Completed Event: Gymnastics versus NCAA Championship Final on April 19, 2025 , , 4th of 4 (197.2375)
Final Score
Gymnastics
4th of 4 (197.2375)
vs NCAA Championship Final
Ute Gymnasts are Back at No. 3
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Gymnastics
February 23, 1999
Up Next:
Utah vs. Utah State & Boise State
Fri., Feb. 26 7:00 p.m.
Logan, Utah Spectrum
Meet at a Glance
Utah: 7-0
National Rank: 3
Utah State: 8-0
National Rank: 19
Series: Utah leads 70-3
Boise State: 5-4
National Rank: n/a
Series: Utah leads 7-0
QUICKLY The No. 3 ranked Utes (7-0) wrap up a busy week Friday in Logan, Utah, where they'll meet undefeated Utah State (8-0) and Boise State (5-4) at 7 p.m. in the Smith Spectrum ... The tri-meet will be televised live on KJZZ TV ... Friday's meet marks Utah's third competition in a week. The Utes won their first two meets, setting season highs against Louisiana State (196.375) and Florida (196.975) on Feb. 19 and 22, respectively ... The Utes are 3-0 on the road this season ... In the new rankings issued Feb. 23, Utah returned to No. 3 after a week at No. 4. Utah State remained at No. 19 while Boise State is unranked ... Utah's win over Florida on Monday improved its record regular season home win streak to 149 straight. February 20 was the 20th anniversary of Utah's home win streak ... Utah has been ranked in the top four since the preseason, with the exception of one week when it hadn't yet competed and was not eligible for the rankings ... Utah is coming off a fourth-place NCAA finish in 1998 ... The Utes have won a record ten national championships, including four in the 1990s (1990, '92, '94, '95).
TV TALK Friday's tri-meet up in Logan will be televised live on KJZZ TV. Steve Brown will do the play by play for the broadcast, with former Ute All-American Missy Marlowe adding the commentary.
IN THE STANDS Utah, the highest drawing gymnastics team in NCAA history, is again leading the nation's attendance race. Through four home meets, Utah is averaging 10,478 spectators. Close behind is Alabama, averaging 10,089. Utah, which has averaged nearly 11,000 spectators per meet for the last seven years (not counting the current season), has led the NCAA in women's gymnastics attendance in all but one of the last 17 years. Last year Utah averaged an NCAA-best 10,211 fans to its home meets. Utah's best crowd of this year11,503 at the Southern Utah meet on Feb. 5was remarkable in that the Utes were going up against the Utah Jazz' home opener against the Chicago Bulls in a rematch of last year's NBA finals. The Ute gymnasts also went head to head with a Jazz game on Monday, drawing 9,558 for their meet with Florida.
"WATCH" THE UTES ON THE WEB All Utah home and away* gymnastics meets will be posted "live" on the Internet this year. To follow the meet in progress, go to Utah's web page at www.UtahUtes.com.*Real time stats for road meets are contingent upon the logistics at the opposing school.
PRACTICE TIMES & INTERVIEW POLICY Thursday (1:30-3:30) in the Women's Gymnastics Training Center. All practices are open. Media interested in interviews should plan to be in the practice facility by 1:00 p.m. All athlete interviews must be completed by 1:30 p.m. Head Coach Greg Marsden is available during practice, upon prior request. Call sports information director Liz Abel at 801-581-3511 to arrange interviews either at or outside practice.
THE RANKINGS Utah returned to No. 3 as expected, after a week at No. 4, when the new rankings were released Feb. 23. Utah's highest ranking of the year was No. 2 (Jan. 19). This is the last week that the rankings will be based on season rankings. Next Tuesday, they switch to regional qualifying score. The Feb. 23 poll is found on page 6 of this release. Each Wednesday, the rankings (and release) are updated on the internet under www.UtahUtes.com.
LAST WEEK Utah kicked off last weekend with a 196.375-195.150 win over No. 3 Louisiana State before 10,515 fans in the Huntsman Center on February 19. Denise Jones won the all-around with a career-best 39.45 and tied for first on bars with teammates Angie Leonard and Theresa Kulikowskieach with a 9.925. Utah scored a season-best 49.50 on the bars. Beam was a problem for the second straight meet, with Utah encountering two falls and a near fall. Theresa Wolf placed second all-around with a career-best 39.225 and won vault with a 9.90. On Monday, the Utes turned in their best effort of the year in a 196.975-193.750 win over 1998 NCAA runner-up Florida. Kulikowski won the all-around with a 39.60the best all-around by a Ute this yearas well as bars (9.925), beam (9.90) and floor (9.975). Wolf won vault for the second straight time, setting a career mark with a 9.925. Shannon Bowles tied Kulikowski on beam (9.90).
