Red Rocks win LA regional, qualify for record 47th straight national championship

SALT LAKE CITY — The nation's longest streak continues.

For the 47th straight season, the University of Utah women's gymnastics team clinched a spot in the national championship — the only team in the country to qualify for every national championship in NCAA history.

The fifth-ranked Red Rocks led wire-to-wire in the Los Angeles regional final and finished with a 198.050 score to win the quad meet against No. 4 UCLA, No. 13 Missouri and Washington.

The Bruins, who made a strong push in the final two events of the night — which included a perfect 10.0 from freshman Selena Harris on vault — finished with a 197.925 score in second place and clinched the other spot in the national championship from the LA regional.

Missouri kept the meet close through three rotations, but couldn't get enough on the final event of the night and finished with a 197.600 score. Washington, which claimed a spot in the final after a ranked Auburn team stumbled in the semifinal, had a difficult night trying to keep up with the three ranked teams and finished with a 195.650 score to round out the meet.

Utah and UCLA will meet up with first-ranked Oklahoma and ninth-ranked Kentucky, who qualified from the Norman, Oklahoma, regional, in the first round of the national championship on April 13 in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Red Rocks opened up the meet with a strong vault lineup that set the tone for the night.

Maile O'Keefe threw a career-best vault and scored a 9.925, and the Red Rocks were off and tumbling. Abby Brenner and Jillian Hoffman followed it up with back-to-back 9.90 scores before the reigning vault champion Jaedyn Rucker launched a perfect Yerchenko 1.5 that she stuck perfectly to score another perfect 10.0 — her second straight and third this season on vault.

UCLA and Missouri finished the first rotation tied with 49.400 scores to indicate how tight the right for the two spots in the regional would be on Saturday night.

The Red Rocks lost a bit of ground on bars after each gymnast had some noticeable mistakes that kept the scores a bit lower than what the team was expecting after a strong opening event. With Cristal Isa left in the anchor spot, the Red Rocks hadn't scored anything higher than a 9.875. Fortunately for the Red Rocks, Isa rounded out the event with a 9.90.

While the Red Rocks didn't have their strongest event, they maintained the lead, though Missouri went big with a strong floor event to tie Utah at the midway point of the meet. Missouri's Hannah McCrary, Alisa Sheremeta, and Amari Celestine all scored a 9.90, and Jocelyn Moore finished with a 9.950 to put some pressure on UCLA and Utah.

The meet set up nicely as Utah, which leads the nation on beam, and UCLA, which leads the nation on floor, were set to compete in their best events of the night at the same time. And neither team disappointed.

It wasn't the Red Rocks' best performance on beam, but Abby Paulson scored a 9.90 in the second spot and was followed up by Kara Eaker's score 9.950 — a redemption score after she fell of beam on her mount in the regional semifinal. Isa added a 9.875 before O'Keefe delivered a nearly perfect routine and scored a 9.950 to keep the Red Rocks ahead.

But UCLA upped the pressure and had all five of its counted scores at 9.90 or better. Emma Malabuyo and Harris score 9.90's and were followed by Margzetta Frazier and Chae Campbell earning a 9.950. But Jordan Chiles sent Pauley Pavilion into pandemonium when she scored a perfect 10.0 to give the Bruins a 148.425 team score — just 0.025 off the lead from Utah going into the final event.

The Bruins finished the night on vault and did enough to clinch a spot in the national championship before Missouri or Utah finished its final event. Brooklyn Moors scored a 9.90, Harris got a perfect 10.0 that sent the freshman into happy tears, and Chiles rounded out the vent with a 9.90 score of her own. The only thing left was to see which team joined them in Fort Worth.

Missouri did well enough on bars to finish the night, but failed to record a score that could contend with UCLA or what Utah did.

Utah's Abby Brenner led off on floor with a strong 9.875, but it was the lowest score of the event as Jaylene Gilstrap and Paulson got back-to-back 9.90 scores that was followed by Makenna Smith's 9.950. Rucker and O'Keefe rounded out the night with back-to-back 9.925 scores to lift Utah over UCLA and a win.

Team scores

No. 5 Utah

• Vault (49.575)
• Bars (98.925, 49.350)
• Beam (148.450, 49.525)
• Floor (198.050, 49.600)

No. 4 UCLA

• Bars (49.400)
• Beam (98.725, 49.325)
• Floor (148.425, 49.700)
• Vault (197.925, 49.500)

No. 13 Missouri

• Beam (49.400)
• Floor (98.925, 49.525)
• Vault (148.375, 49.450)
• Bars (197.600, 49.225)

Washington

• Floor (49.150)
• Vault (98.300, 49.150)
• Bars (147.200, 48.900)
• Beam (195.650, 48.450)

Individual Red Rocks scores

1st Rotation: Vault (49.575)

• Maile O'Keefe: 9.925
• Abby Brenner: 9.900
• Jillian Hoffman: 9.900
• Makenna Smith: 9.850
• Jaedyn Rucker: 10.0
• Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.825

2nd Rotation: Bars (49.350)

• Amelie Morgan: 9.850
• Makenna Smith: 9.875
• Abby Brenner: 9.850
• Sage Thompson: 9.875
• Maile O'Keefe: 9.825
• Cristal Isa: 9.900

3rd Rotation: Beam (49.525)

• Amelie Morgan: 9.800
• Abby Paulson: 9.900
• Kara Eaker: 9.950
• Cristal Isa: 9.875
• Maile O'Keefe: 9.950
• Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.850

4th Rotation: Floor (49.600)

• Abby Brenner: 9.875
• Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.900
• Abby Paulson: 9.900
• Makenna Smith: 9.950
• Jaedyn Rucker: 9.925
• Maile O'Keefe: 9.925

Related topics