Maile O’Keefe’s place in Utah gymnastics history is assured.
The Red Rocks came about as close as you can get to having the highest-scoring meet in the country this season without getting it.
Oh, and Jaedyn Rucker joined the perfect 10 club. Finally.
It was that sort of night Friday at the Huntsman Center on the campus of the University of Utah. A night of broken records, nearly broken records and more than a few career highs.
Coming off back-to-back meets that left bad tastes in their mouths, the Red Rocks had their best performance of the season, nearly across the board.
The result was a 198.550, the third highest scoring meet in Utah history and a runaway victory over No. 6 Cal (197.550).
“They looked good,” Utah head coach Tom Farden said.
Good doesn’t do No. 4 Utah justice.
The Red Rocks had new season highs on uneven bars (49.600) and floor exercise (49.675), while tying their season-high score on vault (49.525). On beam, the one event where they did not score or match their season-high, all they did was post a 49.750.
O’Keefe, Rucker, Abby Paulson, Jaylene Gilstrap, Makenna Smith and Abby Brenner all set or tied their career high on events, and O’Keefe, Rucker, Paulson and Brenner all walked away event winners.
The only thing missing, thanks to the 198.575 that Oklahoma scored earlier in the night, was earning the country’s best score this season.
Second-best still spoke volumes, though.
“I think it speaks to our team this year,” O’Keefe said. “With every setback, there is a come up. Sometimes you have to have those little things to make sure you are in the right mental space going forward. I think we are on the come up.”
Defining moment
There were no shortage of standout moments for the Red Rocks against the Bears, but O’Keefe made the kind of history that may stand the test of time.
With her perfect 10 on beam, her fourth this season, O’Keefe has now earned seven perfect 10s on beam in her Utah career. That is the most by any Red Rock ever, besting the long standing record of six set by Theresa Kulikowski in 2003.
For all intents and purposes, O’Keefe is now the greatest ‘beamer’ in Utah history.
“It feels surreal,” she said. “She has been holding that record for a very long time. I got kind of emotional knowing that my name will be up there for awhile, until someone comes along and passes me up, too.”
Her teammates were no less caught up in the moment.
“I had chills,” Brenner said. “I was just so excited. It was really cool to be able to watch that. That is what she does in the gym every day, but it was cool to watch it translate into an arena when it counts.”
Added Rucker: “We alway knew she was legendary. Seeing it actually come true was really cool to watch.”
The record being broken by O’Keefe wasn’t surprising for Farden, even though he distinctly remembers watching Kulikowski set the mark early in the century and being nothing but impressed.
“It doesn’t change things for me,” Farden said. “When I went to watch Maile when she was really young and busting onto the elite scene, I thought, ‘This isn’t a normal athlete on balance beam.’
“When you watch Maile on balance beam, she was doing some of the hardest sets, if not the hardest set in the world. To watch that translate into success in the college ranks, you just pinch yourself.”
Farden continued, “I looked up to Theresa Kulikowski. We are about the same age — she’s a little younger than me — but Kulikowski and Utah back in the day, I was watching all that stuff because I was a young coach. ... You have an athlete break that record, it is incredible.”
Needs work
But there is always room for improvement, even on a night when the Red Rocks had one of the best scoring meets in their history.
It is the little things, Farden explained. Making perfect even more perfect.
“I am looking for very specific things that lead to the scores we need to attain,” he said. “They are very challenging to see. A stick is a stick, but a stick with an exclamation point is a stick with an exclamation point. ... There are differences and distinctions with that stuff and we are looking for and training that stuff.
“Their performance and what they are doing, it was better (tonight). It is getting better. I always call it chipping in the change. I don’t need athletes to get four tenths (of a point) better, I need them to get a quarter tenth better.”
Case in point, Utah was greatly improved on vault, but there were still three routines in the 9.85 or lower range. Improve those scores ever so slightly and the Red Rocks may be able to weather the loss of Grace McCallum and her 10.0 valued vault when competing against the best teams in the country.
On bars, two scores — from Amelie Morgan and Makenna Smith — came in lower than a 9.9, and that was with judging that could be described at times as generous.
Even on beam, Utah’s standout event, there was room for improvement, specifically from Cristal Isa who has proven herself much more capable than the routine she competed.
Utah is better now than it was earlier this season, but as Farden illustrated there is still room to grow. Especially since a national title remains the ever present goal.
That’s encouraging
Still, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about Utah’s showing.
Vault was dramatically improved, in no small part thanks to Rucker.
The reigning NCAA champion on the event, Rucker hadn’t quite settled in this season, proving inconsistent at times with her efforts.
Only a few days removed from sitting her vault against Arizona State, Rucker came through with the highest scoring vault of her career, though.
“It was one of the best feelings I’ve felt in my life. It is really exciting,” Rucker said.
She wasn’t the only gymnast with a standout performance. Jillian Hoffman came through with another great vault (she scored a 9.95), and across events multiple Red Rocks had some of their best performances.
Paulson was a standout, with a 9.975 on beam and an event winning 9.950 on floor. Since McCallum went down with injury, Paulson has been at her very best, with a pair of 9.975s on beam, plus strong floor performances.
Brenner scored a 9.9 or better on all three of the events she competed on, including a career-high tying 9.95 on bars.
The graduate transfer is now better than she has ever been at Utah, possibly in her entire collegiate career.
“It is a really good feeling when what you do in the gym translates to the arena and that connection the last couple of weeks has really translated (for me). It is great to hit what you know you can hit,” Brenner said.
“It is a testament to Tom and the rest of the coaches. This is the best I’ve ever felt in a season in February. It has been the perfect mix,” she added.
No event was more encouraging for Utah than floor. The Red Rocks have improved on floor as the season has progressed, but Friday night the Red Rocks were elite.
Two gymnasts — O’Keefe and Paulson — scored a 9.950 and three more added 9.925. Utah didn’t count a score below a 9.925 and beat its previous season high by two tenths.
“This was probably our best warm up of the year,” Farden said. “In terms of our efficiency, the calmness that they had and it translated from there to the meet. What we saw tonight was the best transfer from warm up to competition.”
He continued, “They were not happy on Monday (after losing to Arizona State). We just kicked the hornets’ nest and you saw what they did. This is not only a talented team, with adequate depth right now. But they are competitors too and that combination can bode well for a program.”