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BERKELEY, Calif. — Coming off the team's first 198 score of the season last week, the No. 4 Red Rocks took a slight step back Saturday afternoon in a road meet against No. 3 California.
The Red Rocks had too many missteps throughout the meet, and the team finished with a 197.700 team score. Though a lower score than hoped for for the team, it was good enough to improve the all-important NQS and to keep the Red Rocks in the hunt for a top-4 seed in the upcoming NCAA regionals.
The Bears, who have been one of the hottest teams in the country this season, won the meet with a 198.100 score. It's the team's second consecutive 198 score of the season after finishing with a 198.400 score against UCLA on Sunday.
"Definitely gave some tenths away on our bars in our landing, and also on vault," Red Rocks head coach Carly Dockendorf said. "We made a lot of lineup changes throughout the meet — three of our events we made a lineup change as the meet was unfolding, so a lot of adjusting had to happen today. Was just proud that our team kind of stayed focused throughout the meet and we just kept doing the best that we could routine after routine."
The two teams were locked into a dead heat after the first rotation, with both teams scoring a 49.400 in a good opening rotation. But California found an opening in the second rotation on bars, where the team ranks No. 3 in the country.
The Bears closed out bars with a 9.925 score from Andi Li in the third position to set the tone, and eMjae Frazier, Gabby Perea and Madelyn Williams upped the intensity of the meet with back-to-back-to-back 9.975 scores to control a 0.425 lead at the midway point of the meet.
The Red Rocks faired well in the second rotation on vault, but couldn't compete with the scores that California returned. Ashley Glynn earned a 9.90 in the third position and Jaedyn Rucker followed it up with a 9.90 score of her own in the first position, but no other gymnast could score higher than a 9.850.
Makenna Smith, who was slated to go in the all-around competition, saved herself from sitting down on her vault landing and was eventually pulled in the final two events of the day.
Dockendorf said Smith's back "flared up" earlier in the week and hasn't practiced with the team since Tuesday. But the team was "monitoring her and seeing how she was doing. Her back was just a little bit tight and so that's kind of what happened."
Grace McCallum, too, was slated for the all-around competition, but was a late scratch from the vault lineup in favor of a more stable 9.80 score by Jaylene Gilstrap in the anchor spot, especially after McCallum's touch routines in the preceding practices didn't go as well as planned.
Though there were missteps along the way, the Red Rocks made up some ground in the third rotation on floor. Abby Paulson, who replaced Smith in the leadoff spot, earned a 9.875 score and was followed by four routines of a 9.90 or higher.
Maile O'Keefe topped the scores with a 9.950 in the fifth position as the fourth straight 9.90 score or higher, giving the Red Rocks some much-needed relief in the scoring. But a week after earning her first 10.0 of her career on floor, McCallum stopped midway through her final tumbling pass, limiting what would have been a good score for the Red Rocks.
"Grace is human just like everybody else and she was just having a little bit of an off day," Dockendorf said. "It just wasn't her day on the floor today."
The Red Rocks closed out the meet with McCallum scoring a 9.90 on beam in the third spot, and was followed by 9.925 scores by Abby Paulson and McCallum to give the team a 49.425 score on the event.
"If we want to contend for the national title and Pac-12 title, we're going to have to clean up some details still. ... Some of the mistakes we saw tonight are mistakes that we have been seeing, so we definitely need to be a little more disciplined with our execution and continue to make adjustments to practice every day so that they don't continue to show up when we go to compete," Dockendorf said.
Team scores
No. 4 Utah
- Bars: 49.400
- Vault: 98.700 (49.300)
- Floor: 148.275 (49.575)
- Beam: 197.700 (49.425)
No. 3 California
- Vault: 49.400
- Bars: 99.125 (49.725)
- Beam: 148.525 (49.400)
- Floor: 198.100 (49.575)
Red Rocks scores
1st Rotation: Bars (49.400)
- Makenna Smith: 9.825
- Abby Paulson: 9.750
- Ella Zirbes: 9.900
- Maile O'Keefe: 9.850
- Grace McCallum: 9.950
- Alani Sabado: 9.875
2nd Rotation: Vault (49.300)
- Camie Winger: 9.850
- Ella Zirbes: 9.850
- Ashley Glynn: 9.900
- Makenna Smith: 9.525
- Jaedyn Rucker: 9.900
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.800
3rd Rotation: Floor (49.575)
- Abby Paulson: 9.875
- Ella Zirbes: 9.925
- Jaedyn Rucker: 9.900
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.925
- Maile O'Keefe: 9.950
- Grace McCallum: 9.675
4th Rotation: Beam (49.425)
- Camie Winger: 9.850
- Elizabeth Gantner: 9.825
- Grace McCallum: 9.900
- Abby Paulson: 9.925
- Maile O'Keefe: 9.925
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.075
