Gymnasts fall to Utah
(A rather depressing headline! I have nothing to do with headlines, that's the copy editors' job.)
Now, the original article was a lot longer. The editors had to cut out quite a bit. So, for your enjoyment, here's the article as I originally wrote it:
BYU competes with Utah and prepares for regionals
By J.J. Despain
Even when surrounded by Utah red, the BYU gymnastics team still saw success Friday night.
The No. 35 Cougars scored its highest score of the season and lost to No. 11 Utah by only 1.125 points.
“I love it,” senior Megan Donehue said in a news release. “Some people may say that competing here is intimidating, but I think it just makes the meet so much fun.”
BYU lost 196.950-195.825 to narrow the gap with gymnastics powerhouse Utah. The Cougars’ 195.825 is the team’s highest score of 2010, breaking the record set earlier by their win over Arizona State and Boise State.
Senior Danielle Goldman said last week’s meet was a good way to end the regular season.
“It was a really good night,” senior Danielle Goldman said. “We just started off really well and carried it through the whole meet.”
Goldman had two career-best scores against Utah, a 9.825 on both the uneven bars and the vault.
“I go first up,” Goldman said about the vault event, “so it’s nice to start off the lineup with a good score.”
On the balance beam Donehue scored a career high as well with 9.900 points. Three other Cougars, including Goldman, scored a 9.800 or better in the event.
“We have a good group of beam workers this season,” BYU head coach Brad Cattermole said in a news release. “They don’t get rattled easily and perform consistently.”
Krysten Koval, a sophomore on the team, said a meet against Utah is always a season highlight.
“It’s just such a big meet,” Koval said. “That’s probably the meet we have the most fun at.”
Over 15,000 fans at the meet helped break the NCAA record for highest attendance in the nation of any women’s sports event this year.
BYU’s success is another sign momentum as the team prepares for the regional championship meet.
“If we just go out and hit our stuff like we know how to do,” Koval said, “then we should fare pretty well in the meet.”
Members of the team are excited to see the Cougars at regionals, especially after their absence last year. A host of injuries and other setbacks made BYU miss regionals for only the second time in 21 years.
“We are really happy and we’re really proud with what we’ve done this year,” Koval said. “It’s a huge turnaround.”
Goldman said her team is making the right preparations.
“I’m feeling pretty confident going in,” Goldman said. “I think we’re peaking at the right time.”
The team has two more weeks of practice before the championships.
“If we do have a good night, then we have just as much chance as any team up there,” Goldman said. “Everything comes down to that one night.”
joshjoed@gmail.com
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