No. 2 Utah Gymnasts Await Meet At No. 4 Michigan

Feb. 6, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY -

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

A few notes on this Saturday's Utah gymnastics meet at Michigan are below. For the complete release and statistics, please download the accompanying PDF document.

QUICKLY

The No. 2-ranked Utah gymnastics team (6-0) competes at No. 4 Michigan (8-0-1) on Saturday, Feb. 11 in Ann Arbor, Mich. ... The meet will start at 7:30 p.m. ET ... Utah is looking for its first-ever win in Ann Arbor, where the Utes are 0-4 ... It is the second straight week that Utah has faced an unbeaten team ... Utah and Michigan's one common opponent so far this season is Nebraska. Utah beat the Huskers 195.75-193.00 on Jan. 20 in Salt Lake City. Michigan and Nebraska tied at 195.675 on Jan. 13 in Lincoln ... Live scoring, commentary and video streaming can be found for the Utah-Michigan meet at UtahUtes.com. Live scoring and commentary are free and the live video streaming is available by purchasing the Utah All-Access pass.

UTE NOTES

Utah was 5-0 in 2004 before losing to Michigan in Crisler Arena ... Utah (197.20) and Georgia (197.15) are still the only teams to score a 197 this season ... Former Ute coaches and athletes Michele and Fred Graves will be in the stands for Utah's meet with Michigan. Michele (Townsend), a member of Utah's Crimson Club Hall of Fame, was an All-America pitcher for the Utes and later an assistant softball coach. Fred played football at Utah and was a Ute assistant coach for 17 years before moving to the NFL. He was on the Detroit Lions' staff this past season ... Tied for the team lead with six victories apiece are Kristina Baskett and Ashley Postell. Other event winners this season are Nicolle Ford (5),Gritt Hofmann (2) and Jessica Duke (1) ... Of the Ute starters, only Ford (16-16) is without a fall this year.

UTE RANKINGS

Utah is ranked No. 2 in the nation for the third straight week. Utah's 195.925 team average trails only No. 1 Georgia (196.365). The top 25 can be found on page 3 of this release. Utah has three gymnasts situated in the top 10 in this week's rankings. Junior All-American Nicolle Ford is No. 7 in the all-around (39.342 average), tied for No. 2 on bars (9.910) and No. 5 on beam (9.844). Freshman Kristina Baskett ranks No. 7 on vault (9.875) and No. 9 on bars (9.865). All-America senior Gritt Hofmann ranks No. 8 on beam (9.830). Utah's best apparatus ranking is on the beam (No. 2 48.895 average). The Utes are No. 3 this week on vault (49.165), No. 4 on floor (48.955) and No. 5 on bars (48.910).

LINING UP

If Nicolle Ford and Nina Kim are close to 100-percent healthy, they'll likely go all-around this week. Ford sat out of vault and floor last week to give her injured wrist a break, while Kim skipped floor to rest a sore knee. If they return to the floor lineup, Kristen Riffanacht and Gabriella Onodi will likely be displaced. Onodi won't give up her vault spot to Ford without a fight and early plans have her leading off on beam again this week. Riffanacht led off on beam last week in Onodi's place and the coaches have discussed alternating starts between the two for a few meets.

LAST WEEK

Three good events proved just enough for Utah to edge past No. 12 Arizona State 196.175-196.100 in Tempe. After taking an impressive two-event lead, the Utes stumbled on floor and their two falls put ASU in the driver's seat. But Utah's strong finish on beam (49.15), combined with two ASU falls on floor, proved enough for a come-from-behind win. Ashley Postell's 9.925 beam score clinched the victory and was won of Utah's two wins. Kristina Baskett won vault with a 9.925.

SERIES SHORTS

Utah leads 14-9 but is 0-4 in Ann Arbor ... Utah has won the last four, including three last year (a dual meet victory in Salt Lake and two wins at the NCAA Championships in Auburn, Ala.) ... Utah finished third at last April's NCAA Championships and Michigan placed fifth ... The teams are tied 5-5 in regular season competition.

Upcoming Events

Recent Results