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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah head coach Tom Farden called it one of the "greatest rivalries in college gymnastics."
And the way his team approached Friday night's home meet against the fifth-ranked UCLA Bruins, it's easy to see why it's been a one-sided affair as of late for the fourth-ranked Red Rocks.
UCLA took a narrow 49.400-49.375 lead after the first rotation, but it was all Red Rocks from then on in a dominant performance from the home team to score a season-high 198.200 score to beat the Bruins, who scored a 197.450. It's the fourth straight win for the Red Rocks over the Bruins, which includes Pac-12 championship meets, too.
"Another step in the right direction for the program," Farden said. "Obviously, some things we're working on in the gym and some of the mindset things that we're working on that goes along with gym work was cashed in today, so excited about that. Still some things that we see out there — there's some tenths that I can see we've got to get back."
While Farden — ever the coach — could find some areas to improve, he beamed with pride for the progress his team continues to make. It was a night where the Red Rocks were unfazed by a conference rival and proved it on the floor — event after event, gymnast after gymnast.
The crowning event of the night — as no real surprise — was the Red Rocks' beam team.
In the leadoff spot, which Farden called "critical" for Friday night's meet, Amelie Morgan set the tone early with a 9.875 score to showcase Utah's deep team on the event. And much like the week before, none of the five other gymnasts after her got a lower score.
Grace McCallum immediately ramped up the intensity in the second spot and performed a nearly flawless routine to tie a career best 9.975 — one judge gave a 10.0 to a sold out Huntsman Center crowd that was eager to see a perfect score against the Bruins. After a solid routine that ended with a college stick and a 9.875 score for Abby Paulson, Utah, again, flirted with perfect routines.
Sophomore Kara Eaker appeared flawless in her always fluid routine but gave the Red Rocks another 9.975 score — another 10.0 from one judge and a 9.950 from the other, much to the chagrin to the crowd — and then Cristal Isa followed it up with another stuck landing and a 9.950 score.
Certainly, Utah's anchor, Maile O'Keefe, could break the 10.0 barrier, right? It was a feeling that was palpable in an already electric environment.
And O'Keefe delivered. For the fifth time in her career, O'Keefe was perfect on the four-inch beam and stuck her landing. The second she stuck the landing she knew it was good enough to be considered for the top score. The judges didn't wait long to award her the perfect 10.0, either.
As the two judges revealed their scores, the Huntsman Center erupted in deafening cheers to celebrate their "beam queen." In the end, Utah's beam team tied a school record for a 49.775 score, which topped even last season's high of 49.725 that led the nation. Even UCLA's Jordan Chiles, who won the all-around competition with a score of 39.775 for the meet, had to clap for his opponent's night.
Maile O'Keefe scores a perfect 10.0 on this routine. She knew at the end. pic.twitter.com/4tL6RV04lO
— Josh Furlong (@JFurKSL) February 4, 2023
"It felt amazing," O'Keefe said. "It's really easy to go up there and do a solid routine when the first five people go in front of me and hit like I know they can."
"In the history of Utah gymnastics, I think our fan base needs to realize what they're witnessing right now," Farden said. "It's perhaps — the collection of beam workers that we have is perhaps the best in the history of our program, and I've watched Utah gymnastics for a long time."
By the end of the third rotation, Utah had taken a commanding lead, 148.725-147.850, and was well on its way to topping its previous season high. All Utah had to do was score a 49.275 on floor in the final event of the night and they'd eclipse the 198 mark to become the third team in the country to do that this season.
The Red Rocks had no problem topping the mark on floor and finished with a 49.475 team score, which included 9.925 scores from both O'Keefe and McCallum.
"I feel like it's a good little confidence booster, just kind of knowing that we're heading in the right direction and making small, little improvements in the gym each day, and like gaining confidence as we go out there," McCallum said.
And while the beam was the creme de la creme event for the night, it was Utah's bars team that pushed it ahead for the meet. Utah did well enough on the opening event of vault, but needed a good bars night to put space on UCLA.
Morgan scored a 9.875 in the leadoff position and was followed by back-to-back 9.850 scores from Makenna Smith and Abby Brenner. And then O'Keefe brought down the house with a nearly flawless bars routine, which included completely vertical handstands and a perfectly stuck landing on her double Arabian dismount, to score a 9.950 — one judge awarded her a perfect 10.0 score.
Isa and McCallum followed suit and also recorded 9.950 scores to give the team a season-high 49.575 finish to the event. That, coupled with a poor showing by UCLA on vault, lifted Utah to a 98.950-98.550 lead. And the rest was history.
"I think we're just really focusing on the little details," McCallum said of the the gradually improving bars event. "Each week we go in the gym and kind of write down what we did at the meet that past weekend and what we're going to fix throughout the week, and kind of make little goals. And I think that's been helping our scores."
"I feel like we're just becoming better at trusting ourselves and going out there with confidence and competing how we know how to," O'Keefe added.
Team scores
No. 4 Utah
- Vault: 49.375
- Bars: 49.575 (98.950)
- Beam: 49.775 (148.725)
- Floor: 49.475 (198.200)
No. 5 UCLA
- Bars: 49.400
- Vault: 49.150 (98.550)
- Floor: 49.300 (147.850)
- Beam: 49.575 (197.450)
Red Rocks scores
1st Rotation: Vault (49.375)
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.800
- Abby Brenner: 9.850
- Makenna Smith: 9.825
- Jaedyn Rucker: 9.825
- Grace McCallum: 9.900
- Jillian Hoffman: 9.975
2nd Rotation: Bars (49.575)
- Amelie Morgan: 9.875
- Makenna Smith: 9.850
- Abby Brenner: 9.850
- Maile O'Keefe: 9.950
- Cristal Isa: 9.950
- Grace McCallum: 9.950
3rd Rotation: Beam (49.775)
- Amelie Morgan: 9.875
- Grace McCallum: 9.975
- Abby Paulson: 9.875
- Kara Eaker: 9.975
- Cristal Isa: 9.950
- Maile O'Keefe: 10.0
4th Rotation: Floor (49.475)
- Abby Brenner: 9.875
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.875
- Maile O'Keefe: 9.925
- Makenna Smith: 9.875
- Jaedyn Rucker: 9.850
- Grace McCallum: 9.925
