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Show a team to CONTEND WITH T PHOTO BY CHRIS AYERS BY GRIFFIN ADAMS / ASST SPORTS EDITOR g.adams@chronicle.utah.edu e No. 5 Red Rocks are looking to carry the momentum they gained in last weekend's regular season finale into the postseason, beginning with the Pac-12 Championships this Saturday in Berkeley, Calif. Despite the fact that more will be on the line this weekend than in the regular season, Utah isn't putting extra emphasis on this contest. "Mostly, you have to not think of it as the Pac-12 Championships," says junior Tory Wilson. "In the long run, it really is just another meet, so you have to go in with the same mentality and just don't treat it like some special event. We just have to go in, do our stuff, and leave:' On Saturday, the eight teams in the conference (four Pac-12 schools don't have gymnastics programs) will be split up into two groups of four for competition. The Red Rocks, who own the No. 1 seed, will highlight the afternoon session. Joining them will be UCLA, Stanford, and Oregon State. All four squads are currently ranked in the top 11 in the nation. Saturday's evening session will feature event host Cal, along with Arizona, Arizona State, and Washington. "I wouldn't say we are the team to beat': says co-head coach Megan Marsden. "A week ago, UCLA beat us on a neutral site ... I know Oregon State is a good , team, and Stanford has beaten us this year, so I don't know if we are the team to beat." Despite the humility from Marsden. Utah is coming off its most impressive performance of the season, as it recorded a score of 198.025, beating No. 6 Georgia last weekend. No other team in the Pac-12 has recorded a score within half of a point of that. "I think we are just excited': says -...., senior Mary Beth Lofgren. "We _ do get a good rotation. We go vault, bars, beam, floor, so I think we are excited about that, and we're excited to go against all the other teams in that session:' Lofgren emphasized the rotation order because it's the same one the Red Rocks, and all home teams, have when competing in their respective friendly confines. This could prove to be an important edge Utah will have over the other three teams in its session. One aspect in the format of the session the Red Rocks will have to deal with is the fact that the meet will go one event at a time. It will start with bars, and the leadoff gymnast for the team on that event will perform her routine. Then the meet will move to beam, where the team to begin on that apparatus will send its first gymnast out to perform. Floor will come next, followed by vault. This style of competition will provide Utah with plenty of rest time. "It creates about a four to four-and-a-half minute period of time to have all of that happen': Marsden says. "That stuff we'll need to talk a little bit about, but I'm not worried about our team.They handled that really well last year, the first time it was debuted ... I don't look for that to be a problem, just something to be reminded about:' The Red Rocks will be gunning for their first conference title since joining the Pac12, as Oregon State won a season ago, and UCLA took the championship the year before that. "I think we are one of the teams to contend for a championship': Marsden says. m 10 magazine |