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Gymnastics
vs University of Minnesota
The University of Utah Athletics
Saturday, February 18
Salt Lake City, Utah
8:00 PM
University of Utah
vs
UCLA
No. 5 Utes Host No. 4 UCLA in Pac-12 Showdown
2/13/2017 10:27 AM | Gymnastics
Meet between national powers starts at 8 p.m. Saturday
This Week in Utah Gymnastics
The Pac-12's top two teams square off in the Huntsman Center on Saturday, Feb. 18 when No. 5 Utah (7-1, 2-1 Pac-12) hosts No. 4 UCLA (4-1, 3-0 Pac-12). The meet—which is a "RedOut"—starts at 8 p.m. MT and will be televised live nationally on ESPNU. As of Monday, reserved seats are still available in the upper bowl and may be purchased at UtahTickets.com (https://utahtickets.com/gymnastics/#single-meets).
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In the Rankings
With a 196.879 season average, Utah dropped one place to No. 5 in the national rankings after last week's loss by .025 at No. 11 Oregon State. Utah is ranked No. 4 on beam (49.300 season average), No. 4 on floor (49.263), No. 5 on vault (49.225) and No. 9 on bars (49.092). MyKayla Skinner is ranked No. 2 in the all-around (39.583), No. 5 on floor (9.933), No. 7 on vault (9.908), No. 8 on beam (9.883) and No. 22 on bars (9.858). Skinner is the top-ranked Pac-12 gymnast in the all-around and on floor. Baely Rowe is No. 7 in the nation on beam (9.888) and No. 19 in the all-around (39.337). MaKenna Merrell is ranked No. 22 on vault (9.865). See sidebar on page 3 for Utah's complete national rankings.
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Fan Fun
Saturday's meet is a "RedOut" with fans encouraged to wear red. The first 2,000 fans in attendance will receive a red Utah Utes' flag … The Ute gymnastics team will debut a new leotard at Saturday's meet and a weeklong social media campaign will run on @utahgymnastics Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. The new attire will be teased on @utahgymnastics on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before the full leotard is unveiled on Friday … The free Kids Zone opens Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and features a face painter, balloon artist, poster making station and more … The Utah marketing department is doing a national push for the Utah-UCLA meet, targeting gymnastics fans across the nation and encouraging them to tune into ESPNU for the meet.Â
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Showdown!
Utah and UCLA have combined to win four of the five Pac-12 Championships to date, with Utah winning in 2014 and 2015 and UCLA capturing the title in 2012 and 2016. Utah has qualified for a record 41-straight national championships with 10 national titles (nine NCAA), while UCLA has made the championships 34 times and has six NCAA titles. See Series Shorts for more.
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Quick Sticks
Saturday's meet on ESPNU marks the first time the ESPN family has televised a Utah home gymnastics meet. The talent crew assigned to the meet includes former Olympians Bart Conner (play by play) and Kathy Johnson Clarke (color analyst), Utah alum Holly Rowe (reporter) and Laura Rutledge (reporter) … Utah's MyKayla Skinner and UCLA's Madison Kocian were both members of the 2016 U.S. Olympic team (Skinner as an alternate). Kocian won the silver medal on bars in Rio … Utah is averaging 15,035 fans a meet, including a season-high 15,326 vs. Cal on Feb. 4. See "Nation's Attendance Leader" for more … This week's national rankings mark the last time of the season that season average will be used to determine a team and individual's rank. Starting Monday, Feb. 20, the rankings will be based on regional qualifying score. The RQS takes the six best scores—three which must be road scores—dropping the high and averaging the remaining five scores.
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Chalk Talk
Freshman MyKayla Skinner is undefeated in the all-around and on vault and has 23 total wins (of 30 possible individual titles) ... Skinner won the first four Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week honors awarded this season and is a three-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week … Ute individual event/all-around winners: Skinner (23), Baely Rowe (5), MaKenna Merrell (5), Tiffani Lewis (2), Kari Lee (1), Missy Reinstadtler (1) … The Utes are 138-144 in hit routines (routines without a fall), including 24-24 at Washington and Oregon State … Gymnasts who have hit every routine are Skinner (24-24), Macey Roberts (9-9), Sabrina Schwab (8-8), Kim Tessen (7-7), Maddy Stover (5-5) and Erika Muhaw (2-2).
