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Forth Worth, Texas • Utah's gymnastics team has thought all season that freshman Kari Lee could be a star in the making.

Now the rest of the collegiate gymnastics world knows that, too.

Lee scored a 9.95 on the vault and a 9.9 on the floor to qualify for Sunday's event finals. Georgia Dabritz was Utah's other qualifier, scoring 10 on the uneven bars and 9.925 on the floor.

While Dabritz's inclusion was expected, Lee's is a surprise, given that she is a freshman. However, she has been strong for the Utes all year and delivered two of her best routines Friday.

"It was unexpected, but I'm super excited," Lee said. "I was pumped up and had a bunch of energy out there."

Utah's last individual champion was Ashley Postell who won the balance beam in 2007.

Credit to her

Utah's gymnastics team wasn't the only one amazed by Dabritz's 10 on the uneven bars. Stanford gymnast Ivana Hong congratulated Dabritz during her time in the postmeet media conference.

Hong was aware that Dabritz had several fiberglass splinters in her hands from the bars after Thursday's practice session, injuries that led to a decision by the NCAA officials to change the bars because they were too rough.

"She did amazing," Hong said. "She did awesome to come back like that."

Keep the 10

For many, many years, a perfect 10 has been the lasting symbol of perfection in gymnastics. College coaches hope they can keep it that way.

There is some talk that college gymnastics should switch to the same scoring the International Gymnastics Federation has used since 2008, with gymnasts being judge by two separate panels that combine their scores. A 20 is the new 10, and scores in the 15-16 range are considered very good.

While the scoring allows for a bigger range, making it easier to differentiate between gymnasts, it ultimately would do more harm to collegiate gymnastics than good, some coaches say.

LSU coach D-D Breaux said such a change would create "confusion and chaos," and harm the fan base while Nebraska coach Dan Kendig said the 10 was 'sacred.' "

"People know to get a 10, you have to do something special," he said. "To go to open scoring, people don't understand what the scores are all about."

Utah coach Greg Marsden said it was up to the judges to continue to differentiate between gymnasts, and he worries injuries may become more prevalent as teams continue to push the limits of the code of difficulty.

"With greater difficulty comes greater risk," Marsden said. "We are already seeing a lot more injuries, and we have to think about how much more difficulty we want to encourage."

Ultimately, though, the coaches are most concerned about doing away with a score recognized so widely for the pinnacle of success.

"The worst thing we could do is deviate from the 10 standard," said Georgia coach Danna Durante. "People know what that is and what it means."