No. 3 Utah Gymnastics Team Hosts Washington Friday

Jan. 16, 2007

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QUICKLY

The No. 3-ranked Utah gymnastics team (1-0) hosts Washington (1-1) on Friday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. (MST) in the Huntsman Center ... Utah opened its season last Friday with a 196.326-195.975 win over UCLA ... Tickets for this Friday's meet against Washington are available online at www.Utahtickets.com and by phone at 801-581-UTIX ... Free live scoring and video streaming are available at www.UtahUtes.com.

QUICK STICKS

Utah coach Greg Marsden is going for career win No. 850 this Friday against Washington. Marsden is 849-148-5 in his 32nd year at the U. helm ... Utah's first two meets of the 2006 season were also against UCLA and Washington. The Utes picked up a pair of road wins against the Pac-10 foes a year ago ... Like Utah, Washington faced UCLA in its 2007 season opener, losing to the Bruins in Los Angeles 194.0-188.175 ... Ranked No. 2 in the preseason coaches poll, the Utes slipped a place to No. 3 in the new rankings, which are based on total season average ... Utah is one of three schools (Florida and Georgia are the others) to score a 196.0 or better in its first meet.

SEATTLE'S BEST

Utah's defending NCAA uneven bar champion Kristina Baskett hails from the Seattle suburb of Normandy Park, Wash. Baskett began her sophomore season with a bang last Friday--winning the all-around and every event except the uneven bars (she placed second with a 9.90) against UCLA. Baskett's 39.60 all-around score vs. UCLA is the best in the nation this year.

LINEUP LOOK

Utah's lineup for the Washington meet should be quite similar to that used against UCLA, with Ashley Postell, Kristina Baskett, Nicolle Ford and Jessica Duke going all-around, Nina Kim and Annie DiLuzio doing three events, and Katie Kivisto competing on bars an floor. On bars, look for freshman Daria Bijak to make her first appearance of the season in some capacity. Bijak, who is recovering from Nov. 17 knee surgery, may opt to compete in an exhibition role in her first collegiate meet. If Bijak lands in the starting lineup by the end of the week, then Kivisto will probably make an exhibition appearance on Friday.

UTE NOTES

Sophomore Kristina Baskett earned four victories in last week's meet against UCLA. Baskett, who scored a 9.90 on all four events, won the all-around (39.60), vault, beam and floor. She tied for first on the floor with Ashley Postell (9.90). Senior Nicolle Ford made it a Ute sweep by winning the uneven bars with a 9.925 ... Career all-around highs in the opening meet came from Baskett (39.60) and junior Jessica Duke (39.00). Personal bests on individual events against UCLA came from Baskett on beam (9.90), Duke on beam (9.675) and junior Katie Kivisto on floor (9.80) ... Freshman Annie DiLuzio lived up to her recruiting hype in her first collegiate meet: DiLuzio scored a 9.85 on vault, 9.775 on beam and 9.825 on floor ... Performing in exhibition for the Utes against UCLA were a pair of freshmen. Jamie Deetscreek performed on three events as a non-scoring competitor, faring best on the vault (9.70). Beth Rizzo received a 9.80 for her exhibition floor routine.

UTE RANKINGS

Kristina Baskett is ranked No. 1 in the first national all-around rankings of the season for her 39.60 against UCLA on Jan. 12. Ashley Postell's 39.275 is the ninth-best average in the nation so far. Baskett has the second best beam average in the Jan. 15 rankings (9.90), and she and Postell are tied for the third-best floor score (9.90). Nicolle Ford's 9.925 bar score last week is tied for third and Baskett is tied for fourth on vault (9.90).

SERIES SHORTS

Utah leads the series with Washington 33-0-1, including a 14-0 home slate ... The blemish on Utah's perfect record came in 2001 in Seattle, when the Huskies pulled out a tie on the final routine by scoring a 10.0 ... Utah has won six straight since the 196.725-196.725 tie in '01 ... The Utes won a 195.625-193.325 decision in Seattle last year.

HUSKY REPORT

Washington is under the direction of a new head coach this season. Joanne Bowers, an assistant for the nationally-ranked University of Michigan program for the past five seasons, takes over for Bob Levesque--UW's coach from 1991-2006. Bowers is 1-1 at UW, with a 193.0-191.4 win over Utah State last week in Seattle and a 194.0-188.175 loss at UCLA the previous week. Her career mark of 35-50 includes five years as the head coach at Illinois State (1990-93) and Kent State (1998-01). The top Husky all-arounder is senior Chelsea Bakken, who scored a career-high 39.025 against USU last week.

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