Utah Utes gymnastics: Red Rock seniors aim for strong finale

SALT LAKE CITY — Ask Utah's Greg Marsden to characterize his four-woman senior class, and the long-time gymnastics coach is momentarily at a rare loss for words about the group that will be honored prior to tonight's Senior Night meet.

The 11th-ranked, 10-3 Utes are up against No. 35, 4-10 BYU to complete the regular season for both clubs in the Huntsman Center. Utah can win the NCAA women's 2010 attendance title for all sports if it draws 12,474 or more fans for this meet. Its current average is 14,049.

"It's a mixed group. Very different personalities from very different backgrounds," Marsden says about his seniors.

There's German Olympian and World Championships veteran Daria Bijak, Annie DiLuzio from the U.S. elite program and Folsom, Calif.; Level-10 product Jamie Deetscreek from Hatboro, Pa.; and former walkon Beth Rizzo, in her fifth year, from Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Bijak and DiLuzio have been at or near their best lately, Deetscreek fighting to follow up a very successful junior year in which she set a Ute record for consistency and Rizzo is trying to overcome injuries that sidelined her much of the last two seasons.

As different as they are, they have one thing in common: They have satisfied themselves. They say they leave with no regrets, no unfulfilled personal promises.

"I feel like I've finally figured things out," said Bijak, coming off two of the best all-around scores of her career (career-high 39.575 followed by 39.525 at Florida last week), and I go into the meet with not as much pressure as I did at the beginning of the season. I'm really enjoying what I do right now."

When she arrived in Utah, Bijak spoke English but was unsure of college gymnastics. It's far more team-oriented than the international style, and there's less time to practice. "I feel really comfortable with the gymnastics I'm doing now. I'm not doing as hard routines as I did with elite, and I'm really confident with them, and I'm still scoring very well."

DiLuzio was NCAA vault runner-up as a freshman but has battled elbow and leg problems her whole career. Still she's scored 9.95 on floor four times and on vault once this season.

As for tonight's finale — the Utes host the 2010 North Central Regional April 10, but this is the last regular-season meet in the Huntsman.

"It's exciting, it's sad, it's so many different emotions," DiLuzio said. "It's crazy because it is coming to an end — and the realization that there's no more gymnastics in a month, there's no more going in the gym to work out and no more assignments to do.