SALT LAKE CITY — You’d be forgiven if you don’t remember a single thing from Utah’s comeback victory over Cal this past weekend other than the Red Rocks’ historic performance on balance beam.
Utah’s meet-winning beam lineup was simply electric and the numbers back it up.
The 49.625 the Utes scored on the event was the third highest beam score by any team in the country this season, behind only a 49.700 scored by Minnesota and a 49.675 scored by Florida.
“For whatever reason that day we just weren’t clicking. They weren’t really in sync and I don’t know why. We are going to try to figure that out.” — Utah coach Tom Farden
It tied Utah’s highest road beam score ever — Utah also scored a 49.625 at Utah State in 2003 — and was the second-highest overall beam score in program history, trailing only the 49.650 recorded in a win over BYU in 1995.
Thanks to beam and also season-best performances on floor exercise and uneven bars, Utah scored a season-best 197.550.
The thing is, amid all that excellence Utah also suffered its worst performance on vault this year.
Most didn’t get to see it — we’ll get to that in a minute — but there were three season-low scores on vault, not to mention two middling ones.
The only great vault came from Alexia Burch — she scored a 9.90 — as Utah posted a 49.075 and was pretty soundly beaten on the event.
So what went wrong?
“For whatever reason that day we just weren’t clicking,” Utah head coach Tom Farden said. “They weren’t really in sync and I don’t know why. We are going to try to figure that out.”
Farden does have some ideas about factors that affected both the vault scores in Berkeley and those throughout the country this season.
Vault scores have been down nationwide, a side effect of an off-season rule change meant to tighten scores on the event.
Specifically, vaults like the Yurchenko Full, the most widely competed vault in the NCAA, no longer has a start value of 10.0, but rather 9.95.
In theory at least. Judging is an inexact human endeavor after all.
“A 9.95 start value is really hard to decipher, in my opinion,” Farden said. “It is hard to decipher half a tenth (of a point). Are they really starting from a 9.95 or do they subconsciously start from a 9.90? That is what we are dealing with.”
Farden was quick to point out that everyone is dealing with the same tight vault scoring, not just Utah. As a result, though, vault scores might never compare to those of the past.
“The rule change has definitely had an impact,” he said.
Of greater impact to the Red Rocks’ vault scores in Berkeley was a significant television delay.
Following the opening rotation of the meet, the Pac-12 Network experienced some technical difficulties. Fans at home were treated to a 2017 Utah/UCLA gymnastics documentary, instead of the hoped for Utah-Cal action. The gymnasts themselves were forced to wait. And wait. And wait some more, before finally being allowed to compete.
“That I want to speak on,” Farden said. “We were standing there for a while. We were just standing there during that delay. I finally went up to the meet director and the judges and asked “Are we going to do gymnastics?’ I was very polite about it, but we were essentially icing everyone in the arena.”
On a power event such as vault, it was the perfect storm.
“After you warm up you don’t want to be flushed out and just standing there,” said Farden. “I’m not going to blame it all on that, but I think that could have been a factor.”
Despite the poor vault outing in Berkeley, for both Utah and the Pac-12 Network, the Red Rocks are still ranked eighth nationally on the event and the expectation is that they’ll improve.
Some of that expected improvement could be the byproduct of a lineup change — according to Farden, Cristal Isa is knocking on the door — which could happen as soon as Saturday against Oregon State.
“If there is a change this weekend, and I want to watch practice today (Tuesday) and tomorrow and Friday and make that decision with Garrett (Griffeth), it would be Cristal,” Farden said. “I think Cristal is really close. She is just on the cusp.”
And with the Red Rocks at home this weekend, at least 15,000 fans will for sure be able to see it.
Red Rocks on the air
No. 3 Utah (7-0, 4-0 Pac-12) vs. No. 21 Oregon State (8-3, 3-0)
Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City
Saturday, 1 p.m. MST
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Radio: ESPN700