Ute gymnasts nail it at regionals

BERKELEY, Calif. — When practice for the 2007 season began last August, the Utah gymnastics team, which still had seven freshmen on the roster at the time, came in with some apprehension.

It was talented but youthful, and it didn't know if it would even make the NCAA championships it's hosting in April.

Utah has hosted nationals before, but the last time, 1999, things didn't work out as planned. The Utes were seventh in the team preliminaries and missed being in the Super Six finals.

To say the Utes built up a strong case of nerves over the preseason when injuries and illness took a toll on conditioning is to put it mildly, and to say that weighed more heavily with each week of the season when they were inconsistent and couldn't put together a full meet is right on target.

Saturday night at Haas Pavilion on the campus of the University of California in the NCAA West Regional, those apprehensions took a beating as the Utes — not perfect but close enough with two weeks left — easily won the competition to allay their fears of not qualifying for their own nationals.

And with Ashley Postell winning the all-around at a season-high 39.675 over teammates Nicolle Ford and a sick Kristina Baskett, who tied at 39.475s for second in the region, Utah tied with Northeast Regional winner Florida, the nation's No. 1-ranked team, for the highest regional score in the country, 197.325, outdistancing Nebraska (196.65), which also qualified for nationals.

Utah, Florida and Nebraska will join Georgia, Denver, Alabama, Michigan, UCLA, Stanford, Arizona, Louisiana State and Oregon State in the 2007 NCAA Championships at the Huntsman Center April 26-28.

"We're on the right track," said Postell, "and show everyone out there we can do it. I know Missouri thought they had a chance to beat us (third place, 194.30)."

"This will build our confidence and just knowing that we can do it helps us out a lot, and knowing that we can go to nationals and do what we did tonight and have a really good chance of being on top feels really good," said Postell.

"We were just trying to make you guys worry, OK?" said Ford, talking about the whole season and its frustrations. But she was being facetious. "I'm floating," were her real feelings.

"That was what we thought about from the beginning, August, nationals are at home. We're like, 'Oh, it's going to be fine,' and then of course it gets you, 'Like we could actually not get there.'

"I'm kind of on Cloud Nine."