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SALT LAKE CITY — The Red Rocks hit a turning point Monday night.
The seventh-ranked team earned its highest total score of the season, defeating Arizona 197.150-194.850.
"That was a heck of a meet," said co-head coach Tom Farden.
For the first time of the season, Utah finished strong on the competition floor. It came after a longer than usual week of practice — thanks to television schedules forcing a Monday meet. Farden said he emphasized to the team that it needed to finish practice.
"If you want it to correlate into competition, the expectation is to finish the entire practice — not just three good events at practice," said Farden.
"I think that message carried over to today as they finished the meet strong."
Senior Breanna Hughes and sophomore Samantha Partyka, who competed in the all-around, scored big for the Utes and helped the team win all four events. The pair stepped up to fill the void of All-American Kari Lee, Utah's only all-around competitor in the first three meets, after she tore her Achilles last Tuesday in practice. Hughes won the all-around title, earning a personal-best 39.525. Partyka's 39.300 also set a career-high.
Hughes also won the bars and balance beam titles with scores of 9.925 and 9.850 respectively. It was the first time she made the beam lineup since 2014.
"(She) has blossomed. Her confidence has continued to grow," Farden said of Hughes.
"I see a spark for gymnastics in her senior year. She's hitting on all cylinders in all events."
Utah's night started on vault, where Farden admits the Utes need to perfect their landings. Senior Kailah Delaney split the event title with Arizona's Shelby Edwards, scoring 9.850. Baely Rowe and Hughes rounded out the top three with 9.825s.
The Red Rocks took the lead (49.075-49.000) from the first rotation of the meet and wouldn't look back. They started pulling ahead after a stellar bars set. Hughes (9.925), Kassandra Lopez (9.900), Rowe (9.900) and Sabrina Schwab (9.875) topped the chart, helping advance Utah's lead 98.500-97.950.
"Nobody was swinging too tight today," said Farden.
Utah performed top-notch beam routines, too — despite Maddy Stover's uncharacteristic fall. Hughes (9.850) and Lopez (9.800) scored personal-bests. Rowe also scored big with a 9.850, giving the Utes a 147.525-146.750 lead.
"We have such an amazing beam team. Everyone pushes everyone to get better every day. It's great having a team that day in and day out it pushes you to get better," said Hughes.
The exclamation point to the meet was Utah's last rotation. For the first time of the season, the team nailed its floor set, scoring a 49.625. It was the highest score on any event this season for the Utes. Farden said he revamped the floor lineup, pushing the high-scoring trio of Schwab (9.950), Hughes (9.925) and Partyka (9.975), who received a 10.0 from one judge, to the back.
"It was probably the best floor routine I've ever done," said Partyka.
"It was icing on the cake, going out there last. I wanted to do what I was capable of."
Farden said he thought changing the floor lineup would give Utah the best probabilities of success. It worked.
"It was important to put together a full, solid meet. We were just at the cusp the last three weeks," said Farden.
Utah now faces a short week of practice. The team will face fifth-ranked UCLA Saturday, Feb. 6, at 1 p.m. PST in its first Pac-12 road test of the season.
