Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — All eyes are on you. You’re under pressure as you strive for perfection, trying to wow the crowd and judges with tricks that require hanging on by your toes. You can’t overthink, you must go.
It’s the balance beam — the four-inch wide apparatus that is arguably more mental than physical for gymnasts. It’s likely to be the least favorite event for most athletes.
While the event may be a bit stressful, Utah’s co-head and beam coach Megan Marsden tries to lighten up the atmosphere by allowing her “beamers” to perform their routine to their favorite song.
“I let them know it’s a treat to do balance beam to some music that they love,” Marsden said.
The chosen tunes only play at home meets and are a “fluff thing,” per Marsden, as opponents’ floor music plays in the postseason when competitors are competing at the same time.
The beam routines don’t coincide with the songs, though. In fact, some gymnasts change their song throughout the season while others choose a song and stick to it throughout their collegiate career.
“For beam, you have to think of something else so you’re not super distracted only focusing on gymnastics,” senior Kari Lee said. “You kind of want to take your mind away from that so you can just turn off your brain and go.”
Lee knew what music she wanted to play during her beam set before she arrived on campus as a freshman: anything Taylor Swift.
“When I came to college, I wanted to pick a Taylor Swift song for beam because she makes me happy,” Lee said, adding that the global superstar’s music puts her mind at ease. “I knew for the rest of my career that I was going to pick one of her songs.”
Lee's choices have ranged throughout her favorite singer’s discography. This year she chose “22,” because what else would she select as a 22-year-old Swiftie?
“It could change,” Lee admitted. “It’s an upbeat song and I usually go for slower songs.”
While Lee sticks to her favorite artist, her teammates tend to choose songs from their favorite music genre. Junior Missy Reinstadtler is an “old soul” according to her teammates, whose beam songs have included Don McLean’s “American Pie” and Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California.”
Senior MaKenna Merrell-Giles’ song this year is also an older tune. She selected “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
“Kenna likes songs that are quicker, upbeat,” Lee said.
Some girls chose newer songs, such as freshman Adrienne Randall selecting “Ocean” by Martin Garrix featuring Khalid, and senior Shannon McNatt chose "Houston, We Got a Problem" by Luke Combs. Sophomore Alexia Burch opted for Florence + the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over,” while fellow sophomore Sydney Soloski selected “No One” by Alicia Keys.
“Shannon is always a country girl," Lee said. "Sydney always goes with the one that hits your soul.”
For junior MyKayla Skinner, having powerful and meaningful songs are important. She chose Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” for her freshman season since it was right after the 2016 Summer Olympics where she was a USA team alternate. The song served as a reminder that she was starting a new chapter in her life with college.
Last season she picked Katy Perry’s “Rise,” which was prominently used during NBC Sports’ Olympics coverage.
“I wanted to have that feeling of being really determined again,” Skinner said. “It brought back those memories of me doing elite gymnastics and knowing I can do it again in college and have fun in the moment.”
But this offseason she had a hard time choosing a new beam song. In November, Skinner took to Instagram to ask fans for recommendations.
“I was listening to songs for a couple of days and didn’t find anything I loved,” Skinner said. “I thought, ‘Let’s get the crowd involved.’ They had a ton of great choices.”
Hundreds of suggestions later, Skinner picked “The Champion” by Carrie Underwood featuring Ludacris. Skinner said that the song stood out because it reminds her of Utah gymnastics — you can knock us down, but we’ll get back up again, she said.
“Any hard times that we have, I think it’s a powerful song to remind me that we are the champions and I can nail this beam routine,” Skinner said.
Utah competes on the road for the rest of the month but will be back in the Huntsman Center with their beam songs on Friday, Feb. 1 to host Arizona.
