., in 2000.

GOPHER NOTES

Ranked No. 23 ... 0-3 record ... season-high 195.325 (which included counting a fall on bars) came in loss last Sunday to No. 6 UCLA (197.55) ... other losses were to No. 11 Arkansas (195.575-194.675) and No. 17 Michigan (194.65-193.975) ... top all-arounders are Laura Johnson (39.40 season best) and Alicia Opsahl (39.125 best) ... co-head coaches are Jim and Meg Stephenson ... Jim, a former Utah assistant, is 172-146-1 in his 12th year and Meg is 104-75-1 in her seventh year.

UTAH COACH Greg Marsden

Greg Marsden, the most successful coach in collegiate gymnastics history, is in his 29th year at Utah. He is college gymnastics' only 700 win coach (783-130-5). In regular season competition, Marsden is 388-56-2. 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.

MARSDEN SAYS

"Minnesota is improving and scoring better each meet. It is the first of two straight home meets for us against Big 10 schools (Utah hosts No. 8 Iowa on Feb. 6) and I think our fans enjoy seeing nationally ranked teams from different parts of the country.

"We think Gritt Hofmann strained a tendon in her hip during warm-ups at the BYU meet and we held her out for precautionary reasons. We're cautiously optimistic that both she and Veronique Leclerc (ankle) will be back on at least an event or two this week.

"Our freshmen have obviously been very impressive in the early going. What they haven't experienced is the collegiate schedule, which means a competition each and every week. I think that was part of our problem last Friday. We started the meet with a fall and everybody else got tight. Often when that happens, you compound the first mistake with others. That's the negative. The good thing that happened was our captains got the group together and did a great job of getting the younger team members back on track. The next three events we competed as well as we have all year.

"People like Stephanie Lim on floor and Gabriella Onodi on beam did a nice job as last minute replacements against BYU. It's good to have depth because things are going to happen in the course of a long season. If you're going to have a chance to compete and win every week, everyone is going to have to be able to contribute. So far, that's what's been happening. No matter who I've decided to use in the lineup, she's done a good job. At this point, I'd say we can use a variety of lineups and have similar results."

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