SALT LAKE CITY — The regular season ended last week and Utah gymnastics punctuated it with a bang. The fourth-ranked team posted its season-high score (198.15) in a senior night meet that co-head coach Tom Farden described as “just what the doctor ordered.”

The Red Rocks’ big night came after back-to-back losses, a rarity for the program. While on a three-week road trip, the team came up short to California and Michigan by a total of two tenths. Before then, Utah won every meet of the season, with an exception of coming in second place to UCLA in their week two Elevate the Stage quad meet. Throughout the regular season, Utah’s rankings fluctuated between No. 2 and No. 4.

“We were on such a high after having such good meets in a row that we tried a little too hard,” MaKenna Merrell-Giles said. “Our goal coming into this last meet was having fun and enjoying the moment.”

Friday’s brilliant meet has Utah believing it put itself in the “best position possible” to succeed in the postseason, which begins this weekend with the conference championship.

Defending their title

“We can keep the ball rolling,” Merrell-Giles said.

Utah enters the Pac-12 championship as the winner of three of the last four titles, including last year. It’s the No. 2 seed, despite tying third-ranked UCLA for first in the conference. The Bruins earned the first seed thanks to their higher regional qualifying score.

Regardless of their seeding, the Red Rocks are looking forward to defending their conference championship. Being the second seed doesn’t deter them as they were the same seed last season.

“We’d like to have that championship stay in Salt Lake City,” Maddy Stover said.

The Red Rocks' plan to keep their title is to hit 24-of-24 routines. Utah has hit 97 percent of its routines this year and hasn’t fallen in five meets, including the past two.

“I’ll tell them to hit their routines to the best of their ability and see where that takes us,” Farden said. “If we go out there and hit 24-for-24 routines, and do them to the best of our ability, that’s a success.”

‘Any other meet’

The team members try not to think of the conference championship as anything other than any other meet. Instead, they focus on capitalizing on their talent and hard work.

“It’s just another meet, the same old routines we’ve been doing all year. We just have to be ourselves,” Tiffani Lewis said.

The gymnasts have high expectations of themselves and know what they’re capable of. They came into the season setting goals — such as averaging a 197 score — which they’ve been able to “chip away” in the regular season.

“The goals don’t stop in the regular season,” Stover said.

Familiar feelings

“This team feels a lot like the team we were on our freshman year,” Stover said.

“Absolutely,” Lewis, who was quick to agree, said.

Before last weekend’s meet against Georgia, the last time the Red Rocks earned a 198 was the 2015 Pac-12 championship. That season was the freshman year for Lewis, Stover and Kari Lee.

“We’ve been trying to replicate that the past three years,” Lewis said.

The current seniors thank the 2015 seniors for setting the standard. It helped the underclassmen understand what an elite team looked and felt like.

Just like this year’s team, the 2015 squad finished the regular season ranked No. 4. They eventually went on to finish as the NCAA runner-ups. This time, Utah is hoping to bring home the program’s 11th national title.

When describing the similarities between the two squads, Stover says “there’s just a kind of talent level, but the team chemistry is really what you see come together on the floor.” This year’s group is full of competitive, self-motivated, tenacious athletes who are eager to stay as one of the nation’s best.

“We’ve heard from our coaches that staying at the top is the hardest,” Lewis said.

Staying near the top is another goal that the Red Rocks are itching to keep. For now, they’ll try to achieve it by rocking the Pac-12 championship.

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