The Stanford Cardinal might have the nation's best balance beam team, but the Utah Utes' aren't bad in the event, either.
Utah, which lost to Stanford 196.825-196.5, scored its season high on the beam with a 49.15 to put itself in position to survive Friday's meet.
The Utes were trailing Stanford 98.375-98.35 before their balance beam performance put the Utes in a tie going into the final event.
Utah freshman Mary Beth Lofgren scored a 9.9 on the beam to tie for first in the individual honors.
The Utes, ranked fourth in the event, posted scores of 9.725 or higher after leadoff gymnast Fumina Kobayashi fell.
"I thought we did pretty good under the circumstances," senior Gael Mackie said. "Stanford is a good team and it was a close meet and we were tied going to floor, but it was hard with the challenges we faced."
No pressure
With only five healthy gymnasts on the floor, Mackie was given the option of competing in her floor routine or skipping it since her last pass isn't quite ready. Penciled in as the sixth gymnast, Mackie delivered a 9.875.
Mackie said her decision to compete was made easier because the outcome had been settled at that point.
New to the lineup
Freshman Victoria Shanley competed for the first time and scored a 9.875 on the vault. Shanley has had a hard time breaking into the lineup after missing several weeks of training in December due to mononucleosis.
