Red Rocks focus on cleaning up uncharacteristic mistakes in Sunday’s meet at Cal

As good as Utah’s scores have been or as great a confidence booster as the win at UCLA was, the Utes know they can’t afford to make big mistakes when it comes to competing for a national title.

So it’s time for the Utes to go back to focusing on the basics — hitting 24-for-24 routines — with Sunday’s meet at Cal.

After hitting 24 for 24 in two out of three meets, the Utes have failed to do so in their last three competitions. It’s a testament to the team’s strength that the Utes still have earned some of their higher scores during that time, but the Utes know it just might be a matter of time before inconsistency hurts them.

They don’t want that time to be in the postseason.

“At the end of the night, we still feel like we are leaving something on the table, in a positive sense,” coach Megan Marsden said. “We got a big win against UCLA, and we still haven’t maxed out.”

The Utes nevertheless did slip a spot in the rankings to No. 4, their lowest ranking of the season. With Oklahoma and LSU both scoring in the 198-range, the Utes know they have to respond and improve if they want to have a chance at the national title.

The comforting thing is there isn’t one event or pattern that is involved in the mistakes. Many seem uncharacteristic, such as Kim Tessen’s missed vault landing or Sydney Soloski’s fall on the floor.

“The bigger mistakes are coming from our young ones, and I don’t mind seeing that,” Marsden said. “It will help us down the road. I doubt Kim is going to do that again, and Sydney was embarrassed and frustrated.”

Sometimes the Utes have to evaluate their routines and remove some difficulty to become more consistent, but the Utes aren’t close to being at that point. They just need to get a little bit better.

“We still have some carrots to dangle out there to keep the team motivated,” Marsden said. “It’s only February.”

Despite the two falls against UCLA, the gymnasts said they go into the last three meets of the season with the most confidence they’ve had this season. After all, none of their mistakes came on the balance beam, where the Utes were under the most pressure.

“Going into the last rotation and having to hit our best routines to win, it was such a boost for us,” MaKenna Merrell-Giles said. “We know we can hit under extreme amounts of pressure and in front of a big crowd like ours, but that was against us. We just have to make some minor adjustments.”