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SALT LAKE CITY — “You can’t always be perfect.”
MyKayla Skinner’s comment after Utah’s meet against Arizona State sums up the Red Rocks’ Friday night well.
The team came into the meet feeling good, but as soon as Missy Reinstadtler vaulted an “awesome” routine to start the meet and was handed a 9.775, the Red Rocks knew they were in for a challenging night.
“We try not to pay attention to scores as we’re going, but obviously when scores are tough like that, it does affect you a little,” Kari Lee said.
Though scores and nerves put Utah through an off night, which included two falls, the team still managed to score in the 197s. The second-ranked team never gave up its lead against No. 17 Arizona State (5-3, 2-2 Pac-12), totaling 197.075-195.40 to improve its record (7-1, 4-0).
“I was afraid of this meet. I call it a trap meet,” Utah co-head coach Tom Farden said. “We cranked it out, cruising through meet after meet. I didn’t know if they were going to overlook Arizona State.”
Skinner highlighted Utah’s lineup, sweeping all four event titles and the all-around. The sophomore scored 9.95 on floor, 9.925 on bars, and 9.90s on vault and beam to total her all-around score to 39.675. Her impressive performance comes after coming to terms that she’s been hard on herself this year after having the best freshman season in Pac-12 history.
"Maddy (Stover) and Megan (Marsden) told me to start having fun again,” Skinner said. “It's been hard going last on every event because when I'm preparing to compete, I can't cheer for my teammates (who come before) and be involved. Today, I did."
“We told MyKayla to just let it happen,” Farden said. “Don’t try to be perfect because the scores will come. She had a great meet.”
Utah’s night started with a season-low 49.30 on vault. The team had a 9.825, two 9.85s and a 9.875 from MaKenna Merrell-Giles to go along with Skinner’s 9.90. The effort was enough to put the Red Rocks ahead of the Sun Devil’s 49.30-48.65 after the first rotation.
Bars wasn’t as great for Utah with a 49.25 score. The event included two scores in the 9.90s from Skinner (9.925) and Kim Tessen (9.90), but the Red Rocks were forced to count Merrell-Giles’ 9.775, the team’s lowest score to count on the apparatus. At the meet’s midway point, Utah had a 98.55-97.50 advantage.
Utah started to hit its lows on beam (49.225), where Merrell-Giles uncharacteristically fell after letting nerves get the best of her.
“I know exactly what happened. That’s why it’s so frustrating,” Merrell-Giles said. “I let myself do the things that go wrong when I get nervous. Falling flat out stinks. There’s no other word for it.”
She admitted she’s trying to look for the positives in the situation and is happy that the fall makes her more “fired up and ready to go” for next week.
But while Merrell-Giles was trying to brush off her first fall of the season, her teammates shined, showing off their confidence. Alexia Burch followed the blip with a clutch performance, posting a 9.825. Both Lee and Missy Reinstadtler earned 9.85s before Skinner (9.90) wowed the crowd with seamless effort. The comeback boosted Utah’s score 147.775-146.575.
The odd mishaps continued on floor (49.30). Tiffani Lewis got the Red Rocks started with a 9.90 before Macey Roberts fell for the first time in her two-year career on the team. Lee got things back to normal for Utah with a 9.875 performance, but Reinstadtler’s step out of bounds forced the team to count her 9.65. Merrell-Giles redeemed herself with a stunning 9.925 routine. Skinner ended the night with a grand 9.95.
“I didn’t want to feel that way anymore,” Merrell-Giles said of the “bad taste” she had after beam. “I wanted to be there for my team. The meet wasn’t over. If I would’ve dwelled on that beam routine, my floor routine would’ve been a mess.”
“It’s hard not to be proud of this team. They’re fighters,” Farden said. “They could’ve closed shop after the second spot on beam and wobbled all over the place. They could’ve closed shop after the second person on floor, but they didn’t.”
“We obviously made mistakes, myself included, but for the rest of the team to come back so strong and to hit a 197 with more than one mistake shows how much potential we really have,” Merrell-Giles said.
Utah begins its three-week road trip next weekend with a meet at No. 4 UCLA on Sunday at 6 p.m. MST.