TRAINER'S TABLE Ashley Kever hyper-extended her knee in vault warmups before the LSU meet and is questionable for Friday's meet in Logan. She did not compete against either LSU or Florida.
UTAH COACH GREG MARSDEN Greg Marsden, the most successful coach in collegiate gymnastics history, is in his 24th year at the U. He owns a 679-96-3 record (342-43-1 regular season). His ten national championships is more than double that of any other coach. Four of those titles have come in the '90s (1990, '92, '94, '95). Fourteen of Marsden's teams have placed in the top-two nationally. The only coach in Utah's gymnastics history, Marsden is a seven-time national coach of the year selection.
SERIES SHORTS Utah vs. Utah State: Utah leads 70-3 ... Utah State has not won since 1979 ... Utah has won the last 66 ... Utes lead 20-2 in Logan ... Utah defeated USU three times last yearin Logan on Feb. 2 (194.950-193.400), in Salt Lake on Feb. 27 (196.175-192.775) and at regionals in Tempe, Ariz., on April 4 (195.575-191.175). Utah vs. Boise State: Utah leads 7-0 ... Utes lead 4-0 at neutral sites ... last meeting was Mar. 20, 1993, when Utah won 197.60-192.10 at the WAC Championship in Boise.
UTE NOTES The Utes are off to their first 7-0 start since 1995, when they won 15 straight before losing at Florida ... Utah earned its best score of the year on Monday against Florida (196.975), just nine days after posting its worst score in three years (193.625 at Arizona) ... The Utes' best event is bars, where they average a 49.05 are ranked No. 3 in the nation ... Utah is 3-0 against top 10 opponents this year, defeating (then) No. 3 Louisiana State, No. 7 Stanford and No. 8 Minnesota ... Freshman Theresa Kulikowski won the all-around against Florida on Feb. 22 with a 39.60-Utah's best all-around score of the year and tied for the eighth-best score in school history ... Kulikowski is Utah's win leader with 16 ... Junior Denise Jones became the fourth Ute to win an all-around competition this year when she scored a career-best 39.45 against LSU. The other three Utes to win all-around honors this year: Kulikowski (Stanford, Minnesota and Florida), Deidra Graham (Southern Utah) and Theresa Wolf (Arizona) ... Ashley Kever, who competes three events, has missed the last two meets after hyper-extending her knee during vault warmups of the LSU meet.
ALL-AMERICA ANGIE Senior All-American Angie Leonard, winner of three straight bar competitions before a rare fall on Monday, has 19 career bar victories. Two times this year she has been a double winnercapturing bars and floor against both Southern Utah and Arizona. She has five total victories this year. Leonard has gone all-around three times, with her best all-around score coming in the season-openera 39.075. It was her 16th career 39.00. For her career, Leonard has "hit" 147 of 164 (90%) of her competitive routines. She is 43 of 47 (91%) on bars in her four years. She has "hit" 16 of 20 routines this year. A two-time first-team bar All-American, she went almost two full years without a fall on bars. Her career all-around best is 39.625, set against Stanford in 1997.
"BOWLES" THEM OVER Sophomore Shannon Bowles, a 1997 U.S. National Team member and a 1998 first-team All-America all-arounder, has moved back into the all-around lineup. Bowles placed second all-around against Florida with a season-best 39.275. She also went all-around at Arizona on Feb. 12, scoring a 38.775. Her best event has been beam, where she has won or tied for first in the last three competitions. She saved an otherwise bad beam set by Utah against both Arizona and LSU, winning the event with a 9.85 and 9.95, respectively. She tied for first on the beam Monday against Florida with a 9.90. Bowles, who has won four total beam competitions this year, has three 9.90 or better scores on the apparatus. Her career best on beam is a 10.0. Bowles, a first-team All-American in the all-around and on bars and beam as a freshman last year, had a team-best eight 39.00 all-around scores in 1998. Her career best is a 39.60, which is tied for the eighth best score in school history. She has "hit" 65 of 71 routines in her career (92%).
