Utah Utes gymnastics: Utes regress, still manage to defeat No. 8 Michigan

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's gymnastics team has prided itself all season on performing as it practices, and the result has been steady improvement.

Then there was this week.

Actually, it kind of did perform as it practices, but the result wasn't another step forward, despite a 196.425-195.425 win for the third-ranked Rocks against No. 8 Michigan in the Huntsman Center.

Coach Greg Marsden gave his team Monday off as a reward after it really hit its stride Feb. 12 against Washington, getting seven 9.90-or-better scores and the highest team score of the season.

There's nothing wrong with that, but Utah took its first regression of the year Friday on Short People Appreciation Night, attended by 13,975.

The Utes opened by tying their lowest score of the season on vault, 49.1, and had one of their lower bars totals, 49.05. They matched that score on beam before hitting their high for the night with 49.225 on floor — which had been their biggest trouble spot.

Junior Stephanie McAllister scored her second straight 9.9 on floor, and freshman Nansy Damianova preceded her with 9.875, a career best, to give the Utes their best floor total of the season.

McAllister lost the all-around to Michigan's No. 2-ranked Kylee Botterman, who had 39.425.

Damianova said the excitement seemed to be missing, and McAllister, who was sick during the meet, said, "Tonight we didn't do as good a job" of performing as they practiced.

Neither seemed worried about it.

"There were definitely some plusses," McAllister observed. Floor was the biggest because the team met its goal of improving. And, "It's fun to win," she said.

Marsden was less positive but noted the light practice. "I didn't bring much intensity to practice," he said, though that was by design to help recharge.

"Very lackluster," he said. "They weren't bad. They just weren't great. They had been doing such a good job of competing with intensity."

He said next week will see tougher practices — not as punishment but because the Utes need to get back to form immediately.

They're at Utah State Friday and need a good road score to give them a strong Regional Qualifying Score, the total that seeds them into the postseason. RQS requires three road scores. Utah has only two so far.