Utes settle into gymnastics win

PROVO — Utah junior Annabeth Eberle, working on an injured ankle that almost caused coach Greg Marsden to leave her out of Friday night's meet at BYU, came up with a tie for the fifth-best all-around score in Ute history.

But maybe more importantly, Eberle and co-captain Melissa Vituj intervened after Utah's opening event, uneven bars, went almost all wrong, producing three falls by a sophomore and two freshmen.

The No. 1-ranked Utes came back from a dreadful 47.95 start on bars to total 196.225 to No. 11-ranked BYU's mistake-filled 194.70.

"I was going to get them together and talk about how to handle the rest of the meet," said Marsden, "and before I could even get over there, our upperclassmen had them back there — doing it for me. For me, when your players are doing that and getting those younger kids together and getting them squared away, that's huge. That's leadership.

"It worked, they got their heads on straight and we competed well, as we expected to, on the other three events."

Both teams suffered from trying too hard, apparently.

Eberle wasn't sure why Utah had a big case of nerves on bars, but she certainly felt it by the time she swung to 9.875, her lowest score of a 39.725 night that was just .25 off her career-best. She said she felt the pressure of her teammates expecting her to right things, and she did so.

BYU coach Brad Cattermole said it mattered not at all that the opponent was the top-ranked Utes or that the Cougars themselves had a No. 11 ranking, themselves.

For them, it was the excitement of their first home meet and competing in front of friends and relatives that over-stirred the energy level.

"I think they got a little over-psyched by, 'It's-just-so-danged-much-fun,' " he said.

BYU's season-best score, the one that got the Cougars so highly rated, was 196.275 last week at Boise State.

Marsden made a point of talking about Eberle's sore ankle that has been a problem since the day before the season began when she happened to make a move at dinner time that pulled loose a calcification in the front of her right ankle. It swells, and Marsden said she is "competing in quite a bit of pain."

She disagreed. "When I compete, I don't feel it," she said.