Monday has never been a popular day of the week. Idioms such as "having a case of the Mondays" and song titles such as "Blue Monday" and "I Don't Like Mondays" have stemmed from the general apathy revolving around the start of the work week. For the U gymnastics team, Mondays pale in comparison to what Thursdays are like.
It's not the actual work that causes the apprehension of Thursdays, either. Rather, it's the increasingly daunting task that directly follows practice on those days. On any given Thursday between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., head coach Greg Marsden announces the starting lineups for the upcoming meet. Given Utah's talent breadth, this weekly ritual has become a daunting moment.
"It's really intense," Nina Kim said. "It's really intense this year because so many of us are so good."
The gymnasts aren't the only ones feeling the intensity of Thursday evenings.
"(Jan. 31) was especially difficult because a lot of people were ready to do routines and everyone was healthy," Marsden said.
The difficulty surrounding the selection process is a direct representation of how far the Red Rocks are ahead of where they were last season. It also foreshadows things to come as Utah's depth can only get better.
Last season, Marsden struggled at times to find enough people for events, especially on bars. This season, Utah doesn't have enough slots available to give every gymnast worthy of a spot in the lineup the chance to compete. Against Minnesota, for instance, the Utes had to send two gymnasts through an exhibition routine just to get every deserving gymnast the chance to showcase their skills.
Last season, someone like Daria Bijak, who came to the team in the middle of preseason, couldn't get into the lineup fast enough. This season, not only can latecomer Gael Mackie take her time easing herself into collegiate gymnastics, she doesn't even have a guaranteed place in the lineup.
That depth comes particularly in handy when illness and injury hit the Red Rocks like last week when they were in preparation for BYU. The result is that when people are forced to fill in for usual all-around performers like Ashley Postell, Utah hardly misses a beat. It actually makes the selection process a little bit easier as well.
When Marsden doesn't have injury dictating his lineups, the process gets decidedly tougher. In an effort to help illustrate that difficulty, he forced his gymnasts to make up a mock lineup about two weeks before the season began.
"We were like, 'Don't make us do this anymore,'" Kim said. "We were going to cry. It's just hard, and (the coaches) were like, 'See what we have to go through?' It's really emotional."
While the experience proved just how hard the selection process is, it doesn't make waiting on Thursday evenings any easier. It did help send home the message that coaches aren't playing favorites.
"I wanted them to go through that process so that they'd understand that I'm not playing favorites or because I like somebody better," Marsden said. "I told them this: 'I'm a very selfish man (when it comes to winning).'"
One of the benefits to having uncertainty in the lineups is that nobody can afford to take a day off. With typically four or five people competing for two or three spots, the tendency for each person on the team to push the others to new levels is not uncommon.
"It just makes you want to work harder so you can up the level," freshman Kyndal Robarts said. "If you're working hard, then everyone else is, too, so it just makes you want to do better."
However, the competition does not come without drawbacks.
One potential hazard with having so much talent is that the pressure to succeed and retain one's spot in the lineup can create undo stress and pressure come meet time.
"I think, unfortunately, when they get an opportunity to get in, they put too much pressure on themselves," Marsden said. "Sometimes they worry to much about that, but in practice it's a good thing."
Fortunately for the Red Rocks, there are about two months before regionals to solidify lineups and make Thursdays a little less like most people's Mondays.
t.pizza@chronicle.utah.edu
