O'Keefe scores 10 on beam, Red Rocks finish in 3rd at national championship meet

FORT WORTH, Texas — For the third consecutive season, the Red Rocks came up short and finished in third place at the women's gymnastics national championship meet.

Defending championship Oklahoma led wire-to-wire and finished with a 198.3875 all-around score to claim the program's second straight title, edging out a Florida team that made a strong push late in the meet. The Gators, who got a perfect 10.0 out of Trinity Thomas on vault, finished in second place with a score of 198.2375.

The Red Rocks, who had a setback on vault in the second rotation that essentially knocked the team out of contention, finished with a 197.9375 all-around score. And LSU, which had a rowdy fan base cheering it on, couldn't keep pace all meet and finished in fourth with a 197.5250.

While a difficult pill to swallow for the team, Utah head coach Tom Farden remained optimistic about the program's future.

"I actually feel like the program did make another progression this year," Farden said. "I can look at things realistically. Most sports have a final four, and it's really hard to get to the final four — we've done it several times now. We beat Oklahoma in postseason; that's extremely hard to do. And, and my third point to this was, I really felt like we just were really on the precipice — really good scores on bars, floor, and on the unbalanced beam they're unconscious. I mean, those are amazing scores that put you into title contention."

Utah came into Saturday afternoon's meet featuring the highest score from the semifinal round among the final four teams, but the Red Rocks weren't able to keep up with its semifinal momentum — and Oklahoma simply upped its game and got favorable scores on every event.

After an opening floor routine from the Red Rocks that put the team in third place behind Oklahoma and Florida, Utah was in the mix with where it needed to be to contend for a title, but it all fell apart on vault — deja vu, Red Rocks fans?

Maile O'Keefe, who won an individual title in the all-around and beam on Thursday, led off the team with a 9.7375 after she had a hop forward on her landing. O'Keefe was going for the stick, but the momentum forced her into the hop forward. But fifth-year senior Abby Brenner got the team back on track with a 9.90 in the second spot, and optimism remained high.

That optimism changed again when Jillian Hoffman under rotated on her landing and staved off a sit down by taking a big step back for a 9.7625 — and her score would have to count in the team total. Freshman Makenna Smith also under rotated and Jaedyn Rucker had a little shuffle of her feet as the pair scored back-to-back 9.8375.

By the time Jaylene Gilstrap got a 9.8125 in the anchor spot, it was already a missed opportunity after what had been a mostly good season on vault.

The Red Rocks faced a similar situation on Thursday when the the team was in third place at the midway point of the meet before amassing a remarkable comeback to win the semifinal meet, but Saturday's deficit was too much to overcome, especially with Oklahoma and Florida never giving up an inch.

The plan, Farden said, was to try for the sticks on vault in an effort to score as many points as possible to contend with Oklahoma and Florida. The "danger," he said, was that it sometimes introduces steps back on the landing, which is a higher deduction than a step forward. The Red Rocks didn't want to play it safe.

It was a moment in the meet where the Red Rocks had to regroup and finish strong, even if a national title was likely off the table.

"Off the vault, there were some tears and I would have liked them to — we're human, we have emotions; they were that upset," Farden said. 'But I pulled them in, I asked them if any of them are being currently employed as a fortune teller, and nobody raised their hand, so I said: 'What do we got to lose? Let's just do our next two events as best as we can' — which they did."

The Red Rocks, like on Thursday, finished the night out strong and put up scores than would have kept the team within reach of Oklahoma and Florida.

On bars, the Red Rocks got a 9.9375 from sophomore Sage Thompson in the third spot, and it was followed by a 9.9250 by Maile O'Keefe to give the Red Rocks some momentum after a trying second rotation. Grace McCallum finished out the event in the anchor spot with a 9.9375 to steady the emotions and give the team something to celebrate going into the final event of the night.

To win a title — even after a tumultuous vault — the Red Rocks needed a 49.775 or higher on beam, and for Oklahoma to score less than a 49.2625 and Florida to score less than a 49.450 on bars, to have a chance. Certainly possible in the ever-changing landscape of collegiate gymnastics, but not entirely likely.

That was made evident quickly when Oklahoma (floor) and Florida (bars) didn't miss on any opportunities. It was a two-team race down the final stretch and Florida had made a case with stick after stick after stick on bars, but Oklahoma had built up a big enough lead that it didn't matter in the end. Florida, alone, finished with an impressive 49.7125 on bars to make Oklahoma sweat it out a bit.

Still, the Red Rocks put on a show for its fans and delivered one of its best beam performances of the season.

Amelie Morgan set the tone early with a 9.9125 lead off routine, and the Red Rocks were off and flipping. In the second spot, Abby Paulson upped the scores and got a 9.9625 to seal a strong season for the senior gymnast. Kara Eaker added a 9.9125 and was followed by Cristal Isa's final beam routine of her career, which was a nearly perfect 9.950.

After Isa's stuck landing, she hugged her coach, gave a thank you gesture to the Red Rocks fans in attendance at Dickies Arena, and got a swarm of hugs from her teammates down on the floor.

But the Red Rocks weren't done there. After earning a perfect score on beam on Thursday, O'Keefe delivered again for the Red Rocks and scored another perfect 10.0 on Saturday — her 10th on the event in her career. It was enough to keep the Red Rocks in third place and wishing for more.

McCallum completed a solid but not perfect routine in the anchor spot, but then had a little hop to the side on her landing, which gave the Red Rocks its first sub-9.90 score on the event. In the end, the Red Rocks finished with a 49.7375 — the highest of any event in the meet — but it still wasn't enough.

Team scores

No. 1 Oklahoma

• Vault (49.5625)
• Bars (99.2000, 49.6375)
• Beam (148.7125, 49.5125)
• Floor (198.3875, 49.6750)

No. 2 Florida

• Beam (49.5250)
• Floor (98.9500, 49.4250)
• Vault (148.5250, 49.5750)
• Bars (198.2375, 49.7125)

No. 5 Utah

• Floor (49.5000)
• Vault (98.6500, 49.1500)
• Bars (148.2000, 49.5500)
• Beam (197.9375, 49.7375)

No. 6 LSU

• Bars (49.3125)
• Beam (98.5500, 49.2375)
• Floor (148.0000, 49.4500)
• Vault (197.5250, 49.5250)

Individual Red Rocks scores

1st Rotation: Floor (49.5000)

• Abby Brenner: 9.8750
• Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.8750
• Abby Paulson: 9.9000
• Makenna Smith: 9.9250
• Jaedyn Rucker: 9.9000
• Maile O'Keefe: 9.9000

2nd Rotation: Vault (49.1500)

• Maile O'Keefe: 9.7375
• Abby Brenner: 9.9000
• Jillian Hoffman: 9.7625
• Makenna Smith: 9.8375
• Jaedyn Rucker: 9.8375
• Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.8125

3rd Rotation: Bars (49.5500)

• Amelie Morgan: 9.8500
• Abby Brenner: 9.8750
• Sage Thompson: 9.9375
• Maile O'Keefe: 9.9250
• Cristal Isa: 9.8750
• Grace McCallum: 9.9375

4th Rotation: Beam (49.7375)

• Amelie Morgan: 9.9125
• Abby Paulson: 9.9625
• Kara Eaker: 9.9125
• Cristal Isa: 9.9500
• Maile O'Keefe: 10.0
• Grace McCallum: 9.8875

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