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Ute Insider
Look for sophomore All-American Kari Lee to return to the vault lineup this Saturday after a two-week break from competition vaulting … MaKenna Merrell has put together back-to-back career highs on beam since moving from leadoff to No. 2 in the lineup. She scored a 9.875 against both Cal and OSU … Utah has lost two starters to season ending injuries: Sophomore All-American and 2016 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Sabrina Schwab (knee) and freshman Kim Tessen (ankle). Schwab was competing in the all-around, while Tesson was a two to three event starter.
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Series Shorts
Utah leads the series 51-28-1, although UCLA held the upper hand last season, 3-1 … The Utes won seven of eight competitions with UCLA from 2014-15 before losing by .025 (197.100-197.075) in Los Angeles last February. UCLA also beat Utah at the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships, while the Utes picked up a win at regionals … Utah owns a 26-2 lead in Salt Lake City with its sole losses coming in 2003 and 2012. For complete series results, see page 2.
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Scouting UCLA
Coach: Valorie Kondos Field (27th season)
2016 NCAA Finish: 5th
National Rank: No. 4
2017 Record: 4-1 (3-0 Pac-12)
Notes: Season-high 198.125 last week in win over Stanford … Only loss was to No. 1 ranked Oklahoma on Jan. 15 … Freshmen Madison Kocian and Kyla Ross's appearance in UCLA's season opener marked the first time two members of an Olympic gold medalist team had ever competed in an NCAA women's gymnastics meet. Kocian competed for the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where she won a silver medal on the uneven bars along with the team gold. Ross was on the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the 2012 Olympics in London (along with UCLA volunteer coach Jordyn Wieber) … Top all-arounders are Kocian (39.625 high) and Sonya Meraz (39.225) … Kocian, Ross and Christine Peng-Peng Lee have all scored 10.0s on bars.
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The Pac-12's top two teams square off in the Huntsman Center on Saturday, Feb. 18 when No. 5 Utah (7-1, 2-1 Pac-12) hosts No. 4 UCLA (4-1, 3-0 Pac-12). The meet—which is a "RedOut"—starts at 8 p.m. MT and will be televised live nationally on ESPNU. As of Monday, reserved seats are still available in the upper bowl and may be purchased at UtahTickets.com (https://utahtickets.com/gymnastics/#single-meets).
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In the Rankings
With a 196.879 season average, Utah dropped one place to No. 5 in the national rankings after last week's loss by .025 at No. 11 Oregon State. Utah is ranked No. 4 on beam (49.300 season average), No. 4 on floor (49.263), No. 5 on vault (49.225) and No. 9 on bars (49.092). MyKayla Skinner is ranked No. 2 in the all-around (39.583), No. 5 on floor (9.933), No. 7 on vault (9.908), No. 8 on beam (9.883) and No. 22 on bars (9.858). Skinner is the top-ranked Pac-12 gymnast in the all-around and on floor. Baely Rowe is No. 7 in the nation on beam (9.888) and No. 19 in the all-around (39.337). MaKenna Merrell is ranked No. 22 on vault (9.865). See sidebar on page 3 for Utah's complete national rankings.
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Fan Fun
Saturday's meet is a "RedOut" with fans encouraged to wear red. The first 2,000 fans in attendance will receive a red Utah Utes' flag … The Ute gymnastics team will debut a new leotard at Saturday's meet and a weeklong social media campaign will run on @utahgymnastics Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. The new attire will be teased on @utahgymnastics on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before the full leotard is unveiled on Friday … The free Kids Zone opens Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and features a face painter, balloon artist, poster making station and more … The Utah marketing department is doing a national push for the Utah-UCLA meet, targeting gymnastics fans across the nation and encouraging them to tune into ESPNU for the meet.Â
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Showdown!
