Completed Event: Gymnastics versus NCAA Championship Final on April 19, 2025 , , 4th of 4 (197.2375)
Final Score
Gymnastics
4th of 4 (197.2375)
vs NCAA Championship Final
Friday, January 7
Salt Lake City
7:00 PM
University of Utah
195.700
vs
195.300
UCLA
Ute Gymnasts Upset No. 1 UCLA 195.700-195.300
1/7/2011 12:00 AM | Gymnastics
Jan. 7, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY -
In a meet that went wire-to-wire, it was a freshman-laden Utah team that stood up to the pressure for a 195.700-195.300 upset win over No. 1 ranked and defending NCAA champion UCLA in the season opener for both teams. A Huntsman Center crowd of 12,445 got a rousing introduction to Utah's big freshman class, which performed 10 of the team's 24 routines without a single fall.
The pivotal event in the meet for both teams was the balance beam. Utah, which held a miniscule .025 lead entering beam on the third rotation, got off to a rocky start when senior Gael Mackie fell. Knowing that one more fall would likely cost them the meet, the next five Utes proceeded to sail through their routines.
Stephanie McAllister, who finished the night as the all-around winner with a 39.175 (the first career win for the junior), was the first up after Mackie's fall and performed a 9.70 routine. Cortni Beers took the cue and scored a 9.825 to usher in two straight routines by freshmen competing in their first meet. They performed with the poise of veterans, with Corrie Lothrop scoring a 9.775 and Mary Beth Lofgren following with a 9.725. All-America senior Kyndal Robarts added punctuation to the set with a 9.85.
UCLA, on the other hand, went the other direction. In the final rotation, the Bruins took the lead for the first time when their first three competitors averaged a 9.75 on the beam. After Tauny Frattone fell from the fourth position , Aisha Gerber took the lead back with a 9.875 routine. But Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs fell as the final Bruin competitor, and Utah secured the win.
After the meet, McAllister said, "We knew it was close the whole time, but I thought the freshmen handled the pressure really well. I think they liked it."
One who loved it was Lofgren, a Salt Lake City native, who has been watching the Utes "since I was four years old. I was really nervous, but I was living my dream," she said. In addition to Lofgren's 9.725 on beam, she scored a 9.825 on vault and a 9.675 on floor. "It's pretty crazy that I'm actually here after all these years," she added.
Classmate Lothrop took third in the all-around in her debut, scoring a 39.025 that included a 9.825 on vault. Nansy Damianova was the other freshman to score and she, too, turned in a big night, scoring a 9.85 on vault, a 9.725 on bars and a 9.75 on floor.
It wasn't all freshmen and McAllister, though. Robarts won the vault with the best event score of the night--a 9.925--and placed second on beam (9.85). She also popped for a 9.725 score on the floor. Senior Jacquelyn Johnson hit all three of her events and Beers put up some of Utah's best scores on bars (9.725) and beam (9.85). Mackie had a 9.775 on the bars.
Utah co-head coach Greg Marsden had good things to say about his 2011 team's first meet. "We upset the defending national champs and didn't have any major mistakes. It was the first meet for both teams and we both did a good job and we both will get better. I really felt like it would go down to the last few routines. We're not going to make more of it (the win) than it is, but we'll celebrate it tonight, Marsden added.
As for beam, where Utah made its stand? "(Co-head coach) Megan (Marsden) pointed me to the door when I was hanging out before beam and told me to get away from her beam team," he laughed.
The last time Utah defeated a No. 1 ranked team was in the 2008 season opener, when the Utes upset Georgia. Utah meets the Bulldogs next Saturday in Athens.
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