Utes win home opener in impressive fashion

Utah's gymnastics team looked more like the team coach Greg Marsden imagined he'd have this year as the Utes easily won their home opener Saturday with a 196.95 in front of 14,917 at the Huntsman Center. Oregon State was second with a 195.95 followed by West Virginia (192.125) and SUU (191.05). The uneven bars gave Utah problems a week ago, with three of the first four gymnasts falling. Saturday the Utes nailed that event scoring a 49.075 then totaled a 49.325 on the balance beam, the apparatus that wiped out much of the competition. Earlier in the week Marsden said he was confident his team's struggles at UCLA had more to do with first meet jitters than a lack of talent. "Tonight was more like I was expecting last week," he said. "There were some things that I thought were better last week, like our vault landings, we were a bit amped up tonight. But tonight overall, that is what I am expecting to see week in and week out." The Utes were led by Georgia Dabritz who won the all-around with a 39.525. She won or tied for every event title except the vault, where Tory Wilson starred with a 9.95. - Lya Wodraska