Maile O'Keefe scores another 10 on beam, Red Rocks roll to victory over Beavers

SALT LAKE CITY — The 12,480 fans in attendance at the Huntsman Center went quiet as Maile O'Keefe touched the beam. It's become tradition.

At this point in her career, it's almost like a spiritual experience as everyone watches in baited anticipation. Will she or won't she?

O'Keefe twists, turns and flips with methodical precision, and fans interrupt the silence periodically to cheer for difficult tricks they've witnessed countless times at this point in her five seasons. The second O'Keefe dismounts the beam and sticks the landing, the Huntsman Center erupts in pandemonium.

They know what's about to happen.

As the judges turn their scores to face each other — perfect 10's showing on each card — that pandemonium turns to pure chaos as the fans witness greatness once again. Another perfect score.

For O'Keefe, it was her third this season and the 13th of her career on beam, and 14th perfect score all-time on all events, tying a Utah gymnastics record.

"It feels really good," O'Keefe said. "I mean, no matter what, I feel like a 10 is never given until it's on the scoreboard. It's really satisfying again to see it up there. I just feel like coming off of last week, I tried way too hard to get that, so it was nice to just, like, let it happen. I had this weird thing going on in my head where I was like, 'Oh no, 13 is unlucky. What if I'm stuck here forever.'

"We're good, we're past that now," she laughed.

Most impressive Friday night was that her performance came after an uncharacteristic uneven bars routine in which she scored a 9.675 after a handful of mistakes. It's the type of routine that gnaws at O'Keefe and has the potential to carry over to the next event.

"It's really easy to carry a bad routine into the next," O'Keefe said. "I gave myself about like five seconds to go drink water, put my water bottle down, and then I was like, 'OK, let's go Grace.'

"With everything in it, we always have people who are behind us and who are going to support us," she added. "And something I'm trying to remind myself this year that no matter what my performance is, there are always people who are supporting me. And so I kind of just had to rely on that and not let one thing lead into another lead into another, and so kind of just wanted to do my gymnastics from then on out."

The fifth-year senior definitely let her gymnastics shine.

"I think it just continues to show the amount of work that she puts in, and I don't think you can ever have too many 10s," Red Rocks head coach Carly Dockendorf said. "I know it feels like it's kind of the norm for her now, but a lot of things have to come together in a minute-30 for you to get a 10. And for her to continue to do that, I think it's a special moment if it's No. 1, or No. 13 or No. 15."

O'Keefe was not alone in an improved effort Friday night in which the Red Rocks comfortably pulled away from Oregon State in a 197.750-196.100 win.

The Red Rocks started out with some favorable scoring in the first part of its vault lineup, with Camie Winger (9.825) and Ashley Glynn (9.875) getting good opening scores despite a few deductions on their landings. But it set an early tone for the meet.

Makenna Smith scored a 9.925 in the fourth position, and was followed by a nearly flawless vault by Jaedyn Rucker (9.975). Jaylene Gilstrap added a 9.925 to give the team a season-high 49.525 on vault.

It was Rucker's vault that was a show stopper, though. The fifth-year senior hit her stick, and the Huntsman Center crowd erupted in cheers as her teammates ran across the floor to celebrate the accomplishment.

It was quite the comeback after a missteps last week in which she fell back and had several deductions.

"I mean, it's amazing," O'Keefe said of Rucker's performance. "She continues to just keep her head down, keep grinding and keep working. She doesn't really let the good ones stop her and she doesn't want the bad one stop her, either. And so I'm excited to see what the rest of the season holds for her, and hopefully many more of those to come."

"I thought it was really cool to see her come back so strong after not her best weekend," added Grace McCallum. "She worked so hard in the gym this week, and it really showed on her vault this weekend. She absolutely killed it, and you could just tell going into her vault she was so calm and confident in herself, and like confident in the numbers she put in the gym, which is really cool to see."

That early momentum didn't carry over to bars after some mistakes, leaving the team with a 49.150 score. But the beam team and O'Keefe's 10.0 helped reset the night's momentum. The Red Rocks carried that effort over to floor where four gymnasts finished with a score of 9.90 or better.

To cap off the night, O'Keefe finished with a meet-high 9.950 on floor.

"I feel like we were just more cohesive this weekend," McCallum said. "We were really together in everything. When we were cheering, we tried to stay in close quarters, and just really put all our energy towards that person going up there to compete. So I think the energy was just overall so much better, and even if there was a little bobble or mistake, we just, we didn't let it faze us, and we just kept going.

"I thought that the energy with the team was excellent tonight," Dockendorf added. "It was really fun to see them — just felt like they truly enjoyed being out there together and being in the Huntsman, and I think that brought a lot of energy to the team. As the girls mentioned, we really focused on staying like in close proximity of each other to kind of stay in our Utah bubble and just really stay focused on us and not get distracted by anything else. I felt like they did an excellent job at that."

Team scores

No. 4 Utah

• Vault: 49.525
• Bars: 98.675 (49.150)
• Beam: 148.200 (49.525)
• Floor: 197.750 (49.550)

No. 16 Oregon State

• Bars: 49.175
• Vault: 98.525 (49.350)
• Floor: 146.825 (48.300)
• Beam: 196.100 (49.225)

Red Rocks scores

1st Rotation: Vault (49.525)

• Camie Winger: 9.825
• Ella Zirbes: 9.775
• Ashley Glynn: 9.875
• Makenna Smith: 9.925
• Jaedyn Rucker: 9.975
• Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.925

2nd Rotation: Bars (49.150)

• Makenna Smith: 9.875
• Alani Sabado: 9.775
• Amelie Morgan: 9.875
• Ella Zirbes: 9.025
• Maile O'Keefe: 9.675
• Grace McCallum: 9.950

3rd Rotation: Beam (49.525)

• Amelie Morgan: 9.825
• Makenna Smith: 9.850
• Grace McCallum: 9.925
• Abby Paulson: 9.925
• Maile O'Keefe: 10.0
• Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.225

4th Rotation: Floor (49.550)

• Makenna Smith: 9.875
• Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.900
• Abby Paulson: 9.925
• Jaedyn Rucker: 9.125
• Maile O'Keefe: 9.950
• Grace McCallum: 9.900

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