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Sophomore Kristen Riffanacht had a fan club at the Red Rocks Preview.
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Nov. 25, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
Well, this was a very exciting week for the "Red Rocks". It was our first week of routines and things went very well. We are really getting into the swing of things and starting to get excited for the season to begin.
We actually had a great opportunity to show our fans what we have been up to in the gym. The "RED ROCKS PREVIEW" was held in the Huntsman Center on Friday night. We ended up performing before about 2,000 fans. Even though the Huntsman Center was not as full as it is during our meets, those who were there sure were loud! Two of our most loyal fans (hi Scott and Brian) made the trip to Salt Lake from Los Angeles for the weekend just to lead the cheers - LET'S GO U-T-A-H! Thanks to all of the fans that came to cheer for us, it really made the evening exciting and lots more fun! A special thanks goes to those four lovely ladies (my friends) sitting near the vault who were extremely loud!
We split the team in half, with Mel heading up the "Red Team" and AB heading up the "White Team". We had a little friendly intra-squad exhibition, challenging each other on every event. It was pretty informal, but all the excitement and energy of a real competition was felt in the arena. I know Mel and AB were excited with the music selection (Top Gun) for our introductions.
After being introduced and quickly touching the equipment, Greg took over the microphone. He invited anybody from the ages of 5 to 14 down onto the floor to be close to the athletes and watch the exhibition as close as possible. The performances were great! Some people watered down their routines a little bit and were given spots because it is still very early in season. It was also a really good opportunity for the freshmen to start to get used to competing in the Huntsman Center. There were many new skills performed on Friday and it was good to get some of them under our belt before the competition season. Dominique decided to show a new style of swinging bars, by only using one arm. I think it's some kind of weird South African technique. Things ran smoothly but every event had just a few glitches. I am pretty sure that the beam was a bit crooked on Friday, but who knows? Most of the team unveiled new floor routines, and the crowd had a blast with them.
After the exhibition we invited everybody down onto the floor so we could talk, sign posters and take pictures with the best gymnastics fans in the world.
Outside the gym, it was a big weekend for football with Utah traveling to BYU for its last regular season game. On the line was the conference championship and of course beating that team down south. Most of the team got together and watched the game on a big-screen television in a warm house (those big babies). Annabeth and I were lucky enough (and tough enough) to have tickets and were able to attend the game. Can you say layers, and layers, and layers! It was very COLD and snowy, but very exciting to be there in person to see our team win the conference championship.
Well, that's about it for this week. Thanksgiving is coming up in a few days and you know what that means? Queenie gets to go home! We will have practices on Monday and Tuesday, but then we're off for TG break until the following Monday. Don't forget to read Natalie's Journal next week with the report on Thanksgiving break! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!!
GO UTES! Riffy
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