SALT LAKE CITY — With the regular season over, the freshman Red Rocks are getting ready for their first collegiate postseason, which begins with the Pac-12 championships Saturday.

“We’ve been preparing them all year,” said co-head coach Megan Marsden.

The freshmen have counted for a quarter of Utah’s routines and have hit 54 of 55 routines — Kari Lee (27-of-28), Tiffani Lewis (12-of-12), Samantha Partyka (5-of-5) and Maddy Stover (10-of-10). Lee’s only fall came on beam at Oregon State.

Lee leads the class, consistently competing in the most events — vault, beam and floor — for Utah. She ranks ninth nationally on beam and averages a 9.9. Her career best (9.975) came against Michigan and was Utah’s highest beam score since 2008.

Stover has also made a splash in the beam lineup. Last week against Georgia she earned a season high 9.9, tying with Baely Rowe for the win.

The pair has helped anchor the event. While they, with the help of improved returners, have strengthened Utah’s weakest event, Lee says the freshmen don’t deserve all the credit.

“Everyone keeps crediting the underclassmen to the beam lineup, but really it’s the upperclassmen,” she said. “It’s really hard to get in the lineups, and they push us to keep going.”

Lewis has competed in three events — vault, bars and floor — throughout the regular season. She started her career performing in exhibitions and used those to improve and build her confidence.

“With an exhibition you go out there, get the scores that you do, and know there’s going to be some things that you need to fix and tweak here and there,” Lewis said.

She’s also replaced Breanna Hughes in the bars lineup while she was out a few weeks with an elbow injury. Against Georgia, Lewis stepped in for Rowe who is suffering from a sore foot.

Partyka was the last to make her collegiate debut. She did so in Utah’s vault lineup Feb. 14 at Washington. In her second week competing to count, the freshman scored her career best (9.925).

Reflecting on the past few months, the freshmen admit gymnastics in college isn’t a lot different from what they thought it would be.

“It’s something cliche to say, but it’s everything I thought it would be and more,” said Lee.

What’s made it an easier transition is the advice their fellow teammates gave them. Lee said the veteran gymnasts explained what they could expect, such as competing every week and being aware of their own body.

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“They told us if your body starts breaking down, you’d rather take that week off so you can be ready for postseason,” added Lee. “Postseason is really what matters.”

And when the season finally started, the group said the crowd at the Huntsman Center made their jaws drop.

This year, Utah averaged 14,950 fans to its home meets, breaking its own NCAA gymnastics attendance record. A new NCAA single meet attendance (16,019) was also set March 6 against Michigan.

“You don’t understand it until you’re standing on the floor looking up and everyone’s cheering for you,” said Lewis.

But the reason so many people attend Utah’s meets is the outstanding performances the team provides. The Utes didn’t lose at home this season and their only loss came in Athens against Georgia. Had they won, Utah would’ve completed its second undefeated season in the program’s history.

Utah’s success is partly due to its mindset: controlling only what the gymnasts can control.

“We focus a lot on staying in our bubble, meaning focusing on what we have to do, not the other team,” said Lewis.

Marsden said the coaches have helped the freshmen understand they need to train the way they want to compete. She added they try to keep every meet in perspective. It’s a tactic helping them not to over think and become overwhelmed.

“Each meet is important. Each one we want to win. Each one we want to score high. So we’ll try to keep the freshmen thinking of this one similar to the other meets,” added Marsden.

The freshmen will compete in their first postseason meet Saturday, March 21, in the Pac-12 championship. They’re looking forward to it and say they have confidence knowing the team won it last year.

“I am so excited, especially for the seniors. They get another home meet with all the fans in a chance to win the conference again,” said Lee.

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