This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah's gymnastics team doesn't believe it is headed in the wrong direction despite slipping down the national rankings again this week. The Utes, who held the No. 1 ranking for three weeks, went from No. 5 to No. 7 in this week's ranking. Utah was expecting such a drop this week since the rankings moved to the regional qualifying score formula which counts three road scores. The Utes haven't earned very high marks on the road this season but aren't concerned. "With our away scores we knew it was coming," senior Stephanie McAllister said. "It's what we've said all along, we can't dwell on the scores or the things that happened in the last meet. We have to focus on the things we need to work on as a team and focus on the end goal, not the rankings." Florida and Oklahoma remained No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. UCLA improved from No. 6 to No. 3 after it posted a 198.05 in a win over Arizona State (194.85). The score was the highest this year by any team and the highest by a UCLA team since it won the 2004 NCAA Championship. The Bruins had 49.475 or better on each event and 13 marks of 9.9 or higher. Nebraska also had a big jump, moving from No. 9 to No. 6. Individually, Corrie Lothrop is ranked No. 9 in the all-around (39.325) to be the only Utah representative among the Top 10 in the various categories. - Lya Wodraska