After watching tape of Utah late Sunday night, or early Monday morning, Gym Dogs associate head coach Jay Clark sent head coach Suzanne Yoculan an ominous e-mail: “We may lose tomorrow.”

The meet was even at 147.775 after the first three rotations, but the No. 4 Gym Dogs made Clark look bad Monday afternoon, topping rival Utah 197.150-196.725.

“I told them, ‘Don’t compete to stay on, don’t hold back,’” Yoculan said. “They were competing so tentatively on balance beam and almost afraid to make a mistake, like they were competing not to make a mistake. And you can’t do that.”

After besting Louisiana State by nine-tenths of a point Friday, Georgia’s 197.150 in its annual Pink Out meet Monday was its season high and just the second 197 posted by any team in the nation this year.

With the score knotted going into the final rotation, Georgia stepped up on floor. Senior Courtney Kupets led the way with her third 9.9 or better of the meet, and 9.875s from Abby Stack, Hilary Mauro and Tiffany Tolnay solidified the win after Utah had a fall and two significant wobbles on beam.

“On floor, sometimes we come with more of a spirit of timidity, but we really attacked it tonight,” said junior Grace Taylor “And it’s so much more fun that way.”

“They competed so well on floor exercise,” Yoculan said. “They weren’t thinking about the score and how close the competition was. They got so distracted with that on balance beam.”

The Gym Dogs found themselves down a tenth of a point after the first rotation, but regained the momentum with a very strong showing on bars. Taylor, Tolnay and Kupets charted consecutive 9.9s or better to give the Gym Dogs the small 49.450-49.400 margin at the halfway point.

After Paige Burns fell in her leadoff spot, Taylor was the lone bright spot on beam for the Gym Dogs, posting a 9.900.

“We knew we were a 197 team, we just had to work to get there,” said Tolnay, posting a 39.425 in her second time doing the all-around this season.

Kupets took the all-around title for the third time in three meets, posting a 39.600, including a 9.95 on vault and a 9.975 on bars.

“It can’t feel better [to get a 197],” Kupets said. “It’s showing we are progressing, but we still have a lot of work to do, which is good, because we can still get a lot better.”

Utah has finished runner up to the Gym Dogs in their last three national title runs, and has now lost its last three meets at Stegeman Coliseum, including both rounds of NCAAs last year.

“I feel like we’re still pretty even teams,” Yoculan said. “On another night they could come out the winner. But tonight we definitely had better landings and better control on our landings on vaulting and on our tumbling and more difficulty.”

“This is what athletics is all about,” Utah coach Greg Mardsen said. “I love this environment, I love these kinds of meets, I love bringing our team in and challenging ourselves to see how we handle these kinds of environments. This is about as tough a situation to battle as there is in college gymnastics.”

The Utes were the first gymnastics team to ever claim nine national titles, a feat Georgia matched last season. It’s still a heated battle no doubt, but Mardsen’s good-natured comment upon seeing Yoculan after the meet sums up recent happenings in the rivalry.

“This is getting a little old, Suzanne.”