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SALT LAKE CITY — It takes a lot, physically and mentally, to prepare for an upcoming gymnastics season, especially when you’re one of the best in the country.
But working hard is in Utah gymnastics’ DNA.
The sixth-ranked women’s gymnastics team is coming off a heartbreaking finish last season. Uncharacteristic mistakes on beam, including falls from the first two gymnasts in the lineup, knocked the Red Rocks out of the competition and unable to compete in the Super Six. They finished ninth among 12 teams in the semifinals.
It stung at the time, but the team now looks at it as a learning experience. The Red Rocks were inexperienced with a young roster and were led by new coaches after Greg Marsden retired with 40 years on his résumé. Megan Marsden and Tom Farden took the reins as head coaches while Meredith Paulicivic joined the program as the assistant coach.
“Part of last year was just the growing pains of Tom and I taking over, losing Greg and adding Meredith in the mix — who’s a female and not a spotter, but a choreographer and can coach all the events,” said Marsden.
“We really had to get a year under our belt to figure out how to best organize our staff within the events and training,” she added.
The Red Rocks have made changes regarding who coaches each apparatus. In addition to choreographing floor routines, Paulicivic is overseeing vault this year. Farden is returning to being intricately involved with the gymnasts’ tumbling passes and spotting on floor. He’s also focused on leading the team on bars. Marsden continues to direct the team on beam, improving training tactics to avoid last season’s woes.
In addition to the coaching changes, Utah gymnastics has also adjusted how it trains. The team started working on its routines earlier in the offseason than usual. It’s also doing more pressure sets, going through the motions of an actual competition in which the lineup competes on each event as if it’s in a meet.
“We’re a stronger team physically and mentally because of it,” said junior co-captain Maddy Stover.
She added that the strict training regimen has set the team expectations and has not only helped the upper classmen be role models but also assisted in prepping the young team for the upcoming season.
“We have to get the lower classmen in the mindset that we don’t compete every two weeks or so like we did in club,” she said. “It’s about consistency and confidence when it comes to college gymnastics and we try to engrave that in their brains as early as possible.”
The freshmen — Missy Reinstadtler (Brick, New Jersey), MyKayla Skinner (Gilbert, Arizona) and Kim Tessen (Orem, Utah) — are embracing the team’s standards. The trio features incredible talent with Skinner, who was an alternate for the gold-medal-winning 2016 U.S. Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team, along with Reinstadtler and Tessen, both of whom came to Utah as blue-chip recruits.
“Missy and Kim are two very different styles of gymnasts,” said Marsden. “Missy has more grace and elegance in the way she moves and Kim is a little dynamo. She’s not very big, but she’s powerful and has a little sass to her style. I love the two complements of each other. You can never get the two mixed up. Everybody will know which one’s which.”
Along with sophomores MaKenna Merrell and Sabrina Schwab, Skinner is slated to compete in the all-around.
“She’s made it obvious she’s ready to help us win,” said Marsden.
The Red Rocks also welcomed their second-ever transfer, Macey Roberts, to the program this offseason. The sophomore, who was a starter on vault and floor for Maryland, has three seasons of eligibility remaining. She came to Utah wanting a more competitive program whose goals were set high.
“She hasn’t backed down from that,” said Marsden, who calls Roberts the team’s most-improved athlete.
Fans will see Roberts in the floor lineup. She qualified for the NCAA Regionals in the event and scored 9.825. Roberts will also have an opportunity to compete on vault. Her Yurchenko full vault is solid, giving her a promising outlook that she will go in and out of the lineup, depending on what the team has available.
“Sometimes the 10.0 vaults aren’t ones you want to use the same girl every week for 14 weeks,” said Marsden. “Macy will be a good Yurchenko full we can count on to slide in the lineup on a night we have to rest someone.”
The tremendous depth is unlike what Utah gymnastics has had in the past couple of years. Each gymnast has the event they're outstanding on, but they’re also just as talented on the other apparatuses. The team attributes it to its training and the tone it brings.
“Everyone has that tenacious attitude every day we train. Everyone is training like they’re going to compete in every event, even if they aren’t necessarily in every lineup,” said Stover. “We’re consistently competitive in the gym with one another and ourselves to be able to have that depth if we need it should that time come.”
“We have a good balance of talent on this team, from your extremely high, powerful skills to your beautiful, artistic beam routines and floor routines,” Stover added. “We have cool versatility on this team, but also a lot of talent that’s going to prevail and I think put us on top this year.”
The Red Rocks will open their season against No. 7 Michigan at the Huntsman Center Saturday, Jan. 7 at 5 p.m. MST.
