The Daily Utah Chronicle s PORTS 14 - The Daily Utah Brandon Winn, Sports Editor: winnchronicle.utah.edu Chronicle Tuesday, January 19, 1999 Miller Lifts Utes Up and Over Rainbows With his bright Hawaiian shirt broadcast all across America Monday night on ESPN, Utah coach Rick Majerus must have looked like a poorly decorated beach house. The flower pattern stretching across his chest looked like wallpaper gone bad. He didn't look so hot. Fortunately, his favorite point guard did. Andre Miller scored 17 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, handed out seven assists and picked up five steals as Utah beat Hawaii 60-4And most of his big plays came at critical a repeat times. After the Utes sailed ahead 6. 22-1- 0, of their victory over San Diego State on looked to be in the books. But the Saturday unlike the Bows, Aztecs, had a run in them. 1 A burst put Hawaii in great position, down by three with just over three minutes before the half, to make a legitimate run at d Utes. knocking off the But Miller would have none of it. The Utc guard, who the ESPN broadcasters couldn't praise enough for the game's entirety 79-5- 3 10-- highly-favore- y (it was like Ahmad Rashad was giving a of Michael Jordan walking up the driveway), scored all seven of Utah's final first-ha- lf play-bypla- points and gave the Utes lead at the break. In the second half, with the Utes up 7 with just under 13 minutes to play, Miller found Alex Jensen open for a three, then scored two buckets of his own to siretch the scored to Hawaii would never come any closer that eight, and whenever it did Miller was the man to thank for getting the Utes out of trouble. With the entire Hawaii defense, pep band and campus security crew focusing all their attention on Miller, he let others slash the throats of the Rainbow Warriors. Phil Cullen was one of a 30-2- 2 42-3- 49-3- 7. the beneficiaries of the defense. Leading by eight, Cullen drilled a three at the top of the key after Miller drove the lane, was d and kicked the ball back to Cullen who was spotting up perfectly. A simple catch and shoot, and the lead was up to 11 with 8:03 triple-teame- left. Game over. Utah is now 4 overall and, at 0 in conference play, is the only unbeaten team in the Pacific Division. 13-- 3-- Brandon Winn Ml UJ 000 Red Rocks Prove Themselves as Legit Contenders Despite Youth Erik Martinez Chronicle Asst. Sports Editor Left: Theresa Kulikowski won the competition in her first performance as a Ute. all-arou- If Friday night's season opener is any indication of things to come, the Utah gymnastics team has very little to fear this year. The Red Rocks simply outshincd No. 6 Stanford in all four events, beating the Cardinal in comfortable fashion, 196.050-192.57Utah's final score was the second highest in the nation thus far, second to only Georgia, who recorded a 196.450 on Jan. 16. Utah's team score on Friday also ranked second in school history for an opening meet, and increased Utah's home winning streak to 146 meets. The Red Rocks' score was bolstered all of whom by a trio of mark. topped the At the head of this impressive trio was freshman sensation Theresa Below: Kulikowski's performance helped the Utes stomp Stanford. 5. nt Kulikowski. In her first competition in over two years, Kulikowski raised eye brows in the Huntsman Center, winning the title, beam, bars, and floor. Kulikowski racked up a score of 39.400, the best debut by a freshman in school history. Not slated to go until just minutes before the meet began, Kulikowski announced her presence to the collegiate gymnastics world. But Kulikowski wasn't the only Red Rock with a spectacular season opener. Angic Leonard and Theresa Wolf both went all around, and both broke the barrier. Leonard put together the most consistent four events of the evening (39.075), peaking on the vault (9.800), while never dipping below a 9.725, her lowest score which was registered on the beam. The score was particularly sweet and relieving for Leonard who had been out much of the preseason due to shoulder surgery. "It's nice to get one under the belt and get back into the swing of things," said Leonard, a senior. "It was kind of frustrating but I'm the kind of person who likes to compete rather than train all the time." Naturally, head coach Greg Marsden is very exited about the potential and the depth of his 1999 roster, a team that may well bring the University of Utah its nth national title. "I couldn't be more pleased with the way the team started. It reconfirmed O Kulikowski Is Impressive in First Ute Meet nt ' Erik Martinez Chronicle Asst. Sports Editor 39-pl- see gym, page 17 There was no casing into things for Theresa Kulikowski. In her first collegiate competition ever, the freshman lit up scoring tables on Friday, separating herself from other in the meet. She won the with an impressive debut mark of 39.400. In route to winning the Kulikowski won the bars (9.90), beam (9.85) and the floor (9.925). Kulikowski's final total set a new freshman debut mark, breaking former Utc Traci Sommcr's debut d, d, ,v ft IV J) 1 ' . vx .v..v ' . mm J. jT . "V (39 325) in 1994. Her outstanding debut in the Huntsman Center is made all the more impressive when considering Friday's meet was Kulikowski's first competition in almost two years. Els' r ' r" niiimif"- -' sec freshman, page 14