Utes return to form; BYU 2nd at Cat Classic

For a team about to spend the middle of February on the road visiting traditional powers, a team not happy about what it has done at home the last two meets, Utah's fourth-ranked gymnasts set their minds about getting back to the way they started the season.

"We wanted to build on our first meet," said Ute freshman Nicolle Ford, hearkening back to that Jan. 10 night in which the Utes beat UCLA, the defending national champions, in their home gym.

Coach Greg Marsden fueled the fire by telling the Utes that No. 8-ranked Iowa is a most worthy opponent.

The result was the fourth-best score in the nation going into Friday's meet, a 197.65-195.90 win in front of 9,377 in the Huntsman Center over the Hawkeyes.

It was just what the Utes had pointed for — a team best. "Definitely," said junior Annabeth Eberle, who cranked out another meet-winning all-around score of 39.675. "The last couple of meets, Greg was saying the energy wasn't there. Tonight, the energy was there."

"I really challenged them and told them Iowa is a good team. I challenged them to pick it up," said Marsden.

The Utes responded and made very few mistakes, with just one fall and few big deductions. They got a career-best all-around of 39.625 from freshman Nicolle Ford, a 39.55 from freshman Rachel Tidd, and major contributions in three events from freshman Stephanie Lim, who vaulted for 9.85, had 9.8 on bars with a slight hop on the dismount, and 9.875 on floor.

"She's good," said Marsden, who gave Lim her first extended time on the floor. "She's right there with Nicolle and Rachel. Lim is coming back in less than a year from two knee surgeries. It's a good freshman class."

Ford said she was "definitely more on tonight than every other night. "Every other meet I did something I didn't like," she said.

Ford scored 9.90 on three events, including a career high on bars, and 9.925 on bars. Eberle had 9.975 in vault, 9.925 on floor and 9.90 on beam. Tidd had a 9.95 vault and 9.90 on bars.

The Utes opened with 49.55 in vault, which was dropped down .1 because a vaulter went out of the prescribed order, so the Utes' team total was essentially 197.75.

Even with the deduction, it's the sixth-best score in Ute history.

"I'd much rather have it (deduction) now than at regionals or nationals," said Marsden, who noticed the wrong vaulter was in line, but she'd been signaled to go by the judge, and once the green flag is up, a vaulter has just 20 seconds to get moving, and it would have been hard to make a change on the fly.