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Show Moa4ay, JuNUfT 1 fti The Daily Utafc Chroaide - Clutch Beam Performances Give U. Gymnasts I si Win everybody else to be strong and stkk theirs," Kcvcr said. That's exactly what, happened as Traci Sommer scored a 9.825 and Summer Rcid, the defending NCAA beam champion, closed out the Utes' beam set with a 9.875. "We had a lot of new people in there, and they did a reaDy nice job," Marsden said of his beam team. "You ' are going to have some misses on beam (early in the season)." The other Ute that fell off beam was Angic Leonard. It's too bad, because with even a mediocre beam set, she would have won her first title. career . Instead, she finished second with a V JAMES EDWARD " Chronicle Assistant Sports Editor - TUCSON, Ariz They may be young, but .the Utah gymnasts are anything but undermanned' Utes handily The fourth-rankedefeated No. 8 Arizona 194.325-- . d 192325 Saturday night at the McKale Ccntet ' v Judging by their performance in a meet where most of the routines were watered down, the Utes are definitely contenders for the national champi' onship mApriL Tm cautiously optimistic," Utah coach Greg Marsden said.' "I saw some better (performances) tonight than I have seen in the whole pre season; There were also things I saw that we need to work on, but n that's what you learn from ' meets." ;, I What the Utc coach learned was that even though his team is young, k already knows how to perform well under pressure, particularly freshmen Ashley Kever and DeniseJones. ' With Utah maintaining a IS lead after three rotations, the Utes' only event remaining was beam, an apparatus that always seems narrower when you need to stick k the most Ute senior KcDey Delaney was the first up, but she tumbled off the beam on her first tumbling pass. Marsdcn's palms started to sweat a little more. Throughout his coaching career he has seen one stumble on beam snowball into a beam disaster. Next up, two freshman. ' . fresh. v Fortunately for the Utes, the men looked more like seniors than teenagers as Kever scored a 9.875 and Jones followed that up with a 9.825, ' "Once one person sticks it, it helps 38.875. rii iiiL,iiuu.n.i..ni' f---: " MM i u". "J.m,u. ' - Leonard said about her beam woes. "I just need to figure out mentally how to stay on." j.. Even with the fall, it was Leonard's best career performance. The only other Ute performer was Delaney. She finished with a 38325 despite a fall on beam. Delaney 's miscue was the only . Cmhomoi " Hi ftwo - -- ii. in o The U. sophomore was the top Ute scorer, on every event but beam. Tn workout it's been off and on," -- in J 38.800 behind Arizona's Heidi Hornbeck, who finished with a early-seaso- .ii (h ) . " v, 0 - in Utah's Ute gymnast Angle Leonard, shown in action from last year, finished second in the she not fallen off the beam. tory over Arizona Saturday night She would1 ve won-h- ad all-arou- vic- ' fall the Utes had to record all evening. Had someone told Marsden prior to the meet that his team would only have one fall, he would have been ecstatic. Utah recorded four falls in its first meet ; J) 1 last year. I Marsden is pleased with his team's first step toward a title. - .They've been working a long time with no reward," Marsden said. "Hopefully it will be a motivating factor to continue to work hard and make the upgrades we will need to do to be competitive at the end of the season." kl'iA'uw."wiiLui"H".ii.iijin.uiuii.'i. tii ,th ihua i.i.i.i .hhm.i.mj mminm'ii'.''l" r ri i-- v j I) -- uiii.i.iui.ii,iimi.ia Vc 61 t . , iv -- v orMt -- i rrt- - Locals and Alumni Come Out To Kick Off U. Netters' Season tennis coach John Tsumas. "This way, people will be really familiar with Ute tennis and we can build a solid, consistent fan base." RICK VAZQUEZ Chronicle Sports Writer You would've thought it was a Crimson Club meeting. Ute alumni and league tennis players gathered inside of Ecdes Tennis Center on Friday. They are the community's beautiful people, sporting stylish headbands arid Wilson rackets and mingling while occasionally picking up a roll off the buffet table. This was the scene during the Ute , women's tennis team's annual alumni match. While the event has taken place for years, this one had a slightly different purpose. This year the Ute staff brought in top local league tennis players and invited them to participate in exhibition games with the current Ute team. "This is an excellent way to build community relations," said Ute head . o , ( It was common for local players such as Joy Thomas (mother of Utc recruit Heidi Thomas) and Colleen Parry to team with Ute players in doubles action. Even coach Tsumas got into the action. While it was obvious that Ute play-- . en were holding back (Angic Olson's serve was nowhere near its full, blistering capability), the evening seemed to be a success. , r. ' 5 UTENOTES: Utah will open its regular season Jan. 24 against a tough Long Beach State squad-a- nd they'll have to do it without freshman Ashley Taylor. Taylor has left the team and will just attend school at the U. "She's not sure if Division I tennis is right for her," Tsumas said. "She wants to pursue other things," . : ;.f , ..' :f: , 1 .. |