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SALT LAKE CITY — Keeping history intact wasn’t an issue for MyKayla Skinner. Then again, it seems like no amount of pressure ever gets in her way.
With shaky performances in the beginning of the beam roster, Adrienne Randall, MaKenna Merrell-Giles and Skinner executed solid routines in the lineup’s latter half.
As the anchor, Skinner needed a big score to secure Utah’s eighth straight 197 score of the season. She did it with ease. It’s the longest run of 197 scores any Utah gymnastics team has in history.
With that score, No. 4 Utah beat Stanford 197.125-195.80 in its second meet of the weekend. Merrell-Giles won the all-around with 39.50 and Kari Lee finished second with 39.325.
“I was really proud of MaKenna and Kari doing such a terrific job in the all-around for the second time in three days,” Utah co-head coach Tom Farden said. “They did a great job leading by example.”
Though Skinner sat out of the floor lineup due to her sore ankle and the quick turnaround between meets, she won gold on all three events she competed — vault (9.975), bars (9.95) and beam (9.90). Randall finished Utah’s sweep, winning floor with a 9.90.
“MyKayla was in her element and was incredible in all three events,” Farden said.
The Red Rocks got off to a great start with a 49.375 effort on bars. Missy Reinstadtler and Merrell-Giles both earned 9.875s, setting up Skinner’s 9.95. Skinner had incredible height on her release move and finished with a stuck dismount. After the first rotation, Utah led 49.375-48.725.
Building off the first rotation, Utah took to vault and soared to a 49.45. Lee led off with 9.825, and the scores built from there. Skinner put an exclamation point on the event with her jaw-dropping 9.975 that was sandwiched between Merrell-Giles and Kim Tessen’s 9.90. At the meet’s midway point, Utah had a 98.825-97.60 advantage.
Next for Utah was floor where only Randall broke 9.90. Lee earned 9.875, while Merrell-Giles and Sydney Soloski posted 9.85s. The Red Rocks managed to score 49.30 on the event to boost its lead to 148.125-146.425 with one rotation left.
Looking for a lineup that would finally give Utah a steady beam set, coaches turned to Lee to lead off. Lee is Utah’s top-ranked beam gymnast with four wins this season. The senior did her job, earning a 9.80, but trouble still found its way to Utah.
In the second spot, Soloski was deducted for a marginal connection and scored 9.60. The Red Rocks hoped to drop Soloski’s score, but Alexia Burch — who has battled the flu — followed and fell on her flight series, earning 9.175.
The pressure was on to redeem themselves, and the last three gymnasts were reliable. Randall and Merrell-Giles earned 9.825 and 9.875 respectively. Utah needed Skinner to deliver to lock in another 197 team score — she did with a winning 9.90.
“We’re still trying to find the sweet spot on the balance beam in terms of the rhythm to get the athletes in a position where they compete aggressively throughout the lineup,” Farden said.
Utah’s next meet is at home against No. 2 UCLA. The meet is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 23 at 1:30 p.m. MST and will broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.
