Maile O'Keefe opens season with 10.0 on beam as Red Rocks beat Boise State


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SALT LAKE CITY — Maile O'Keefe admitted she wasn't fully looking forward to the season, let alone Friday night's meet against Boise State.

The fifth-year senior hadn't lost her love of gymnastics and wasn't worried about the competition, but after an offseason of turmoil — which included former head coach Tom Farden leaving the program — O'Keefe was going into her final season's first meet with a lot of emotions, or as she described it, "a lot of stress."

"I'm just gonna be totally honest, I wasn't sure I was looking forward to the season," O'Keefe admitted Friday night, "but I just feel like once you kind of get here and like you had the first one under your belt with your team, that atmosphere kind of changes."

Red Rocks head coach Carly Dockendorf, who secured her first win with a season-opening 197.300 score over Boise State (194.325), said the meet was difficult for O'Keefe simply because of the relationship she had with Farden.

"I think that her and Tom have a very close relationship," Dockendorf said. "They've been together for five years, and he's a really special person to her. I think just competing out here without him in her senior year, I think, is hard. She cares about him. I think that she's just kind of using whatever she can inside of her to be great for her, for this season, and for this team.

"But I think for her, they have a really special relationship, and I think it's important for her to recognize those emotions and that they're totally OK for her to have that."

Whatever the pre-meet emotions, O'Keefe seemed to push them aside. The veteran gymnast and reigning NCAA all-around champion delivered another highlight-worthy performance to start the season.

In almost patented fashion, O'Keefe served as the anchor on beam and performed another flawless routine on a night when scores were generally lower as a result of the start of the season. But not for O'Keefe, who when she stuck her landing on beam she quickly heard the Huntsman Center crowd erupt in cheers as everyone knew what the judges should eventually deliver.

Another perfect 10.0 for O'Keefe.

The perfect score was the first of the season for O'Keefe and 11th overall on beam in her career as Utah's all-time leader, but she's also the first gymnast in the country to get the perfect mark on any event this season.

It was a score fitting for the hard work she's put into her gymnastics, and a visual representation of her letting her emotions out the best way she knows possible.

"Honestly, it was probably one of my more emotional 10s," O'Keefe said. "I just feel like starting off the season like that is kind of crazy and surreal. Plus, I just feel like we went through so much turmoil this preseason and everything."

"I thought that was a great start for us," Dockendorf added. "Some people were a little bit more tentative. You tend to see the nerves come out on that event, especially earlier on in the season, but Maile's 10 to me was definitely a 10. I said to her afterwards, I said, 'You deserve that.' That is what she trains every single day. That is not a gift just getting that score. She works for that every day she comes in the gym, so I think we're gonna see more of that this season. But what a way to start your final lap as a senior here at Utah for her."

It was a night where the Red Rocks weren't perfect as a team — they didn't need to be — but to Dockendorf, it showed the character of her team and how they face the challenges in their life.

"This team just shows how strong and how determined they are," Dockendorf said. "They could come up with so many excuses for why they wouldn't have been ready today based on our fall that we had, but they chose to continue to control the things they could control, which is their emotions and their attitude every day in practice all fall. I just think that that is a strength to not be overlooked moving forward, because this team is — obviously, they're pretty unbreakable."

O'Keefe added that she was proud of the effort of her teammates to stick with what they knew best, and that was putting forth their best gymnastics possible.

"I think it's very easy to overlook how proud I am of our team and how proud I feel like our whole staff is," O'Keefe said. "From the outside, maybe you guys don't see everything from the inside like we do, but I just — I don't know if I can express how proud I am of us. But, I mean, we're just kind of working together to the best of our ability and trying to keep moving forward."

The Red Rocks started a bit slow as they navigated a new rule this season where gymnasts have to hold their stick for one second for it to count as a full stick or face a 0.05 deduction to their score.

As a result, the scores tended to be lower than normal, especially on vault, but the Red Rocks picked up steam on bars before finishing strong on floor with more energetic routines than Utah has presented in the past. But for the first night, the score didn't matter.

"As a team, our goal isn't to focus on the scores," fifth-year senior Abby Paulson said. "The outcome and the scores will come as we focus on our gymnastics, we focus on the details, we settle into our gymnastics, like Maile said, so no matter what the score is, it's not a reflection of our gymnastics. If we're confident in what we do, and we focus on what we've been doing in practice, we're going to have a positive outcome no matter what the score is."

Team scores

No. 4 Utah (1-0)

  • Vault: 49.150
  • Bars: 49.325 (98.475)
  • Beam: 49.375 (147.850)
  • Floor: 49.450 (197.300)

Boise State (0-1)

  • Bars: 47.975
  • Vault: 48.825 (96.800)
  • Floor: 48.950 (145.750)
  • Beam: 48.575 (194.325)

Red Rocks scores

1st rotation: Vault (49.150)

  • Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.700
  • Camie Winger: 9.775
  • Ella Zirbes: 9.750
  • Ashley Glynn: 9.850
  • Makenna Smith: 9.900
  • Jaedyn Rucker: 9.875

2nd rotation: Bars (49.325)

  • Makenna Smith: 9.850
  • Alani Sabado: 9.850
  • Ella Zirbes: 9.550
  • Amelie Morgan: 9.775
  • Grace McCallum: 9.925
  • Maile O'Keefe: 9.925

3rd rotation: Beam (49.375)

  • Makenna Smith: 9.700
  • Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.775
  • Grace McCallum: 9.875
  • Abby Paulson: 9.875
  • Amelie Morgan: 9.850
  • Maile O'Keefe: 10.0

4th rotation: Floor (49.450)

  • Makenna Smith: 9.875
  • Abby Paulson: 9.825
  • Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.875
  • Jaedyn Rucker: 9.850
  • Grace McCallum: 9.900
  • Maile O'Keefe: 9.950

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Josh is the sports director at KSL.com and beat writer covering University of Utah athletics — primarily football, men’s and women's basketball and gymnastics. He is also an Associated Press Top 25 voter for college football.
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