Utah Ute gymnast Daria Bijak finding her success by trying not to think about it

SALT LAKE CITY — Ute senior gymnast Daria Bijak finally accomplished a career-long goal last Friday night — really sticking her vault in front of the Huntsman Center crowd.

She says it's because she fell on the vault in the final warmups, "So I didn't think about trying to stick in the meet. I tried to get on my feet. I didn't think about trying to do a perfect landing."

So she did exactly that.

She attributed her strong all-around performances in the last two meets (39.425 vs. Nebraska and a career-high 39.575 in Friday's quad meet) to having been sick because that meant she just tried to get through the routines rather than do them perfectly.

"I guess that's what I need, like not to think about it and just trying to do it no matter what the outcome is," she said Monday at practice.

"When I feel good, then I think my expectations are too high. I want it so bad. I want to do what I can do in practice and in the warmups, but I tend to be too tense.

"I cannot control it. I cannot not want it," she said, laughing at her dilemma. "It's not like I just figured it out. It's how I've been my whole life."

With just a few more chances left in her career, starting Friday at Florida, Ute coaches hope Bijak can finally get her thoughts under control and do as they've been trying to tell her all along.

"If she just relaxes and will do what she can do, she's just an unbelievable athlete," said coach Greg Marsden. "It's when she tries to be perfect, she gets in her own way a little."

Adds co-coach Megan Marsden, "We're trying to get her to approach meets the same way (as practices), but she'll be the first one to tell you, 'Oh, but that's different.' And we're saying, 'No, we don't want it to be.' We keep talking, 'Train like you want to compete and compete like you train.' They should be interchangeable, but Daria has a hard time picturing that because the meet to her is everything."

NUMBER ONE: Former Ute Sarah Shire is the country's leading all-arounder. Now a senior at Missouri — which is in her hometown of Columbia — Shire this week took over atop the NCAA all-around rankings with a regional qualifying score of 39.570, slightly better than the 39.555 of LSU's Susan Jackson, who led last week with the same RQS.