This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
With its performance in this past weekend's NCAA Championships, the University of Utah women's gymnastics program went beyond being known for drawing big crowds and having a glorious past.
The Utes barely missed winning the title, finishing second to Florida at Fort Worth, Texas. This is one case where coming close was highly meaningful, for multiple reasons. It provided a nice ending to the phenomenal career of senior Georgia Dabritz, who won Sunday's individual bars competition. It showed that the Utes still belong in the national conversation, as more than just a great regular-season team. And it was rewarding for all of those fans among this year's average crowd of 14,950 at the Huntsman Center who view Utah gymnastics meets as genuine competition, not just an entertaining performance.
Utah co-coach Greg Marsden created a program that was so envied that it became a model for other schools that have surpassed the Red Rocks on a national level in this century. But Utah remains relevant, as the runner-up finish illustrated.
The Utes' showing completed a strong academic year in the three sports — football, men's basketball and gymnastics — that athletic director Chris Hill wanted to showcase competitively in the school's initial phase of Pac-12 membership. He succeeded. The football team went 5-4 in conference play in 2014, with a Las Vegas Bowl victory The basketball team finished 13-5, tying for second place, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. And the gymnastics team won a second straight Pac-12 championship and thrived in the NCAA meet.
That convergence makes 2014-15 rewarding for the Ute athletic program, while sports such as softball and baseball show improvement.
A national title would have been nice for Mardsen, whose most recent championship came 20 years ago. Yet the reality is that second place in 2015 means more than first place in 1995, because of the level of competition.
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