WAY KULIO Freshman standout Theresa Kulikowski, arguably the best freshman recruit in the nation, is living up to her billing. The 1995-96 U.S. National Team member and first alternate for the 1996 U.S. Olympic team has won three of four all-around competitions she has attempted and has scored above a 39.00 in all four. She is averaging a 39.3187 in the all-around, which ranks her third nationally. She is ranked fifth on floor (9.8708). Kulikowski, who had the best freshman debut ever by a Ute on January 15 in winning the all-around against Stanford with a 39.40, scored a 39.60 against Florida on Monday. It was the highest score by a Ute this year and is tied for eighth all-time at Utah. She also has the highest individual event score by a Ute: She won the floor on Monday with a 9.975. She leads the team in wins with 16: all-around, bars, beam and floor vs. Stanford; all-around and bars vs. Minnesota; beam and floor vs. BYU; beam and floor vs. Southern Utah; bars and floor vs. LSU; and all-around, bars, beam and floor vs. Florida. "Kulio" missed the February 12 meet at Arizona due to illness and did not compete on vault in the previous two meets. She returned to the all-around lineup against LSU and placed third all-around with a 39.125. She has "hit" 20 of 22 routines, with both falls on bars.
MORE ON THE UTES
Deidra Graham
Denise Jones
Ashley Kever
Molly Northrop
Sarah Northrop
Angelika Schatton
Jenny Schmidt
Lindsay Tanner
Kylee Wagner
Theresa Wolf
UTE WINNERS
Theresa Kulikowski (16)
All-Around (3)
39.40 vs. Stanford, Jan. 15
39.15 vs. Minnesota, Jan. 23
39.60 vs. Florida, Feb. 22
Bars (4)
9.900 vs. Stanford, Jan. 15
9.875 vs. Minnesota, Jan. 23
9.925 vs. Louisiana State, Feb. 19
9.925 vs. Florida, Feb. 22
Beam (4)
9.850 vs. Stanford, Jan. 15
9.925 vs. Brigham Young, Jan. 29
9.800 vs. Southern Utah, Feb. 5
9.900 vs. Florida, Feb. 22
Floor (5)
9.925 vs. Stanford, Jan. 15
9.850 vs. Brigham Young, Jan. 29
9.825 vs. Southern Utah, Feb. 5
9.925 vs. Louisiana State, Feb. 19
9.975 vs. Florida, Feb. 22
Angie Leonard (5)
Bars (3)
9.900 vs. Southern Utah, Feb. 5
9.850 vs. Arizona, Feb. 12
9.925 vs. Louisiana State, Feb. 19
Floor (2)
9.825 vs. Southern Utah, Feb. 5
9.900 vs. Arizona, Feb. 12
Denise Jones (5)
All-Around (1)
39.450 vs. Louisiana State, Feb. 19
Vault (2)
9.750 vs. Minnesota, Jan. 23
9.775 vs. Brigham Young, Jan. 29
Bars (1)
9.925 vs. Louisiana State, Feb. 19
Beam (1)
9.800 vs. Southern Utah, Feb. 5
Shannon Bowles (4)
Beam (5)
9.950 vs. Minnesota, Jan. 23
9.850 vs. Arizona, Feb. 12
9.950 vs. Louisiana State, Feb. 19
9.900 vs. Florida, Feb. 22
Theresa Wolf (3)
All-Around (1)
38.925 vs. Arizona, Feb. 12
Vault (2)
9.900 vs. Louisiana State, Feb. 19
9.925 vs. Florida, Feb. 22
Deidra Graham (2)
All-Around (1)
39.10 vs. Southern Utah, Feb. 5
Bars (1)
9.875 vs. Brigham Young, Jan. 29
UTE CAREER HIGHS Almost every Ute has scored a career high this year. Including season highs by freshmen, here are the career highs set in 1999: Denise Jones: All-Around 39.45 vs. LSU, Bars 9.925 vs. LSU, Beam (tie) 9.875 vs. LSU, Floor (tie) 9.850 vs. Stanford. Theresa Kulikowski: All-Around 39.60 vs. Florida, Vault 9.80 vs. Florida, Bars 9.925 vs. LSU and Florida, Beam 9.925 vs. Brigham Young, Floor 9.975 vs. Florida. Ashley Kever: Vault 9.80 vs. Southern Utah. Deidra Graham: All-Around 39.10 vs. Southern Utah, Vault 9.775 vs. Southern Utah, Bars 9.90 vs. LSU and Florida, Beam 9.775 vs. Florida, Floor 9.90 vs. Stanford, LSU and Florida. Angelika Schatton: Vault 9.825 vs. LSU. Kylee Wagner: Floor 9.825 vs. Florida. Theresa Wolf: All-Around 39.225 vs. LSU, Vault 9.925 vs. Florida, Bars 9.825 vs. LSU.
UTAH STATE UPDATE 8-0 ... ranked No. 19 ... season-best 193.625 vs. Southern Utah on Feb. 12 ... 2-0 at home ... upset then No. 18 Washington on Feb. 6 in Boise, Idaho ... beat BYU 193.925-193.200 last week in Provo ... also beat UC-Santa Barbara last week (190.85-186.175) ... top all-arounder is Christy Denson (39.175) ... Head Coach Ray Corn is 359-308-2 in 22 years.
