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Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 26, 2013 7 GYMNASTICS Utah confident for regionals in Alabama Matt Ellis STAFF WRITER On Monday, the Utes found out they will be traveling to the defending national champions' hometown for regionals in two weeks, but they don't seem nervous about it. The Dumke Gymnastics Center filled with cheers when the announcement was made that No. 9 Utah will visit Alabama for the regional competition on April 6. Joining the Utes and the thirdranked Crimson Tide will be No. 15 Denver, No. 23 Kent State, No. 3o BYU and No. 35 Iowa State. Utah has not faced Alabama this season, but has been to SEC country already this year. Utah visited Georgia on March 9, and Utah gymnasts feel confident about performing in an SEC arena. "Right now I just feel that our kids are going to be comfortable in a big crowd," said assistant coach Tom Farden. "They can handle that. That's an advantage for us, and I feel our gymnastics will hold up well against those other teams." The Utes cheered loudly a second time when they learned rival BYU will be competing with them in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Utah put up its best road score of the season when it beat the Cougars in Provo 197.125-195.5. The crowd in Alabama is likely to be very different from the one that showed up at the Marriott Center on March r, which was close to _MI6& CHAD ZAVALA/The Daily Utah Chronicle No. 9 Utah will visit Alabama for the regional competition April 6. Joining the Utes and the third-ranked Crimson Tide will be No. 15 Denver, No. 23 Kent State, No. 30 BYU and No. 35 Iowa State. half-filled with Utah fans. But Utah co-head coach Megan Marsden loves competing against the in-state rivals and said having the Cougars there is going to be a lot of fun. "To go all the way across the country and meet your rival adds another dimension to it, especially if you've got that competitive spirit," Marsden said. "I think our team has some of that. I like seeing that they're excited about having people there that they are interested in beating." The excitement about the teams the Utes will be facing quickly changed into conversation about the ro- tation schedule, which Utah thinks will be favorable. The Utes will open the meet with a bye before starting on the uneven bars and then moving to the balance beam. Utah will have another bye in the fourth rotation before performing on floor and finishing the night on vault. That rotation schedule will be different from the one the Utes went though at the Pac-12 Championships, where they led off with their two strongest events before finishing on beam — the one real question mark remaining at this point in the season. Though Marsden thinks it will be nice to have beam "buried in the middle," she said having byes in the meet does present some challenges. For Utah to be finishing on floor and vault — the two "power" events — it needs to handle the byes effectively to make sure gymnasts can compete at their highest level. "It will be a very long night because you also do those byes in the warm-up as well, so the warm-up is long, then the meet is long," Marsden said. "When we get underway in the afternoon and the meet finishes at 9 p.m. at night, they will have been on a long, several-hour deal. It's really difficult to keep yourself at an emotional high for that period of time, so we try to handle that." Marsden said the gymnasts will have to work on settling down during the 4o-minute byes and then getting themselves mentally prepared to go back on the competitive floor. Either way, the gymnasts will be cheering and ready to go. m.ellis®chronicle.utah.edu Twitter: @mattellis_utah BASEBALL Utes hope to maintain success by beating BYU Chad Mobley STAFF WRITER CHAD ZAVALA/The Daily Utah Chronicle Quarterback Travis Wilson will look to improve the offense this season with the help of new co-offensive coordinator Dennis Erickson. FOOTBALL Continued from page 6 Erickson and co-offensive coordinator Brian Johnson decided they had added too many plays, which led to an inefficient practice. Receivers have struggled with catching the football even though the quarterbacks have thrown it their way. "All three have thrown the ball very well, especially [Adam] Schulz and [Travis] Wilson," Whittingham said of the quarterbacks. "Their hard work in the offseason is paying off. [Brandon Cox] is making few mistakes mentally [but] he has really grasped the offense since he's been with us." With freshmen Conner Manning and Micah Thomas set to come in the fall, the quarterback position is shaping up to be both young and deep with talent. The pair will most likely redshirt in their first year on campus. Utah looking for kicking game With Nick Marsh having transferred to Rutgers, Utah is looking for a new starting kicker. The cornpetition is between sophomore Andy Phillips and freshman Jamie Sutcliffe. They have been listed as co-starters but neither has any college game experience. b.barlow@ chronicle.utah.edu Twitter: @brandonbarlow24 utahfM.ORG UTAH FREE MEDIA Tune in. Be a part. UtahFM.org . A new way of thinking about community broadcasting. After beating Utah Valley University last Tuesday, Utah first baseman TJ Bennett said the team was building some positive mojo, but few would have guessed that mojo would translate to a series win over then-No. 17 Stanford the following weekend. Tonight, the Utes will look to continue riding that wave when rival BYU (11-12) comes to Spring Mobile Ballpark. In their previous series, the Utes relied on everybody being able to step up and play key roles to be successful versus Stanford on the road. "In all three games we had a lot of guys play a lot of different situations," said head coach Bill Kinneberg. "We'll continue to do that and keep everybody involved. It seems to work. Guys are getting great experience." Freshman third baseman Dallas Carroll and his twin brother Dalton Carroll are two young players who have been gaining experience. Dallas had four big RBIs in the Stanford series, and Dalton claimed the win on the mound Sunday. AJ Young has also been hot at the plate for Utah. He belted his team-leading third homer Friday, and he did so off Cardinal ace Mark Appel, who had yet to give up a home run. Tyler Yagi has also been coming through in key situations as topping Utah's staff in RBIs with ro. "We really did a nice job MADELINE SMITH/The Daily Utah Chronicle Junior TJ Bennett making an out against Cal on March 17. Bennett and the Utes will host in-state rival BYU tonight at Spring Mobile Ballpark. battling and beating a good team on the road," Kinneberg said. "I felt like our guys really hung in there and played outstanding when they needed to." Competition against Pac-12 foes will take an intermission with the BYU game, but the Utes still view this contest as an important one. "It's a different dynamic between us than it has been in the past, being in the Mountain West together," Kinneberg said. "It's still a rivalry — it always will be, but I'd say it's a little different now." BYU is also coming off a series win in their previous matchup. They took two of three games against Kansas. Right-hander Trey Nielsen will be getting the start for the Utes with only 1.2 innings of work under his belt thus far in 2013 and a 4.29 ERA. He'll be countered by BYU's freshman right-hander Keaton Cenatiempo, who is bringing a r-r record and 5.40 era into tonight's game. Cenatiempo could have a rough outing if Braden Anderson continues his offensive tear. Anderson leads the Utes in conference play at the plate with a .438 batting average. He went 4-4 last Sunday against Stanford and scored two runs. "We need to keep the momentum going — that's important," Kinneberg said. "We have to continue to get more at bats, get better at the plate and learn our field. We're going to dice it up a little bit on Tuesday." The action will get underway at 6 p.m. and the team will hold an autograph session for fans after the game. c.mobley@ chronicle.utah.edu Twitter: @Chad Mobley |