Utah gymnastics: Utes in search of perfect scores

The Utah Utes have come close, but they are still searching for that first elusive 10.0 routine of the season.

Both Tory Wilson and Georgia Dabritz thought they might earn perfect scores, but were denied: Wilson scored a 9.975 to win the vault title and Dabritz earned the same score to win the uneven bars and floor titles in Utah's 197.825-194.425 win over No. 13 Arizona on Friday.

Wilson earned a 10.0 on the vault last year and Dabritz earned one on the uneven bars.

Both joked about how close they were Friday.

"Some day I'll get there," Dabritz said.

The only other perfect score last season came from Lia Del Priore for a floor routine against Stanford.

Keeping perfect scores rare is fine with Utah coach Greg Marsden, who would rather see them given in only special cases than all the time, even if it disappoints the crowd.

"What happens is if you give a score like that, it puts the judges in a box and they have no place to go to reward someone else later," he said. "It's great for the crowd and they love the 10.0s, but I can understand if a judge isn't comfortable doing that."

Coaching achievement

Marsden was recognized before Friday's meet for earning his 1,000th win last week against Arizona State.

Marsden, who is 1,000-199-7 in his 39 seasons, is the first gymnastics coach to reach the milestone.

A video montage showed images from his career and he was presented with a plaque from athletic director Chris Hill while the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Of note

Kailah Delaney's 9.875 on the vault was the first time she has scored below 9.9 this season. Delaney entered Friday's meet ranked second nationally on the vault with a 9.913 average … Utah travels to Stanford for a meet Feb. 17 … Utah is 54-0 against the Wildcats.