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Pleasant Grove native MaKenna Merrell is giving 33-year Utah gymnastics coaching veteran Megan Marsden a new learning experience.

"Most athletes have a lot of growth from their freshman to sophomore year," Marsden said. "But the growth MaKenna has made, I've never seen anything like it. She had a normal freshman year where she broke into the lineup a few times, but what she is doing this year, I haven't seen before."

It isn't that Merrell wasn't a contributor in 2016. She hit 22 of 23 routines and was third on the floor at the Pac-12 Championships. But she went through a transformation in the offseason, upgrading all of her routines without sacrificing consistency, having scored 39.425 in her all-around debut against Michigan and 39.25 at BYU.

She will be back in the all-around Saturday when the Utes travel to Washington for a Pac-12 meet.

Merrell credited long hours in the gym during the offseason for her turnaround.

"It was a big transition from club to college, and some took it better than I did," she said. "There were some things I wanted in my routines like the full-in on floor and one-and-a-half on vault, so we just went back to basics and started working some things in the offseason."

Marsden said Merrell always was eager to add more difficulty, but also "figured out the game" of picking difficult elements she could do well time after time.

"She figured it out quickly," Marsden said. "She thinks about gymnastics 24/7 and watches YouTube of routines. She learned in a short amount of time what she could do and she was a worker bee this summer."

Merrell competed on every event except the uneven bars last season. But upgrades there have allowed her to break into the lineup. Her signature move is the Deltchev, a move she picked up by watching YouTube routines. The move is executed as the gymnast swings backwards, releases the bar and does a backward salto in straddle position, followed by a half turn to catch the bar facing it.

"I was able to do it on my third try," Merrell said. "It is a lot of fun to do."

Merrell has earned 9.85, 9.75 and 9.825 on the event for the Utes, but could be headed for even bigger scores as she becomes more comfortable.

"The confidence is building in her daily," Marsden said. "You can see it in her posture, the way she is opening her shoulders and the way she is carrying herself." —

MaKenna Merrell

Year • Sophomore

Height • 5-foot-4

Hometown • Pleasant Grove

Of note • Took third on the floor at the Pac-12 Championships as a freshman. ... Has hit 33 of 35 routines. ... Opened her sophomore season by setting career highs on every event and in the all-around against Michigan. ... Sister Mickell was a gymnast at BYU from 2008 to 2012.