Maile O'Keefe Racks Up Another Pac-12 Gymnast Of The Week Honor
Utah has reached the halfway point of the regular season and if there was ever a doubt as to if the Red Rocks were the best the Pac-12 has to offer, it's safe to say they are.
For the second week in a row, the Red Rocks have swept the weekly conference superlatives. It's the third time Maile O'Keefe has been named 'Gymnast of the Week,' the first time Alexia Burch has been named 'Specialist of the Week' and the second time Jaedyn Rucker has received the 'Coaches' Choice' award.
O'Keefe's star continues to get bigger and bigger when she won her third all-around title of the season after scoring her second-straight 39.525, narrowly edging out Arizona State's Hannah Scharf’s 39.475. O'Keefe finished with career-highs in vault (9.900) and floor (9.925).
“Maile was stunning on floor exercise,” Utah head coach Tom Farden said. “I think her performance quality continues to get more confident as the season goes on.”
Already with a perfect 10 score on the balance beam, O’Keefe ranks first in the Pac-12 on beam and all-around. She is No. 2 in the nation on beam and No. 7 in the all-around, and only getting better according to Farden.
Burch racked her second superlative of the season, but the first time in her career she was named 'Specialist of the Week' following her performance on vault.
She posted a career-high 9.975, even receiving a perfect from one judge, when she stuck her landing following her Yurchenko 1.5. That score not only helped push the Red Rocks to its highest vault team score of the season (49.475), it's tied for the second highest vault score in the nation, behind only a perfect 10.
“Lexi knew as soon as she hit that table that she let that one loose,” Farden said. “I thought it was going to be a 10. That is how impressed we were.”
Rucker continues to impress and look like an extremely valuable member of the team when she nabbed her second 'Coaches Choice' award of the season.
She posted a career-high 9.90 on floor and tied her career-high 9.875 on vault, helping the Red Rocks claim season-highs in both events. Blessed with extreme power, Rucker is finally showing she's capable of harnessing that power and putting it towards a much more consistent approach.
Utah has been dominant all season long, racking up three 'Gymnasts of the Week' honors, three 'Specialists of the Week' honors and three 'Coaches Choice' awards on the year.
The Red Rocks will now have nearly two weeks off before returning to face No. 9 UCLA in what is expected to be the Utah's toughest competitors to bring home a conference title. Both teams will meet on Friday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.
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