Utah gymnasts 2nd in NCAAs; UGA wins

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Tempting fate didn't get them a championship, but the Utes put their meet in somebody else's hands and were rewarded once again Friday night in the 2006 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships at Oregon State University.

Utah went into a bye in the final rotation and expected to finish third until Alabama, once the leader in the meet, had a couple of falls on balance beam and let Utah move up to second place without moving a muscle.

Georgia, undefeated for the season, scored 48.65 on vault to run off with the meet, as expected, 197.75. Its score was .25 less than the last time the championships were held here in Gill Coliseum — the Gym Dogs had 198.00 here 13 years ago, 1993, the first time there was a Super Six finals on the second night of competition.

The Utes, taking themselves out of any logical chance for a title on bars, their first event, with 48.95, then climbed through the beam (49.425), did not lose much ground on floor (49.175) and totaled 49.35 on vault to finish at 196.80.

"It's just unexpected," said Utah coach Greg Marsden, whose team has started slowly all season. "I didn't think there was any way either of them (Georgia, Alabama) could struggle like that (in their final events)."

Alabama's 48.65 on balance beam dropped the Tide into third at 196.725.

"It's kind of the story of our year," Marsden said of the comeback kids he coached, who frequently fell behind but lost only two regular-season meets and barely qualified at the regional when it survived because Auburn had two poor events to finish. "Sometimes people let us back in."

"We're really excited. We were watching (Alabama's) beam, and me and Kristen (Riffanacht) were sitting there trying to count up. We thinking yes, and Jeff (Graba, assistant coach) said no. We moved up one spot, and hopefully we can move up one more next year at home," said Ute sophomore Ashley Postell, whose 9.95 on beam tied for the highest score of the night on that event and who had finished Thursday as the NCAA all-around runner-up.

Utah hosts the 2007 championships April 26-28 of next year.

"I'm a little bit more excited than I was five minutes ago," understated junior co-captain Nicolle Ford.

"Second place. Yeah!" shouted Ute freshman Kristina Baskett, whose 9.95 vault score tied for second best of the night.