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Athens, Ga. • All Utah coach Greg Marsden could do when asked about Saturday's floor performance in a 197.45-197.275 loss to Georgia was shake his head in disappointment.
"It was just a lot of fluky things," he said. "It was weird."
Weird, and costly.
Utah's 49.05, the second-lowest score of the year on the event, cost the Utes an undefeated season. What was odd was that the mistakes were so random.
Leadoff gymnast Tiffani Lewis ran out of one floor pass, Tory Wilson tripped and Corrie Lothrop stepped out of bounds. They were all puzzling mistakes, especially Wilson's trip, which left her with a 9.65.
"I told her that was a first in 40 years of coaching," Marsden said.
Wilson had a great routine until she stumbled in the final moments.
"The first pass was probably the best I have done all season," Wilson said. "I was having a lot of fun out there, then I wasn't. I tried to cover [it], but I couldn't pull it off."
Another fluke
The other surprising mistake from the Utes came from senior Georgia Dabritz, who missed the landing on her vault and scored 9.225. Dabritz hadn't scored less than a 9.85 on vault this season until Saturday and ranks third nationally with a 9.945 average.
"I don't know what happened," Dabritz said. "It felt fine, but then all of a sudden I was on my butt. I was shocked."
Different lineups
The Utes used some different lineups because Baely Rowe, who normally competes in the all-around, was held out of the balance beam and vault due to an ankle injury.
Lewis went in place of Rowe on the floor (9.725), and Corrie Lothrop (9.8) replaced her on the vault. Utah also used Breanna Hughes on the uneven bars instead of Lewis; Hughes scored a 9.75 in her first routine in five meets after an arm injury.
Rowe's injury didn't hamper her other events, as she earned her career high on bars with a 9.9 and tied her career high on beam with a 9.9.
Marsden said Rowe should be able to compete in the all-around in the Pac-12 championships.
"We just wanted to be cautious about it so we don't have another week where it could affect her training," he said.
This and that
Despite her low floor score, Wilson still won the all-around with a 39.275, since Georgia didn't use any all-around competitors … Utah falls to 26-23-1 to Georgia in the series and 3-11 in Athens. The last win there was in 2011. … Kari Lee scored 9.925 to win the vault event, which tied her career best and earned the freshman her first vault title … Lee scored 9.925 in the Utes' win against Michigan last week.
Twitter: @lyawodraska