- ‘I was amazed at Utah’s home crowds and wondered what it would be like to compete in the atmosphere’
TEAM England 2018 Commonwealth Games Silver medalist Lucy Stanhope, whose grandparents live in Los Montesinos, studies at the University of Utah and competed for the Utah Red Rocks gymnastics team for the 2020-21 academic year.
“When I watched the Pac-12 Networks’ gymnastics coverage from England, I was amazed at Utah’s home crowds and wondered what it would be like to compete in the atmosphere,” said Lucy.
Member of the Great Britain Gymnastics National Team, Lucy, 20, joined the University of Arkansas to compete for the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team for the 2020-21 academic year, prior to switching to Utah.
Before her official visit, Lucy only knew of Utah gymnastics from watching the Pac-12 Networks.
“I didn’t know how much I would compete and I didn’t know what to expect at all coming into the season,” said Lucy, who started following College gymnastics aged 13.
Utah coach Tom Farden said he learned much of what he needed to know about Lucy, when he watched her compete in Boston in a cold gym.
“I was cold and I am from Minnesota. But she never complained about that environment, she was so focused on her gymnastics and the task at hand and I was excited about coaching her,” said Farden.
Lucy, also a member of silver-medal Team Great Britain at the 2016 Junior European Championship and for Team Great Britain at the 2018 World Championships, finished second on beam, and fourth in the all-around at the 2017 English Championships; fourth in the all-around at the 2018 British Championships, and fifth in the all-around at the 2018 English Championships.
She was third on vault and in the all-around at the 2016 Junior English Championships and third on vault and bars at the 2016 Junior British Championships.
Lucy, who trained at City of Liverpool Gymnastics, a Graduate of Bridgewater High School, is the daughter of Warren and Wendy Stanhope, and sister to Lewis.
Her parents visited Lucy in Utah during the festive season, with Warren flying out on Christmas day to Seattle, missing the flight to Utah, due to a 2 hour delay at the immigration check-in.
“Warren arrived late Christmas day night,” said his dad George, who resides in Montesinos.
Freshman, Lucy was thwarted of competing at the Huntsman Centre in 2021 year, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
She has competed on everything except the uneven bars and has proven to be a steady performer, scoring 9.8 or higher for every vault and has just one score below a 9.825 on the floor.
She came up big for the Utes, with her 9.825 debut on the balance beam at Arizona State, helping the Utes stave off an upset by the Sun Devils.
Lucy, who has been a part of Utah’s vault line-up from the beginning of the season, has arguably made her biggest impact on the beam and floor.
She scored a 9.775 against the Bruins to go with the 9.825 debut, which she said was a special moment.
“I knew it really helped the team. That made me so happy,” said Lucy, an English women’s artistic gymnast, a member of the England and Great Britain senior elite squads at
Discipline Women’s artistic Gymnastics, being an Elite senior international, now pursuing gymnastics in the USA.
Lucy, who represented Team GB at the 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival, earned the Silver medal on Beam at the English Championships in 2017, and came fourth in the all-around competition at the 2018 British Championships.
Her performances earned her a place in the Team England squad, where she represented her country in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland.
She contributed to England’s silver medal in the team competition, missing out on the Gold Medal by 0.425 points.
Lucy was selected as a member of the team to represent Great Britain in the 2018 European Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, where she performed on vault and bars. The team were placed fourth.
The Utah Utes women’s gymnastics team, also known as the Red Rocks, represents the University of Utah and competes at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the Pac-12 Conference.
Home meets are held in the Jon M. Huntsman Centre in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a capacity of 15,000.
The Red Rocks are the only team to have qualified for every NCAA Championships and have never finished lower than tenth.
The team was coached from its inception by Greg Marsden until his retirement after the 2015 season. Tom Farden is the head coach, after the retirement of Megan Marsden in 2019.
The University of Utah became a member of the newly-expanded Pac-12 Conference in 2011, and the Red Rocks became one of eight teams in the conference to compete in women’s gymnastics.
Utah has won the Pac-12 Championships four times since joining the conference, winning in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2021.
The Red Rocks won the inaugural Regular Season Pac-12 Championship in the 2020 season by going undefeated in conference play; the 2020 season is the first time each of the eight Pac-12 teams competed against every other team in the conference.
Utah gymnasts have won the individual all-around title at the Pac-12 Championship seven times. Won in 2021 by Maile O’Keefe.
On her rookie experience in Utah, Lucy said: “Gymnastics is so much more fun and enjoyable. It’s amazing to have a team bond in the gym like we have.”
Lucy’s grandma Brenda said: “Lucy gave up going to the Olympics – because she loves life in America.
“Concerns about visiting her in America were overcome with the Covid strict measures, with her mum and dad having had the full vaccines, so they were able to go. We are so proud of Lucy’s achievements.”
Caption: Lucy Stanhope: Gymnastics much more fun and enjoyable. Amazing to have a team bond.
