Utah Women Gymnasts Are 1st; Titans 5th

The University of Utah women’s gymnastics team won an unprecedented fifth consecutive national championship Friday night as the Utes defeated nine other schools, including Cal State Fullerton, in the 1985 NCAA title meet at Salt Lake City.

Utah scored 188.35 to finish first, Arizona State was second at 186.6, Florida third at 184.3, Alabama fourth at 184.05 and the Titans fifth at 183.5. Fullerton’s fifth-place finish marked the first time the Titans had not placed third or higher at the title meet in nine years.

Fullerton was hurt by the loss of sophomore star Christi Robell, who was declared ineligible because of a discrepancy in her transfer from the University of Washington Thursday night. In Robell’s absence, Tami Elliott was Fullerton’s top performer.

Elliott tied for third place in the all-around competition with a score of 37.65, while winning All-American honors for the second consecutive year. The 5-foot 5-inch sophomore from Newport News, Va., also qualified for tonight’s individual championship competitions in the vault with a score of 9.55 and the floor exercise with a score of 9.5.

Other Titans who will be competing in the individual championships tonight will be Roni Barrios in the uneven parallel bars and Taunia Rogers and Callie Glanto in the vault.

Despite the fifth-place finish, Titan Coach Lynn Rogers was not disappointed.

“This team was certainly faced with a lot of adversity this week, the Robell incident plus a lot of other things that can get a team down,” he said. “But I was extremely proud of the way we got up fighting after getting knocked down. This team is blessed with a great deal of character, and they showed it tonight.”