Utah Gymnasts Compete At Georgia On Friday - The Official Athletic Site of the University of Utah

THE MEET

The toughest test of the season for the Utah gymnasts comes on Friday, Feb. 16 in Athens, Ga., against No. 2 ranked Georgia. Georgia and Utah placed 1-2 at the 2006 NCAA Championships last April and Georgia is the two-time defending NCAA champion. Friday's meet between the 7-0 Utes and the 8-0-1 Bulldogs begins at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time in Stegeman Coliseum. Live scoring and commentary can be found at UtahUtes.com.

TV TALK

The Utah-Georgia meet will be broadcast tape-delayed in the Southeast (CSS), Northeast (CN8) and Intermountain (mtn.) regions of the nation. The broadcast schedule follows: Comcast Sports Southeast (Feb. 22, 9 p.m. ET), CN8 (Feb. 25, 7 p.m. ET), the mtn. (Feb. 22, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. MT; Feb. 23, 5 p.m. MT and Feb. 24, 10 p.m. MT).

QUICK STICKS

Utah head coach Greg Marsden (855-148-5) and Georgia's Suzanne Yoculan (750-112-7) are the two winningest coaches in college women's gymnastics history ... Utah has lost the last two regular season meets to Georgia by a combined total of 0.15. The Utes lost in Georgia two years ago, 197.275-197.150, and last year in Salt Lake City, 197.100-197.075 ... Kristina Baskett, Nicolle Ford and Ashley Postell have combined to win every all-around and event competition this season.

MARQUEE MATCHUPS

This Friday's meet will pit last year's NCAA uneven bar co-champions against each other - Utah's Kristina Baskett and Georgia's Courtney Kupets. Baskett (9.95) and Kupets (10.0) are both coming off season highs on the bars. Another match-up to watch is the all-around competition, where Kupets and Utah's Ashley Postell finished 1-2 at last April's NCAA Championships.

INTO THE FIRE

After meeting just three ranked teams in their first five competitions (UCLA, Arkansas and Brigham Young), the Utes will face nothing but ranked teams from here on out. First up is No. 2 Georgia this week, followed by No. 9 Michigan, No. 6 Nebraska, No. 1 Florida, No. 16 Oregon State, No. 17 Arizona State and a rematch with No. 23 BYU.

UTE NOTES

Katie Kivisto's elbow is improving and plans are for her to open Utah's floor set against Georgia ... Freshman Stephanie Neff will return to training this week after learning she tested negative for mono ... Daria Bijak has a strained quad and her training will be limited to "as tolerates" ... Ashley Postell will return to the all-around lineup this week against Georgia after taking last week off from competition. Postell, who is ranked second in the nation on the floor exercise, has won all four of her floor competitions, scoring a 9.90 each time ... Jamie Deetscreek impressed in her first competition as a counter. Deetscreek scored a 9.775 on bars and a 9.75 on beam as the first one up ... Kristina Baskett and Nicolle Ford are tied for the team victory lead with 10 apiece, while Postell has nine wins ... Baskett has the best all-around mark by a Ute this year (39.70), followed by Ford (39.625) and Postell (39.55).