Crowd of 14,100 cheers Utes to victory.
Feb. 11, 2005
SALT LAKE CITY -
The No. 1 ranked Utah gymnasts treated a raucous Huntsman Center crowd of 14,100 to a 196.650-194.350 victory over Brigham Young in a rare blowout against their arch rivals. No last ditch heroics were necessary this meet from freshman Ashley Postell, who placed fourth in the all-around behind Rachel Tidd, Nicolle Ford and Annabeth Eberle. It was the first time in five tries that Postell has not won the all-around, but she had more than enough help.
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Tidd scored a season-best 39.375 to win the all-around, Ford placed second with a 39.325, Eberle was third (39.300) and Postell checked in at fourth (39.375). Utah also swept every individual title with Tidd winning the bars, Ford the vault and beam and Eberle the floor exercise.
The eighth-largest crowd ever to watch a gymnastics meet in the Huntsman Center and the largest since Utah beat BYU in 2002 screamed itself hoarse throughout a meet in which Utah was never seriously challenged.
The stage was set for a Utah victory on the very first routine when Sandy, Utah, native Jessica Duke scored a career-high 9.775 on the vault. Duke, whose parents are both BYU graduates, had not competed a routine to count in the Huntsman Center, although she had scored for the Utes in road meets.
Gritt Hofmann fell on the next vault, but pressure did not appear to be an issue for the rest of the lineup. In fact, Ford followed Hofmann with the best vault score of the evening, a 9.875. Postell and Tidd both soared to 9.85 scores and Eberle finished with a 9.775. After one event, Utah led 49.125-48.600 and that was as close as BYU would get all night.
Utah cranked it up a notch on the next event and freshman Katie Kivisto played a big part in that. In arguably her best routine as a collegian on any event, Kavisto scored a career-high 9.90 as Utah's first competitor. Her score held up as the best of the night through four routines until Tidd flirted with perfection and scored a career-tying 9.95. It was the fourth bar victory in six meets for Tidd, who missed one meet with a back injury and did not win last week at Minnesota. Between the Kivisto-Tidd bookends were four other fine routines. Dominique D'Oliveira and Ford scored a 9.825 from the No. 2 and No. 5 positions and Eberle and Postell scored back-to-back 9.850's.
Utah got in a hole early on the balance beam when leadoff Kristen Riffanacht, a second-team All-American on the event, fell. She re-injured her hamstring on the routine and had to be scratched from the floor lineup. Although it was the first fall on beam by Riffanacht, it was the fifth time in six meets that Utah has had a fall on the balance beam. Gabriella Onodi, who missed most of the last two weeks of training, as well as last week's meet at Minnesota with an ankle injury, rebounded with a beautiful 9.825 routine. Tidd and Eberle followed with a 9.75 and 9.775, respectively. Then freshman Postell again pulled through in the clutch. While her 9.70 was her lowest beam score of the season, and she ran into some problems, she kept Utah from counting a fall. Never in the five meets in which Postell has competed on beam (she only did vault vs. Utah State), has every gymnast before her stayed on the apparatus.
The Utes then steamed through the floor exercise, again starting with Kivisto. A last second replacement for the injured Riffanacht, Kivisto recorded her second career high of the night with a 9.725. Ford (9.775), Tidd (9.825), Postell (9.875) and winner Eberle (9.90) had the crowd at a fever pitch for closer Hofmann. For the first time of the year, Hofmann opened her routine with a full in and closed it with a double back. The crowd didn't get close to the 10.0 it was screaming for and a cascade of boos rained down in the Huntsman Center when her 9.875 score was displayed.
But most of this night was about cheering and Utah improved to 6-0 with the victory.
