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Show a in i m and iltos walk offff fftooir Mairsdeirsi season ffomiaDe on t y: r 4 J1' . f" . - y J CHRONICLE X PHOTOPaul Heinarz Utah's Jen Mercier waits patiently for the judge's signal so she can forfeit her beam routine. The Utes declined to compete in their last nine performances in the loss to BYU. Utah loses to BY DAVID COOPER Suzanne Metz with a 9.825, and BYU's Cristy Miles finished third with 9.800. After two events Utah was leading with a running score of 97.450-96.57- In their first regular season loss in two years, the University PROVD 5, with their best event, the of Utah gymnastics squad fell to 194.125-125.80- competing in only 2 0 for first time ever Utes. King was followed by teammate Chronicle Sports Writer Brigham Young Y. beam, still to come. Utah began the floor exercise with sophomore Jen Mercier filling in for after 12 events in Saturday night's meet at the Marriott senior Missy who was scratched from the lineup after an Wells-Taylo- r, Center. Utah coach Greg Marsden elected to pull his team off the floor halfway injury in her bars routine. After Mercier's routine, the judges had through the floor exercise rotation after a confrontation with the meet referee, Wendy Atkinson. BYU then failed to flash the starting value score in a view visible to Marsden and other coaches and gymnasts. cruised to the easy win with a season-hig- h team score in what was the final regular season meet for both schools. team collects second tournament title U. Softball Previous to the beginning of the 1994 season, coaches and judges both agreed to allow the flashing of the start values in all NCAA meets. Under the new terms, coaches would be granted the option to write an inquiry second run, after U. pitcher , Cyndee Bennett scored in the , leadoff position. Timmel then Still carrying a No. 25 ranking J returned in the seventh to seal in ' the national polls, the the win by scoring the Utes' third run on a sacrifice fly by University, of Utah softball team capped off a" successful Spring Stewart. Timmel was named to after seeing a start value that does pot reflect the true value of the gymnast's routine difficulty. Therefore, the ability to see the start value weighs heavi-- " ly in a coach's appeal process of scores. ;,v, "The start Value was turned away from me," Marsden explained. "So I walked over there and turned the start value towards me so I could see. I see "gym" on page eighteen Break road swing by winning the National Invitation Softball Tournament Sunday at San Jose State University. nd total of the season highest for any BYU gymnast. But the meet took on another element after the Utes' withdrawal, according to gymnasts from both teams. "It was like we're just exhibitioning out there," BYU's Nanette Thornock admitted thinking. "The competition was pretty much over." . ; over-cam- 4-- J sixth-ranke- ge - " Following the meet, Marsden voiced his apologies to BYU's athletes and fans along with the traveling Utah fans, and described the meet as a "disappointing scenario for everybody." "The judges are the focus of this competition," Marsden continued, "which is a really sad thing because BYU competed as well as I've seen them compete.. The discussion should be about what a great job they did." e ,. Utah senior Meredith King her ankle injury to land a season-high 9.925 score on the vault, good enough to win the event for the " team. . the NIST Bennett picked up her fourth ' win of the year to go to 1 as a starter this season; while team- mate Ali Andrus collected the save. The win lifted Utah to a 11- -. record over Spring Break after opening the WAG season against San Diego State on March 18. Utah's only losses were in a double header with Washington . on March 22. Utah's planned ' double header with d was called off ' due to rain. The following are other available results from other Utah soft- - ' ball games over the spring break. Utah 4, San Diego St 2 By scoring four runs in the , second inning, Utah jumped out. to an early lead that SDSU couldn't surpass... The Aztecs-i . committed four errors while Ute pitcher Ali Andrus added eight . more strikeouts to her season . total. , . . Utah 6, San Diego St 2 Ute pitcher Monica Jimenez .won her sixth game of the season after fanning seven Aztec batters and allowing only four hits. -- The Utes (23-- 5 overall) won the championship round against host SJSU by the score of 1 thanks to their two runs in the fourth inning which gave them the lead in their first N1ST championship. Second Baseman Amy Timmel knocked in teammate 3-- Cristen Cosgrave took the with a score of 38.800, the all-arou- Wendy Stewart to score the Utes Special to the Chronicle , V ; , ; CHRONICLE PHOTOPaul Hainan Meet referee Wendy Atkinson stares away from Utah coach Greg Marsden after threatening him and the Utes with a half-poideduction for adjusting a judge's start value sign. nt . Ali Andrus First baseman Stacie see "softbaJT on page eighteen |