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ST. LOUIS — “We really want to be in the top three at nationals.”
MyKayla Skinner shared Utah gymnastics’ season goal after the team’s intra-squad meet in December.
“We want it and we’re striving for that goal this year,” she added.
The Red Rocks survived their semifinal, finishing third to advance to Saturday’s Super Six. Between the two semifinals, they posted the fifth-highest score — a 197.1375. Oklahoma topped the chart with 198.05, its ninth score of 198 or better this season. Florida finished with 197.5875, followed by UCLA’s 197.5625 and LSU’s 197.475.
Utah finished the regular season with a fifth-best 197.54 RQS average. When it sticks most of its landings and doesn’t overthink, the team can hit or get close to 198. Utah’s highest scores this season were 198.15 and 197.70.
After Utah’s 198.15 performance against Georgia, MaKenna Merrell-Giles said the team “didn’t get caught up on the little mistakes and wanted to enjoy every routine.”
“We wanted to see where having fun takes us,” Skinner added.
Having fun took them to their best performance of the season, something the Red Rocks are eager to replicate in the Super Six.
While the Red Rocks want to finish in the top three, they’re contending for their first national title since 1995. Utah owns a record-tying 10 national championships and has finished second five times — most recently in 2015, when it finished five hundredths of a point behind Florida.
“This team feels like the one we were on our freshman year,” Maddy Stover said, referring to the 2015 squad.
"I've been here for almost a decade," Utah co-head coach Tom Farden said. "This is definitely a special group."
The Red Rocks are slated to start the Super Six on floor, then compete on vault in the second rotation. Utah had the same rotation order a couple of weeks ago at regionals, where it posted 49.60 on floor, thanks to five scores of 9.90 or higher.
Floor and vault are Utah’s two best events, as it ranks fourth and third, respectively, in the country. The team’s highest floor score is 49.775 while its top vault score is 49.625. It’ll need to vie for both of those scores in hopes of finishing in the top three.
The key to the Red Rocks' success in the Super Six is having fun. It's that mindset that lets them perform their best gymnastics, fly high and be among the elite teams.
"They said right from the start that they wanted to be a premiere team. They wanted to be a feared team," Farden said.
The Super Six is Utah's last chance to prove it this season and finish as a top team.
Saturday’s final marks the last time the NCAA women’s gymnastics championship will be formatted as the Super Six. Next year, nationals will feature two four-team semifinals and a final four. Utah is making its 21st Super Six appearance, tied for second with UCLA. Both Utah and UCLA are the only programs in this year’s field that also competed in the inaugural Super Six in 1993.
The Super Six starts at 5 p.m. MDT and will be televised on ESPNU and streamed live on ESPN.com.
