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SPORT // JAIME WINSTON
PERFECT 10 University of Utah gymnasts look to another championship
K
ailah Delaney feeds on the sound of 15,000 screaming University of Utah gymnastics fans. “The best feeling in the world is when you do a really big fall and you stick it, and the crowd just goes crazy,” says Delaney, a fifth-year senior on the university’s Red Rocks gymnastics team. And she hears that sound often. Delaney has scored 9.95 or better on vault 10 times since starting with the team. Along with vault, U of U gymnasts compete on uneven bars, balance beam and in floor routines. The team has become a top-tier program and last season was a big one. Delaney and her teammates earned a second-straight Pac-12 championship and ended their season a mere five hundredths of a point short of winning the National Championship. At the same time, Red Rocks senior Georgia Dabritz was named 2015 Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year. The team was on a roll when 40-year coach Greg Marsden announced his retirement. This year, the Red Rocks hope to pull off another winning season with four new freshmen and new coaches. “We rolled over into a period of time where our team is a little younger,” says Co-Head Coach Megan Marsden, who works in tandem—and shares a job title—with Tom Farden. “We need to see how they handle competing in large crowds and under a lot of pressure.” But not all of the pressure for excellence comes from meets. “Academics are first and foremost,” Marsden says. “We want our girls to be in a position to go to graduate school and get accepted into programs across the country.” Last season, the team had the secondhighest grade point averages in the country for gymnastics programs. Delaney, along with her teammates Dabritz and Kassandra Lopez, earned 4.0 grade point averages. “Although we have a young team,” Marsden says. “We have some high standards set.” “There may be a couple things that need to be tweaked a little because it’s a slightly different group of athletes,” Marsden says, “but our plan is to keep the recipe the same and continue on with records and wins.” The Red Rocks open against Brigham Young University on Jan. 8 at the Huntsman Center. Visit utahutes.com for tickets and more info.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
Co-Head Coach Megan Marsden clued us in on five gymnasts to watch this season.
Kari Lee
(sophomore)
Baely Rowe
(junior)
Breanna Hughes (senior)
(senior)
Kailah Delaney
S A LT L A K E M A G A Z I N E . C O M JAN/FEB 2016
Kassandra Lopez
(senior)
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