Maile O'Keefe scores perfect 10.0 on beam as No. 2 Red Rocks beat Stanford

SALT LAKE CITY — The beam team is back.

After a shaky beam event in Week 3 where the Red Rocks recorded a season low after a fall and several big beam checks from four of its gymnasts, the No. 2 Red Rocks had a major comeback a week later.

In a Saturday afternoon meet, Utah used a season-high beam event to beat the visiting Stanford Cardinal 197.675-196.000 in front of an announced crowd of 11,138 raucous fans in the Huntsman Center.

Freshman gymnast Amelie Morgan led off on beam with a career high 9.90 score to set the tone in the team's third rotation of the day, and it only got better from there for Utah. Grace McCallum and Abby Paulson each recorded a 9.950 before Cristal Isa landed a 9.925.

And with the "beam queen," Maile O'Keefe, up next in the anchor position, the fans were ready to celebrate. All five gymnasts up to O'Keefe had stuck their landing and there was a palpable feeling in the building that a perfect routine was coming up next.

O'Keefe delivered.

The junior gymnast from Las Vegas put on a show with flawless leaps, flips and a stuck landing. As the two judges flipped their scores, with both showing a 10.0, the Huntsman Center exploded in cheers and excitement as O'Keefe let her emotions known as teammates hugged and celebrated with her.

It was in stark contrast to an empty arena last season when O'Keefe got her first perfect score on beam. This time she let the moment soak in.

"Last year, I wasn't able to hug anybody or do anything like that," she said. "So it was just amazing to be able to embrace my teammates and my coaches and everything, so it's awesome."

O'Keefe, who strives for perfection each time she's out there on beam, said she couldn't really explain how she felt about the routine.

"It's interesting, because personally, I don't feel like it was — how do I say this? Like it was a great routine, don't get me wrong — superb — but I know what feels normal for me and what doesn't," she said. "So I mean, it's crazy. It's just kind of like one of those things where you're like, I strive for perfect, but I was perfect, so like what else?"

And though O'Keefe feels like she has more to give in the event, a perfect score is not something she'll pass up, especially as the team looked to bounce back from last week's performance. The team finished the event with a season-high 49.725 — the highest score in the nation on beam this season.

Red Rocks head coach Tom Farden said the bounce back performance had nothing to do with what he told the team; they knew what they needed to work on without a coach intervening. He borrowed a football phrase and said the situation was like, "just don't talk to the kicker."

Farden gave "all of the credit" to assistant coach Carly Dockendorf for getting the beam team where it's at this season — even Utah's Alexia Burch, who exhibitioned Saturday, scored a 9.925 in a core that didn't count for the Red Rocks. The team is deep — they're still missing freshman Kara Eaker — and showing they have the right makeup for a championship run.

"Did I recruit those athletes? Yeah. Were they good at beam as athletes? Yeah, but you've still got to coach them," Farden said. "Her creativity, her connection with the athletes and her confidence that she instills in them to provide our beam team with an "it quality' — you can't really describe it; they've just got it.

"This is potentially the best balance beam team in the country and maybe the history of our program."

Isa said she believes the team still has more in them and more to show to the country.

"I think when we get to postseason, we're truly going to get there and everyone's just gonna be blown away," she said.

McCallum finished the night as the all-around champion with a 39.625 score, just 0.050 short of tying a season high set against Oklahoma in Week 2, and beat out O'Keefe (39.550), who competed in the all-around for the first time this season, and Stanford's Kyla Bryant (39.250).

Utah opened up the meet with what Farden called a "sleepy start" on vault. From start to finish, the gymnasts had a hard time sticking their landings and struggled to record high scores — the high being Alexia Burch's 9.90 score in the fifth position. The Red Rocks were forced to take a 9.725 score from Lucy Stanhope after Jaedyn Rucker stuck her landing and then sat down for a 9.40.

Still, Utah led Stanford after the first rotation 49.125-49.025. From there, Utah used strong bars (49.400) and beam events to put distance on the Cardinal, but a lackluster performance on floor (49.425) to closeout the meet.

It's not that the floor performance was bad, but Farden said the team lost momentum to closeout the night.

"We just couldn't sustain that momentum," Farden said. "And it wasn't fatal, it just would have — the greedy part in me wanted a little more."

Team Scores

No. 2 Utah

• Vault (49.125)
• Bars (98.525, 49.400)
• Beam (148.250, 49.725)
• Floor (197.675, 49.425)

No. 19 Stanford

• Bars (49.025)
• Vault (97.900, 48.875)
• Floor (147.075, 49.175)
• Beam (196.000, 48.925)

Individual Utes scores

1st Rotation: Vault (49.125)

• Jillian Hoffman: 9.825
• Maile O'Keefe: 9.825
• Lucy Stanhope: 9.725
• Jaedyn Rucker: 9.400
• Alexia Burch: 9.900
• Grace McCallum: 9.850

2nd Rotation: Bars (49.400)

• Amelie Morgan: 9.825
• Alexia Burch: 9.775
• Sage Thompson: 9.850
• Grace McCallum: 9.875
• Cristal Isa: 9.950
• Maile O'Keefe: 9.900

3rd Rotation: Beam (49.725)

• Amelie Morgan: 9.900
• Adrienne Randall: 9.850
• Grace McCallum: 9.950
• Abby Paulson: 9.950
• Cristal Isa: 9.925
• Maile O'Keefe: 10.0

4th Rotation: Floor (49.425)

• Jillian Hoffman: 9.900
• Cristal Isa: 9.875
• Jaedyn Rucker: 9.775
• Grace McCallum: 9.950
• Maile O'Keefe: 9.825
• Sydney Soloski: 9.875

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