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FORT WORTH, Texas — The Red Rocks didn't know if they'd get Grace McCallum back for the rest of the season after she hyperextended her knee in February.
The Olympian couldn't be denied, though, in a return to action during the semifinal round of the national championship; and what a return is was for McCallum.
The Red Rocks faced a precarious situation going into the third rotation of the night after a lackluster vault, and trailed both UCLA and Oklahoma in the standings. The Bruins were on pace to pull away for an easy win, and the Red Rocks needed to make up a lot of ground on bars and beam to have a chance at advancing to Saturday's final.
Uneven bars was Utah's opportunity for a comeback.
In the second position, fifth-year senior Abby Brenner scored a 9.9375 on bars to set the tone for the comeback, and her fellow gymnasts followed through. Sage Thompson scored a 9.9125, Maile O'Keefe upped the scores with a 9.9500, Cristal Isa scored a 9.9250, and then it was McCallum's turn to closeout the event.
The Minnesota native was held out of the all-around competition on Thursday night, but she got her first return to action on bars, where she did everything in her power to keep the scores up for the Red Rocks and to give the team a chance. As she finished her nearly flawless routine, McCallum had a perfect stick, and the monumental moment got to her.
The crowd let out a big cheer and the tears started to flow — happy tears, of course.
Seconds later, the judges showed that McCallum had scored a 9.9500, and the Red Rocks were suddenly in business after UCLA finished with a dismal 49.1750 team score on vault — the program's worst event of the season. Oklahoma and Utah had overtaken UCLA in the standings going into the final event as the winds of change were blowing.
"Right when I finished my routine, I knew. I was like, 'Dang, I really did that.' I wasn't sure I would be able to stick my dismount, because I just started doing them just a couple of days ago, but it felt really good," McCallum said. "It felt probably the most accomplished feeling I think I've felt my whole gymnastics career. And I told myself I wasn't gonna cry, but then I just couldn't help it. Just the amount of support I had from the team in the moment, it was just unreal. And so (tears) just kind of started flowing."
NEVER count Grace McCallum out‼️
— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics) April 14, 2023
She's worked so hard for this comeback and scores a 9.95 in her first routine since Feb. 11!
📺 ESPN2
📲 https://t.co/Gh6jmhnKMZpic.twitter.com/n0IWc2EomZ
And though McCallum's return to the floor was worthy of its own praise, the night belonged to veteran gymnast Maile O'Keefe. The senior competed in the all-around competition, but what she did on beam stole the night.
Competing in the fifth spot on beam, O'Keefe was mid routine as cheers rang down across Dickies Arena as UCLA gymnast Jordan Chiles scored a perfect 10.0. It was a vital score for the Bruins, who needed some momentum to stay within reach of Saturday's final. It also put pressure on the Red Rocks to finish strong or the comeback would fall short.
But the cheers didn't faze O'Keefe as she continued her routine without flinching, and finished with a stuck dismount. The Utah fans in attendance wanted a perfect score.
Second later, it was O'Keefe and the Red Rocks there to celebrate a perfect 10.0 in one of the biggest moments of the meet. O'Keefe's score was good enough to knock UCLA out of competition and to secure a spot in Saturday's final.
"While I was on the beam, I could hear the commotion," O'Keefe said. "I kind of figured something amazing happened — and I'm really proud of Jordan for that; it's a hard feat at nationals. But it's kind of happened before — same exact team; they always end up doing really well while we're on beam. You just kinda have to stay in your bubble and stay focused, and that's exactly what I did."
All that was left was McCallum in the anchor spot to send the meet out on a high note. Her score wasn't needed, but a higher score wouldn't hurt, either. And the sophomore gymnast delivered with a nearly flawless routine that eventually pushed the Red Rocks to the top spot and a semifinal win.
The Red Rocks finished with a semifinal high of 198.2250, edging out Oklahoma's 198.1625 team score. The Bruins missed the cut with a 197.9125 score that would have beat all scores in the first session of Thursday's semifinals. Kentucky rounded out the scores with a 197.1250.
O'Keefe's perfect score on beam, and her overall dominance in the meet, was enough for her to be named the all-around (39.7625) and beam national champion. She becomes the first Utah gymnast to win the all-around title since Theresa Kulikowski (1999) and just the sixth time in program history.
"The biggest thing that pushed us over the edge is their trusting each other, their confidence, and their ability to do amazing gymnastics for each other," Utah head coach Tom Farden said.
This was a big moment. And it's no surprise that Maile O'Keefe delivers.
— Josh Furlong (@JFurKSL) April 14, 2023
She also won the all-around tonight. So she's the all-around and beam national champ.pic.twitter.com/Tes833mRBW
The Red Rocks opened up the meet strong on floor and earned a 49.50 team score to put it just behind UCLA after the first rotation. But a mediocre vault performance left the Red Rocks looking for more as it trailed UCLA and Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, there was no hotter team than UCLA to start, who earned a 49.5125 to start on beam and then followed it up with a meet-high 49.7125 on floor. It was at that point that it felt inevitable that the Bruins would advance to Saturday's final and Oklahoma and Utah would be forced to fight for the final spot.
But UCLA struggled on vault to a meet-low 49.1750 score and then had some issues on bars to limited the team's chances of overtaking the work Utah had down in the third rotation. Still, Chiles' 10.0 on bars was enough to give the Bruins a chance ... until Utah stole the spotlight and sent UCLA packing for the fourth time this season.
Oklahoma and Utah will meet up with LSU (197.4750) and Florida (197.4000), who won the first session over California (196.9125) and Denver (196.5000), in Saturday's final at Dickies Arena at 2 p.m. MDT on ABC.
Team scores
No. 1 Oklahoma
- Bars (49.4875)
- Beam (99.0375, 49.5500)
- Floor (148.7000, 49.6625)
- Vault (198.1625, 49.4625)
No. 4 UCLA
- Beam (49.5125)
- Floor (99.2250, 49.7125)
- Vault (148.4000, 49.1750)
- Bars (197.9125, 49.5125)
No. 5 Utah
- Floor (49.5000)
- Vault (98.8625, 49.3625)
- Bars (148.5375, 49.6750)
- Beam (198.2250, 49.6875)
No. 9 Kentucky
- Vault (49.3125)
- Bars (98.4375, 49.1250)
- Beam (147.8500, 49.4125)
- Floor (197.1250, 49.2750)
Individual Red Rocks scores
1st Rotation: Floor (49.5000)
- Abby Brenner: 9.8875
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.9000
- Abby Paulson: 9.8375
- Makenna Smith: 9.8750
- Jaedyn Rucker: 9.8875
- Maile O'Keefe: 9.9500
2nd Rotation: Vault (49.3625)
- Maile O'Keefe: 9.8625
- Abby Brenner: 9.8500
- Jillian Hoffman: 9.8750
- Makenna Smith: 9.9000
- Jaedyn Rucker: 9.8750
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.8375
3rd Rotation: Bars (49.6750)
- Amelie Morgan: 9.8125
- Abby Brenner: 9.9375
- Sage Thompson: 9.9125
- Maile O'Keefe: 9.9500
- Cristal Isa: 9.9250
- Grace McCallum: 9.9500
4th Rotation: Beam (49.6875)
- Amelie Morgan: 9.8875
- Abby Paulson: 9.8500
- Kara Eaker: 9.9125
- Cristal Isa: 9.9625
- Maile O'Keefe: 10.0
- Grace McCallum: 9.9250
