THE DAILY UTAH C "1 V 4. 1 f' " R 0 N C I L E Gymnastics Will Take on Seventh-Ranke- d Arizona RORY BRUNNER Chronicle Asst. Sports Editor ; fi f H The No. 4 U gymnastics team (i-will get a stiff early test to its regular season home winning streak fc o) 22-ye- ar Friday night. No. 7 Arizona visits the Huntsman Center after beating a host of ranked teams, while the U looks to plug in reserve gymnasts after the injury bug hit the team in defeat of Ohio its season-openin- g (5-- 0) State. nt an Former NCAA champion and Utah's 2001 victories leader Theresa Kulikowski is scheduled to go three events for the Utes after her injury. Kulio's knee is black and blue after she flung off the bars against Ohio If a. filling in for an injured Kulikowski on the event, will be out three to four weeks with a bad sprain. Prior to the floor, Wagner had competed in the vault and beam, earning scores of 9.700 and 9.775, respectively. Her replacement on the two events will be junior Kim Allan. Allan, who is coming off Achilles surgery which sidelined her during her sophomore year, was a three-eveperformer as a freshman. a Allan, Second Team on beam as a freshman, scored a 9.800 on bars in her only event last week. Two more gymnasts will join seniors Deidra Graham and four-evewinner Shannon Bowles in the nt State. Coach Greg Marsden said Kulio was tumbling in practice and will go on floor as well as bars and beam, Sophomores Veronique LeClerc and Melissa Vituj are scheduled to go all four events. unless by some freakish practice Their stiffest challenge may come accident it gets worse. from Bowles, who won the One Red Rock the U will be with(39.450), beam (9.950) and out is Kylee Wagner. Wagner, a floor (9 875) and tied for first on bars senior, had her ankle buckle after her (9.900). first tumbling pass on the floor exersee GYMNASTICS, page 11 cise against OSU. Wagner, who was all-arou- nd The U gymnastics team puts its 22-ye- ar Men's Hoops Embarks On Road Trip Against Two MWC regular season home winning streak on the line tonight. Women Rebound From CSU Loss$ Score Blowout of Falcons ERIC WALDEN Chronicle Sports Editor Opponents RORY BRUNNER Chronicle Asst. Sports Editor Last Saturday afternoon, the U Coming off two of the hottest shooting performances in its history, the Utah men's basketball team must venture outside the comfortable confines of the Huntsman Center as e it enters a road trip this two-gam- weekend. 0 Utah (12-Mountain West Conference) begins play Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo., against Air 2 MWC), before visitForce (6-New Mexico's 'Tit" Monday. ing Both games will be shown on KJZZ, with the AFA game starting at 3:07 p.m. and the NM game begin3, 9, 2-- women's basketball team let one get away. On Thursday night, the Utes never let it get anywhere close to that point Less than a week removed from a loss to Colorado Utah Stats, responded with an emphatic 67-3- 9 victory ever the Air Force Falcons, ' The U improved to 6 overs .11, r. 2MWC, while AFA fell to triple-overti- ; 9-- -1 1. o-- 0-- ning at 7 p.m. Utah will enter AFA's Clune Arena e with a winning streak, an against opponent at the bottom of the MWC. Air Force opened its MWC schedule with losses to UNLV (66-5at nine-gam- 4) home and at New Mexico But that is no reason to take them lightly, coach Rick Majerus said. "Anyone who's willing to fly those jets or is willing to take a bullet certainly isn't afraid to dive on a loose ball," Majerus said. "They're the kind of kids I would love to coach. Without even looking at them on tape, I know that they'll be extremely competitive." (50-47- ). Senior shooting guard Erin bons led four Utes in double-figurscoring, nailing (and m,i v$ New Mexico Utah 118 at 6 p.m. Ute Natatorium - e -9 shots overall) for 16 poiats. a team-hig- h Senior forward Lindsay Herbert was on treys for 14 points, while Lauren Beckrnan and Katherine McColl each added 12 points. Beckrnan contributed 10 boards for her sixth double-doubl- e of the season. Equally important to the balanced scoring, though, was Utah's fast start. On the strength of shooting in the opening half (n-of-2- and some stifling defense 15 for 23.1 per(Air Force was cent), the Utes raced out to a 6 lead at the break if 34-1- see vvMO"S KOOPS, page 9 see MEN'S HOOPS, page "i Gib- 10 WOMEN'S TEfJfirS ) vs Utah State (0-0- Utah (0-0- ) 118 at 5 p.m. Eccles Tennis Center CHRONICLE SPORTS EDITOR 7 Foul tresfcft llmltti Kdsy Siremaa to jast 1? GYftriASTICS vs Arizona Utah (5-0(1-- ) 0) 113 at 7 p.m. Huntsman Center ERIC "WALLY" WALDEN mkztn, fcstsfte still con-tr&utc- TRACK at Utah Snake River Open 119 All Day Pocatello, Idaho 4 $mh end 4 rebceajs. MEN'S HOOPS at Utah Air Force (12-- 3) (6-- 9) 119 at 3:07 p.m. Colorado Springs, Colo. EWALDENCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU 581 - 7041