#6 Utah Preview

Recent History
It has been a rough last couple years for Utah. Coming off a program-worst 9th place finish in 2013, the Utes once again failed to make Super Six in 2014, finishing less than a tenth of a point behind Nebraska in 7th place. Those finishes are fine for most teams but not for a program that has been among the elite teams in the country throughout its history and basically invented being good at college gymnastics. They won all the titles in the early years, and more recently, were the second-best team in the country throughout the Georgia dynasty of the 2000s. That's the legacy this team has to live up to, which is why 7th and 9th sting that much more.

2015 Outlook
On the positive side, things are looking up for Utah in 2015. I'm more optimistic about Utah's potential performances this season than I have been in a while, and that's primarily because this team is the deepest they've put together in several seasons. The freshman class is poised not just to contribute routines but to step into areas of real weakness (hi beam!) and reinvent those lineups. They'll slot in comfortably alongside the starring routines from last season, of which nearly all are returning. (A couple from Damianova will be missed, but for the most part, the consistent 9.9s are coming back.) Georgia Dabritz and Corrie Lothrop will once again lead the way, and Tory Wilson has been a stalwart option in the AA when desperately needed these last couple years. In the final season of eligibility for all three of those gymnasts, the pressure is on Utah to produce something this time around while they still have access to all those 9.9s.

In each of the last two seasons, Utah has hung around the cusp of the top 6 throughout the year. Right now, they're still in that area, but I would put them comfortably in the top half of that Utah, Alabama, Georgia, UCLA, Stanford, Nebraska group that will all be clawing at each other to make Super Six. For Utah, it's not just that they should make it back to Super Six; it's that they need to. This roster is good enough to do it, and three straight years of missing Super Six is not acceptable for Utah gymnastics.

Vault


Returning lineup — Kailah Delaney (9.945), Tory Wilson (9.945), Georgia Dabritz (9.925), Becky Tutka (9.850)

Utah should feel very comfortable with the options on vault this year. The big three of Dabritz, Delaney, and Wilson are all back and should be their usual 9.9+ selves this season to make 49.5s a very realistic expectation. Once again, Utah should be vaulting right up there with the best teams. Of the big three, Dabritz had the lowest RQS last season (low at 9.925) as a result of some experimentation with the 1.5 for steppy landings, but she is the strongest vaulter on the team when taking into account her stickitude. Once the postseason rolled around last year, she was the only one in the lineup sticking her vault. That brings up the one real concern about Utah's vaulting recently, the deterioration of landings as April approaches. Suddenly at championships, those 49.5s become 49.3s, and they can't afford that again this year.

Dabritz showed both the 1.5 and the full at the Red Rocks Preview, and while I expect we'll see both again this year at times, the full is the savvier, if less interesting, choice. I always love to see 1.5s, but she's more likely to stick the full and more likely to get better scores for it. When it gets down to it, composition succumbs to pragmatism.

Beyond those top three vaulters, Utah should get an upgrade in the opening three positions this year along with more competition for those spots. In the preview, Kari Lee, Samantha Partyka, and Tiffani Lewis showed the makings of very strong fulls with the height and form both to score competitively and to ensure there's less of a quality gap this season between the first three and the final three. I would be very happy to see triple freshmen in the first three lineup spots. If you'd like something with a little more seasoning, might I interested you in a Corrie Lothrop? She's coming back to the all-around this year and has vaulted for solid scores in the past, but there's also Becky Tutka, who competed last season for 9.850s and could do so again if she gets healthy, and Breanna Hughes, who interestingly showed an OK 1.5 in the preview. When Hughes arrived at Utah, she was supposed to be a vaulter. She had a great 1.5 in JO, and I'm surprised we've heard so little from her on vault until now. That will be a vault to watch (and a good possible option for my favorite thing—leading off vault with difficulty), and as a whole Utah should be among the top four vault teams once again this season.

Freshman Notes: Florida and Utah

Let's continue the mission of chopping a path through the 2015 freshmen by moving on to Florida and Utah. The Gators and the Utes boast two more large incoming classes, both bursting with all-arounders who are pretty believable on all four events. For most of them, their eventual contribution will come down more to the depth of team lineups than to their capability to put together a competitive routine. 

FLORIDA


The Gators are defending co-champions, and once again there's no reason to demote them from that #1 spot. Despite losing two major contributors and well-known former elites in Mackenzie Caquatto and Alaina Johnson (along with their seven 9.9-likely routines from last postseason) Florida is still able to pad the depth wagon this season with four new contributors, who bring with them more than seven lineup-worthy routines to replace those lost scores. Managing to lose stars without losing scores is the sign of a dynasty. Florida has two titles in a row, and three is very possible. 

We'll start at the top, with Kennedy Baker from Texas Dreams. Baker was an elite for many years and qualified to Olympic Trials in 2012 before dropping down to L10 this year to prepare for Florida. Baker has damn huge gymnastics, and while it's hard to predict a four-event contributor on Florida's team because of the sheer number of quality options, I see her sliding in on each event. 

Vault


Bars


Beam


Floor


Floor is my favorite event for Baker, almost entirely because of that killer piked double arabian. It's tremendous, and I can't wait to see that in her routine this year. Pair that skill with her regular double arabian on floor and her excellent Patterson beam dismount, and her portfolio of arabian work is historically good. Florida dropped off just a tad in showing big bad difficulty on floor last year (more front double fulls, fewer DLOs), but Baker will help bring that back in 2015 with her easy power. Not that it stopped them from getting 49.999s last year anyway.