No. 4 Utah Gymnasts Host No. 16 Stanford Saturday

Feb. 16, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY -

THIS WEEK IN UTAH GYMNASTICS

The No. 4 Utah gymnastics team (8-0, 4-0 Pac-12) hosts No. 16 Stanford (4-5, 2-3 Pac-12) on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. MT. It is the annual Short People Appreciation Night and people 5-feet or shorter will receive a free general admission ticket. The meet will be televised live on the Pac-12 Networks.

QUICK STICKS

In addition to the popular Short People Appreciation promotion, the first 1,500 fans in the doors for Saturday's meet will receive a Georgia Dabritz wall decal measuring 2-feet and the first 2,500 fans will receive the 1996 Utah gymnastics replica poster ... Utah has averaged 14,509 fans to its first three home meets ... Utah learned last week that it is the new site of the 2015 Pac-12 Championship, originally scheduled to be hosted by Arizona State on Mar. 21. See Pac-12 Championship moved to U. for more ... This is the final week that the rankings will be based on total season average. Beginning Feb. 23, the rankings will be determined by Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) for the remainder of the season ... Utah has won six Pac-12 weekly awards, including four for Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week: Tory Wilson (Jan. 12) and Georgia Dabritz (Jan. 19, Feb. 2, Feb. 9). The Utes have won two Pac-12 Special Performance of the Week awards: Corrie Lothrop (Jan. 26) and Wilson (Feb. 9).

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP MOVED TO U.

Utah has replaced Arizona State as the host school for the 2015 Pac-12 Championships, the conference office announced last week. Two sessions will be held in the Huntsman Center on Mar. 21 with seeds 5-8 competing at 2 p.m. and seeds 1-4 starting at 7 p.m. Season ticket holders and Crimson Club members may begin reserving Pac-12 Championship tickets online tickets online on Monday, Feb. 16 or through their account representative on Tuesday, Feb. 17. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Click here for more Pac-12 Championship information.

IN THE RANKINGS

Utah's 197.025 in a win over No. 17 Washington last week wasn't enough to hold onto its No. 3 national ranking. The Utes are No. 4 in this week's poll, which is based on total season average. After four weeks as the nation's top-ranked all-arounder, Georgia Dabritz dropped to No. 4 this week. Dabritz is tied for No. 1on floor and is ranked No. 2 on vault and No. 3 on bars. See page 3 for complete Utah rankings.

CHALK TALK

Stanford handed Utah its only conference loss last season, beating the Utes 197.000-196.300 in Stanford, Calif., last February ... Utah is 5-0 at home and 3-0 on the road ... Ute winners this season: Georgia Dabritz (17), Tory Wilson (4), Baely Rowe (2), Kailah Delaney (1), Kari Lee (1), Corrie Lothrop (1) ... Utah has not counted a fall yet this season. The Utes are 140-144 in hit routines (routines without a fall). Gymnasts who have hit every routine are Wilson (24-24), Lee (16-16), Breanna Hughes (8-8), Tiffani Lewis (8-8), Kailah Delaney (7-7), Kassandra Lopez (6-6) and Maddy Stover (6-6).

UTE INSIDER

Utah has had four all-arounders score a 39.35 or better: Georgia Dabritz (39.70 best), Tory Wilson (39.55), Corrie Lothrop (39.45) and Rowe (39.35) ... Freshman Samantha Partyka made the vault lineup last week in Seattle and scored a 9.85. All four Ute freshmen (Partyka, Kari Lee, Tiffani Lewis and Maddy Stover have now competed to count ... Junior Breanna Hughes (bars, floor) expects to resume practicing this week after sitting out the last two meets with an elbow injury ... Junior Kailah Delaney scored a 9.875 in exhibition on beam at Washington.

SERIES SHORTS

Utah is 22-6 all-time against Stanford and 10-1 in Salt Lake City (the loss was in 2011). The two teams split last year, with Stanford winning (197.000-196.300) in Palo Alto and Utah getting the upper hand at the Pac-12 Championships (197.925-197.175) in Berkeley. For complete series results, see page 2.

SCOUTING STANFORD

Head Coach: Kristen Smyth (12th year)
2014 NCAA Finish: 9th
National Rank: 16
2015 Record: 4-5, 2-3 Pac-12
Notes: High score of 197.000 in a win at Oregon State (196.450) on Jan. 26 ... won four straight before losing at Cal 195.325-195.475 on Feb. 8 ... Taylor Rice has a season-best 39.50 all-around score.

Attention all shorties! If you're under 5' tall you can get into the No. 4 @UtahGymnastics No. 16 Stanford meet Saturday for free.

-- Holli Alexa (@Holli_Alexa) February 16, 2015

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