Red Rocks Are Pac-12 Regular Season Champions, Again
In meets against top-10 teams UCLA and Cal the past two weeks, Utah may have secured victories but they came in less than stellar fashion.
Mistakes were common among their stars but the Red Rocks depth allowed them to escape with wins. While the victories were nice, they weren't the sort of performances that inspired confidence in a team that has larger goals in mind such as a Pac-12 and national championship.
But everything changed on Friday night at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Oregon. Up against No. 23 Oregon State — their third consecutive competition against a nationally-ranked opponent — the Red Rocks dominated the Beavers 197.575-196.425.
The victory, which was a season-high score and the sixth highest in the nation thus far, also secured Utah's back-to-back Pac-12 regular season title.
"That is two years in a row in one of the toughest conferences to be unscathed and going undefeated two years in a row in our conference speaks volumes about our athletes' ability to win on the road and at home," Utah head coach Tom Farden said. "Obviously the Pac-12 has the thoroughbreds and bluebloods, but also some rising and talented teams that really tested us this year. We are very proud of the program and are grateful that our athletes were in a good mind space tonight and did what they did."
Maile O'Keefe was dominant once again, winning the all-around after posting a career-high 39.725. It was the best performance of her career when she took home four of the five the titles; outright victories in the all-around and beam while shares of the vault and uneven bars.
She finished with scores of 9.950 on the uneven bars, 9.900 on vault, 9.900 on floor and 9.975 on beam. O'Keefe continues to dominate on the balance beam as she's now the top=rated gymnast in the nation in that rotation.
"Maile was in a great space all day," Farden said. "She cares. And one of her goals — she said, 'We're going to Oregon to win and to be undefeated.' And so she vocalized that and then led the way. So it was pretty impressive for a sophomore."
What made the victory even more impressive was the fact that it came with no fans in attendance, a far cry from the limited number of fans who were able to attend Utah's two previous meets at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
The intrinsic ability to compete with no fans in attendance, which means no energy to feed off of so they had to bring their own, is what impressed Farden so much about his team.
“They seem to be striking postseason. ... Tonight was pretty spectacular," Farden said. “We haven’t had a lot of road meets, and then to have a road meet in Gill Coliseum where there were no fans this evening and no parents and no noise at all, it showed us the intrinsic motivation that they have to succeed and to prepare themselves for the conference championships and beyond."
Utah didn't get off the best start of the meet on bars, but was still able to find a way to lead 49.225-49.175. Emilie LeBlanc and Cristal Isa, along with O'Keefe, helped save the rotation in the final three performances by posting scores of 9.875 or higher.
The Red Rocks extended that lead to nearly a full point after the second rotation when they turned in an impressive vault score of 49.325. Jaedyn Rucker helped lead the way with a career-high 9.990, tying O'Keefe for the meet title.
Utah led by a full point following the third rotation in which the trio of Rucker, O'Keefe and senior Sydney Soloski all finished with scores of 9.900 or higher. Soloski won the competition with a 9.925, her seventh consecutive score of 9.900 or higher that makes her one of the top floor gymnasts in the nation.
The beam is where Utah established as one of the best teams in the nation when it finished with a season-high 49.600. Alexia Burch, Abby Paulson, Isa and O'Keefe all finished with scores in the 9.900 range. Isa and Paulson tied with 9.950's while Burch added a 9.900.
The Red Rocks will now turn their attention to Utah State, their opponent on Friday, March 12 in what is sure to be an emotional senior night. The team is expected to honor Soloski, LeBlanc and Burch, the trio of seniors who have been instrumental in getting the younger athletes through the difficulty of this season.
Utah Gymnastics seniors (left to right) Emilie LeBlanc, Sydney Soloski and Alexia Burch — Courtesy of Utah Athletics
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