Utah gymnasts tie Washington

Utah's gymnastics team is determined to make up for the loss of Corrie Lothrop to a season-ending injury. The lesson learned though on Friday there simply isn't much room between the Utes and even lower ranked teams without Lothrop's talent. A fall and a few small mistakes nearly added up to a loss for the Utes as they escaped Seattle with a tie at 195.975 with Washington. The last time the Utes tied a team was in 2001, also against Washington. This one felt like a loss though in many ways for the Utes, who had several mistakes early, including two falls on the uneven bars. "We can't keep having starts like that," Utah coach Greg Marsden said. "That is two out of three road meets where we've done this." Utah caught up to the Huskies, but the effort is a good indicator the coming weeks could be difficult ones as Utah hits the hard part of its schedule. Coming up are meets against Stanford, BYU, Georgia and Florida before the championship season begins. That difficult schedule seemed to be on Marsden's mind as he noted the Utes have to find a way to perform better, especially on the road. "We are halfway through the season," he said. "We shouldn't be making the mistakes we are making." If they continue, the Utes will have to be happier with ties than they were on Friday night. - Lya Wodraska