(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.”
So, in the space of two hours, I 1) heard from one of my sports editors that there will be a remake of NBA Jam, 2) did the research, and 3) wrote the story.
It ended up being some good writing. One of the stories I'm most proud of this semester, writing-wise.
(Not great-looking because of my writing, but I like the way it looks on the paper! If you want to see that, go here.)
This was a lot of fun to do. I didn't know I was going to love spring football so much! From what I can tell, Riley Nelson has an edge thanks to his previous experience with BYU. But Jake Heaps is wowing and impressing people too. So we'll see what happens.
I've got a preview for the three BYU swimmers going to the NCAA Championships.
And, a report on BYU football's spring practice. I had a lot of fun with that one. When I showed up, I wasn't really sure what was going on. But then I got to chat with Malosi Te'o, a freshman running back, coach Bronco Mendenhall and coach Brandon Doman. It's funny to talk to Coach Mendenhall now, because at the beginning of the semester when I interviewed him for a story on the draft, I was intimidated and awestruck. Now it's just another day on the job.
One of the most interesting things going on with the football team is that it's time to pick a new quarterback. I've been assigned to do a story on how that process is going so far. I got some good material yesterday and I'll be going to football practice again today to find out more. For some reason I'm really looking forward to it.
It was fun to talk to a couple of coaches and be back in the BYU football office. It was especially cool to talk to quarterback coach Brandon Doman, because the biggest question about the 2010 BYU football team is 'Who will be the next starting quarterback?'
Whoops, I'm a couple days behind on getting this posted! But here it is: Alexa told me yesterday there have already been 12 entries! If you have an idea for a caption, comment on this blog or email du.letters@gmail.com.
Here's another cartoon! On the printed page, they had to take the vertical cartoon and make it horizontal, so it got stretched out a bit. It still looks okay. But here it is in its original glory.
Just a quick one about the softball team. The regular softball reporter was out sick this week. Unfortunately, since I don't know the ins and outs of the BYU softball team, I didn't know they like reporters to warn them a day in advance before asking questions. And I didn't get the story assignment until the day before they left for Texas. So, no chance for real interviews and quotes.
Oh, I almost forgot...a few weeks ago I did a story on the BYU vs. Utah swim meet, complete with a photo slideshow. The captions weren't there, but recently our multimedia editor Rich Johnson fixed it for me. So, check out the pictures again, this time with additional, explanatory information!
The results* of the 3rd Daily Universe Caption Contest:
First Place:"I'm telling you, if they had let me call the Vancouver 1st Ward, they could have had three times the amount of volunteers and 10 times the green Jell-O!" - Austin Miller, Katy, Texas
Second Place:
“This proves global warming just as surely as my nametag says Gore.” - Josh Lutes, Riverside, Calif.
Third Place:
"Who's running these games anyway? Barack?!" - Christopher Erickson, Wilton, Conn.
The BYU women's team won the MWC championship! And the men didn't do too bad either. After finishing the regular season in last place, they ended up at third place.
First place:"Where'd all my fans go?" - Benjamin Hayford, Vancouver, Wash.
