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MyKayla Skinner is known as a jumper, a gymnast whose skills in the air make her a world-class performer on the vault and floor.

Hoping her enrollment at the University of Utah next month follows a trip to Rio de Janeiro, Skinner will have to soar in the standings this weekend in the U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics trials at San Jose, Calif. Five athletes will be named to the team, plus three alternates.

Skinner deferred coming to Utah for a year to pursue the Olympics. Ute co-coach Tom Farden labels her as "an all-encompassing athlete, trying to squeeze all the potential out of herself." At this stage, Skinner will have to do something extraordinary to displace one of the five favorites to make the team, although a usagym.org analysis offers some hope: "She's not in yet, but she's not out either."

This weekend's all-around winner will claim one spot; a selection committee will decide the other four berths. After the recent P&G Championships in St. Louis, national team coordinator Martha Karolyi sounded as though if she had five gymnasts in mind, saying, "I think they proved themselves very well. But we have to see them one more time."

The list starts with four-time U.S. all-around champion Simone Biles, defending Olympic champion Gabby Douglas and Olympic individual winner Aly Raisman. Laurie Hernandez, 16, has emerged this summer and Madison Kocian is considered the strongest candidate for the fifth spot, with Ashton Locklear and Skinner next in line.

Lisa Spini, Skinner's longtime coach in suburban Phoenix, resists having her labeled a specialist, because of her all-around ability. Yet being available for the vault or floor lineup in Rio is probably Skinner's best hope of being selected after Sunday's final competition in the trials. "She just has to go do what she's capable of, and she'll be in the mix," Spini said.

Spini stopped just short of saying an alternate's role would be acceptable, justifying Skinner's long push toward the 2016 Games. At 19, amid her gymnastics focus, "I've missed a ton of stuff," Skinner told the Arizona Republic.

Spini remembers Skinner, then 11, as "a cute, little kid … incredibly talented, if we could bring it out of her" when the gymnast's family asked for advanced coaching at Desert Lights Gymnastics. Spini and her husband, longtime Arizona State coach John Spini, opened the gym in 1997. Skinner "learned to work out at an elite level and receive coaching," Lisa Spini said. "She's become a perfect kid to work with."

Farden, who will join Utah co-coach Megan Marsden at the trials in San Jose, made one of his first recruiting trips as a Ute assistant to see Skinner. "It was a special treat to have her take a serious look at us," he said. Skinner signed with the Utes in November 2014 and has kept in close touch with the Ute staff, while waiting to join the program.

If she goes to Rio in one role or another, Skinner will need some "decompression" time once she arrives on campus, Farden said. "We've got to give her a little breathing room."

Once she begins competing, "She'll be a great college gymnast," Spini said. Skinner's international program is demanding, in the unlimited scoring format. When a 10.0 becomes the top score in college, the Ute coaches "can take out all that stuff and just have her do what she does perfectly," Spini said.

Twitter: @tribkurt —

Utes in the Olympics

MyKayla Skinner hopes to become the eighth former Olympic gymnast to join the University of Utah program.

Gymnast Country Year

Missy Marlowe USA 1988

Theresa Kulikowski* USA 1996

Cheryl Weatherstone Great Britain 1984

Crystal Gilmore Canada 2000

Gael Mackie Canada 2004

Daria Bijak** Germany 2008

Nansy Damaniova Canada 2008

* — alternate

** — Olympic appearance came during Utah career