Utah’s gymnastics coaches bet on freshman Cristal Isa, and now it’s paying off

With a veteran uneven bars team like the one the fourth-ranked Utah gymnastics team has, it is a little unusual that a freshman could snag the fifth spot in the lineup. But then Cristal Isa isn’t just any freshman.

The Henderson, Nev., native came to Utah with plenty of accolades for her uneven bar skills and has proven worthy of a spot late in the lineup.

Isa, a two-time Junior Olympic national champion on the bars, is averaging 9.875 for the Utes to rank 21st nationally.

Isa’s routine includes a unique combination, a full twisting giant to a double layout.

“Few kids can do it as well as she can,” Utah coach Tom Farden said. “She has done a nice job of setting up Mick [MyKayla Skinner] with some big scores.”

Isa probably is new to most Utah fans, but the coaches have been aware of her since she was a high school freshman, when she told Farden that Utah was her dream school.

“When someone tells you something like that, you put that in your head,” Farden said. “When the time was right we swooped in and got her.”

Isa thought she would go to Arizona, but didn’t hesitate to accept Farden’s offer.

“I’m so happy here, it has been a dream from the start,” she said.

Isa hasn’t been intimidated by the big atmosphere that surrounds Utah gymnastics. Instead she seems to thrive in it, which goes along with her demeanor, according to Farden.

“She has a really fun spirited personality and she likes to compete,” he said. “You see that in her gymnastics.”

She admitted she is being pushed in her gymnastics going between Skinner and another well-known veteran, MaKenna Merrell-Giles.

“To be almost as good as them, it’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “My goal was to make the bars lineup. I didn’t expect to be where I am.”

In addition to the uneven bars work, Isa is close to breaking into the balance beam, where like the uneven bars, she is working some unique mounts and dismounts.

“She has a catty sense of knowing where the floor is,” Utah co-coach Megan Marsden said of Isa’s landings. “She has been right on the bubble for me and recently in the last couple weeks she has been more consistent one day to the next. I’m excited about what we can do in our beam lineups.”