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Utah's seventh-ranked gymnastics team is making a rare trip down to Cedar City on Friday for a meet against in-state rival Southern Utah University.

The Utes agreed to the meet because they felt it was the right thing to do since SUU has made the trek up to Salt Lake for the last 11 meetings between the teams.

"I know they were like, 'finally,'" Utah coach Megan Marsden said of Friday's showdown. "I'm glad we are going to meet them. I feel like Scott [Bauman, SUU coach] has done an incredible job down there."

However, meets with the Thunderbirds might be fewer, and visits to Cedar City virtually unheard of, in the future for the Utes.

The Utes still schedule home and home visits with BYU but haven't competed against Utah State since 2012 and normally have SUU compete at Utah in a tri-meet format because they have fewer open spots in their schedules now that they are in the Pac-12.

Marsden and co-coach Tom Farden feel the few spots they have should be against top national competition, to better prepare their teams for the postseason.

While wanting to support gymnastics in the state, Marsden acknowledged the competition against national powers wins out.

"Until the local teams get to that level, it's harder and harder for Tom and I to make a decision to schedule them," she said.

BYU coach Guard Young, whose team lost to the Utes 196.175-193.85, said maintaining the rivalry is important to him and predicted it would take only a year for his team to be competitive with the Utes.

"Hopefully some of the magic they have up here at Utah and what they do in terms of performance and marketing will rub off on us. I don't think fans appreciate what kind of gymnastics they have in this state and up and down the Wasatch front. It's magical."

Utah ranked 7th

The Utes slipped from No. 4 to No. 7 in the national rankings released on Monday since the rankings are based on season average for the first half of the season.

Marsden said she was disappointed not in her team's performance, but some of the low scores on vault and balance beam, where the Utes scored 48.95 and 48.975, respectively.

The Utes' 49.225 on the uneven bars was good enough to position them No. 1 in the country on that event. They are 11th on the beam (48.975), tied with Kent State for ninth on the floor (49.025) and are tied with George Washington for 15th on the vault (48.95).

"It will be nice to get looked at by a few more judges," Marsden said. "I thought our vaulting and balance beam performances were better than the score reflected so we will continue to deal with the team, but I think we have them on track."

Utah State is just out of the rankings with a 194.375 scored at home against Centenary College while SUU is 30th with the 194.1 it posted at Denver (195.375).

Baely Rowe is Utah's highest ranking individual with a No. 3 ranking on the bars after scoring 9.925 against BYU

Briefly

• Freshman Sabrina Schwab, who replaced MaKenna Merrell at the last minute on floor and scored 9.9 against BYU, will remain in the floor lineup for Friday, Marsden said.

"She earned that spot," Marsden said.

Marsden anticipates there won't be many more changes for Friday's meet.

• The Utes leave for SUU on Thursday instead of driving down the day of the meet.

"We didn't think it was a good idea to go the same day since it is four hours away," Marsden said. "It's different than being an hour or an hour and a half away." —

The Top 25

1. LSU 196.95

1. Michigan 196.95

3. Florida 196.825

4. Oklahoma 196.725

5. UCLA 196.55

6. Alabama 196.3

7. Auburn 196.175

7. George Washington 196.175

7. Utah 196.175

10. Arizona 195.7

11. California 195.575

12. Oregon St. 195.425

13. Denver 195.375

14. Missouri 195.35

15. Georgia 195.2

16. Arkansas 195.15

16. Kent St. 195.15

18. New Hampshire 195.1

19. Illinois 195.075

20. Eastern Michigan 194.875

21. Kentucky 194.825

22. Stanford 194.8

23. North Carolina St. 194.7

23. Minnesota 194.7

25. Maryland 194.4