Last week at Arizona State, Utah sophomore gymnast Annie DiLuzio was planning on doing her three events when coach Greg Marsden approached and said he thought she should sit out to rest her sore leg.

"I told her as much as I'd like to have her out there every meet, it's more important that we have her the last half of the season when we're on the road against UCLA and Michigan and Florida and then regionals and nationals," Marsden said

"I suggested that, and she just wouldn't have any of it, so we let her do her vault. She just refused to completely be held out."

"Being used to competing on three events, and then (hearing) the big shocker of, 'So, I'm thinking we're going to rest you tonight,' is kind of hard," DiLuzio said this week after scoring a 9.8 at ASU. "Kind of weird."

Her godparents were in Arizona from Hawaii, so she'd wanted them to see her do something.

Probably the rest of the season is going to be like that for DiLuzio, who has what's called a hot spot in one shin, a possible precursor to a stress fracture, so she and Marsden have to be careful.

Nicknamed "Doozie," she doesn't like to hold back.

"It's hard to kind of deal with, but I think the hardest part is to try to keep my numbers down (in practice) because I always like to do more — 'Annie, that's enough.' Definitely cutting back on numbers is the hardest part," she said.

DiLuzio is planning on being back to three events Friday night when second-ranked Utah (3-0) meets No. 32 Minnesota (3-2) on the Huntsman Center floor at 7 on Short People Appreciation Night — anyone shorter than the 5-foot-tall cardboard cutouts of senior Katie Kivisto placed at entrances gets in free.

"We're just playing it week by week," DiLuzio said, adding the leg sometimes hurts quite a bit. "It's frustrating for me to have to modify things and not do as much."

She was primed for a good season, having spent a lot of time last summer working out after her team placed second at the 2007 NCAA championships and she took second in NCAA vault — which would have made most freshmen proud.

"It made her mad. She wanted to finish first," said Marsden, adding, "I think it was meaningful to her. I think it helped her understand that she's really capable of being one of the best college gymnasts in the country."

DiLuzio doesn't compare herself with others and isn't cognizant of scores. She tries to please herself — hard to do — and tries to have fun, which wasn't always the case. In her high school years, gymnastics seemed tedious, but the team atmosphere in college rejuvenated her enjoyment.

That second-place finish last spring built confidence.