A defending national championship team, individual champions, Olympians, a seasoned rivalry and a goodbye to a long-time coaching foe. Saturday’s showdown between the fourth-ranked Utah gymnastics team and No. 2 UCLA at 1:30 p.m. in the Huntsman Center has everything a gymnastics fan could want in a meet.
The Utah coaches, who often try to stick with the mantra that the Utes are more focused on themselves than the competition, acknowledged that this showdown is special. Coach Tom Farden referred to it as a ‘little,’ more meaningful earlier in the week.
Even before the Utes and Bruins were in the Pac-12, the two programs had a healthy rivalry since they were often competing for national titles together and met in the regular season.