BOISE STATE UPDATE 5-4 ... high score of 193.275 vs. Seattle Pacific on Feb. 20 ... already lost to Utah State once (193.125-192.70 in Boise) ... top all-arounder is Louise Cashmere (39.20) ... head coach is Sam Sandmire.
GREG MARSDEN SAYS "I've heard from everybody that Utah State is a much improved team this year. I'm sure they're licking their chops to get us up on their home floor, especially with this being our third meet in a week. We've recovered nicely from our debacle at Arizona with two good home meets. Now we need to have a similar effort on the road since we'll be on the road for NCAA regionals. We're heading into the last half of the season and I'll begin to fine tune the lineup. As we get closer to the end of the season, there should be more consistency as far as who competes what events and in what order, so that the athletes can get comfortable in their roles before postseason."
UTAH TO HOST NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS The University of Utah will host the 1999 NCAA Gymnastics Championships, April 22-24 in the Huntsman Center. Tickets are on sale in the Huntsman Center ticket office, or can be ordered by calling 801-581-UTIX. Utah has hosted seven national gymnastics championshipsmost recently in 1994 (won by the Utes).
QUALIFYING TO NATIONALS The qualification procedures into the NCAA Championships, April 22-24 in Salt Lake City, have changed. There will be six regional competitions preceding nationals, with six teams qualifying into each based on their regional qualifying scores (RQS). The RQS is based on a team's six best regular season scores, of which two must be home and two must be away. The top 12 teams nationally, based on RQS, will be seeded into the six regions (two per region). The remaining four regional slots will be filled from within the region.
The top two teams from each region, regardless of score, will qualify into the NCAA Championships for a total of 12 teams. The region configuration has also changed. Sites for the 1999 NCAA Regional Championships, which will be held on April 10, are: Region 1Oregon State, Region 2Utah State, Region 3Nebraska, Region 4Louisiana State, Region 5Penn State and Region 6West Virginia. The only way a seeded team is guaranteed to stay in its own region is if it is hosting a region championship.
NEW TRAINING CENTER OPEN After 23 years training in HPER West 106, the Utah gymnastics program moved into a new home on Dec. 28, 1998. The new $2 million Women's Gymnastics Training Center is a stand alone facility located adjacent to HPER Eastjust north of Ute volleyball's Crimson Court. The 18,000 square foot training center was funded through private donations, with a $1 million lead gift from the Zeke, Jr. and Katherine Dumke family. The facility features the latest equipment and matting, as well as locker, training, aerobics, strength and rehabilitation areas. The aerobics addition to the facility is nearing completion.
Tentative Utah Lineup
(Subject to Change)
Vault
Angelika Schatton
Angie Leonard
Denise Jones
Theresa Kulikowski
Shannon Bowles
Theresa Wolf
Uneven Bars
Sarah Northrop
Shannon Bowles
Deidra Graham
Denise Jones
Theresa Kulikowski
Angie Leonard
Balance Beam
Deidra Graham
Molly Northrop
Denise Jones
Theresa Wolf
Theresa Kulikowski
Shannon Bowles
Floor Exercise
Shannon Bowles
Kylee Wagner
Theresa Wolf
Theresa Kulikowski
Angie Leonard
Deidra Graham
All-Around
Shannon Bowles
Theresa Kulikowski
NACGC COACHES POLL
(Feb. 23, 1999)
No. Team Average 1. Alabama 196.3094 2. Georgia 196.1571 3. Utah 195.4714 4. Louisiana State 195.1600 5. Michigan 194.5536 6. Penn State 194.4321 7. Nebraska 193.9958 8. Arizona State 193.9750 9. Stanford 193.8464 10. Minnesota 193.5500 11. UCLA 193.4594 12. West Virginia 193.4200 13. Oklahoma 193.3313 14. Oregon State 193.2107 15. Ohio State 193.0821 16. Denver 193.0036 17. Iowa State 192.7583 18. Florida 192.700 19. Utah State 192.5833 20. Central Michigan 192.4375 21. Washington 192.4000 22. Brigham Young 192.3875 23. Missouri 192.2821 24. Maryland 192.2625 25. Illinois 192.2292
*Poll is based on total season average from Jan. 26-Feb. 23, and on regional qualifying score from Mar. 2 on.Utah's ranking by week
Poll Place Preseason 4 Jan. 12 UR* Jan. 19 2 Jan. 26 3 Feb. 2 3 Feb. 12 3 Feb. 16 4 Feb. 23 3
*The Jan. 12 poll was determined by high score and Utah had not yet competed.
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