Utah and UCLA have combined to win four of the five Pac-12 Championships to date, with Utah winning in 2014 and 2015 and UCLA capturing the title in 2012 and 2016. Utah has qualified for a record 41-straight national championships with 10 national titles (nine NCAA), while UCLA has made the championships 34 times and has six NCAA titles. See Series Shorts for more.
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Quick Sticks
Saturday's meet on ESPNU marks the first time the ESPN family has televised a Utah home gymnastics meet. The talent crew assigned to the meet includes former Olympians Bart Conner (play by play) and Kathy Johnson Clarke (color analyst), Utah alum Holly Rowe (reporter) and Laura Rutledge (reporter) … Utah's MyKayla Skinner and UCLA's Madison Kocian were both members of the 2016 U.S. Olympic team (Skinner as an alternate). Kocian won the silver medal on bars in Rio … Utah is averaging 15,035 fans a meet, including a season-high 15,326 vs. Cal on Feb. 4. See "Nation's Attendance Leader" for more … This week's national rankings mark the last time of the season that season average will be used to determine a team and individual's rank. Starting Monday, Feb. 20, the rankings will be based on regional qualifying score. The RQS takes the six best scores—three which must be road scores—dropping the high and averaging the remaining five scores.
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Chalk Talk
Freshman MyKayla Skinner is undefeated in the all-around and on vault and has 23 total wins (of 30 possible individual titles) ... Skinner won the first four Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week honors awarded this season and is a three-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week … Ute individual event/all-around winners: Skinner (23), Baely Rowe (5), MaKenna Merrell (5), Tiffani Lewis (2), Kari Lee (1), Missy Reinstadtler (1) … The Utes are 138-144 in hit routines (routines without a fall), including 24-24 at Washington and Oregon State … Gymnasts who have hit every routine are Skinner (24-24), Macey Roberts (9-9), Sabrina Schwab (8-8), Kim Tessen (7-7), Maddy Stover (5-5) and Erika Muhaw (2-2).
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Ute Insider
Look for sophomore All-American Kari Lee to return to the vault lineup this Saturday after a two-week break from competition vaulting … MaKenna Merrell has put together back-to-back career highs on beam since moving from leadoff to No. 2 in the lineup. She scored a 9.875 against both Cal and OSU … Utah has lost two starters to season ending injuries: Sophomore All-American and 2016 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Sabrina Schwab (knee) and freshman Kim Tessen (ankle). Schwab was competing in the all-around, while Tesson was a two to three event starter.
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Series Shorts
Utah leads the series 51-28-1, although UCLA held the upper hand last season, 3-1 … The Utes won seven of eight competitions with UCLA from 2014-15 before losing by .025 (197.100-197.075) in Los Angeles last February. UCLA also beat Utah at the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships, while the Utes picked up a win at regionals … Utah owns a 26-2 lead in Salt Lake City with its sole losses coming in 2003 and 2012. For complete series results, see page 2.
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Scouting UCLA
Coach: Valorie Kondos Field (27th season)
2016 NCAA Finish: 5th
National Rank: No. 4
2017 Record: 4-1 (3-0 Pac-12)
Notes: Season-high 198.125 last week in win over Stanford … Only loss was to No. 1 ranked Oklahoma on Jan. 15 … Freshmen Madison Kocian and Kyla Ross's appearance in UCLA's season opener marked the first time two members of an Olympic gold medalist team had ever competed in an NCAA women's gymnastics meet. Kocian competed for the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where she won a silver medal on the uneven bars along with the team gold. Ross was on the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the 2012 Olympics in London (along with UCLA volunteer coach Jordyn Wieber) … Top all-arounders are Kocian (39.625 high) and Sonya Meraz (39.225) … Kocian, Ross and Christine Peng-Peng Lee have all scored 10.0s on bars.
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Players Mentioned
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