Maile O’Keefe has already etched her name in the record books at the University of Utah.
She is the program leader in perfect 10s on beam — in a career and in a single season.
She is tied with Theresa Kulikowski for the most perfect 10s in a Utah career period, with 14.
She is one of only two Utah gymnasts ever to win an NCAA all-around title, plus individual NCAA titles on balance beam, floor exercise and uneven bars.
At this point, there isn’t much left for O’Keefe to accomplish, other than a team national championship. And regardless of what happens the remainder of the 2024 season, O’Keefe will go down as one of, if not the greatest Utah gymnast of all time.
The thing is, she isn’t done quite yet.
On Friday, O’Keefe was named a finalist for the AAI Award, which is given annually to the best senior gymnast in the NCAA. Think of it as something akin to the Heisman Trophy in college football or the Naismith Award in men’s college basketball.
O’Keefe is one of six finalists for the award, along with Alabama’s Luisa Blanco, LSU’s Haleigh Bryant, Oklahoma’s Audrey Davis, Michigan’s Gabby Wilson and Kentucky’s Raena Worley.
And if O’Keefe wins the award, for which she is a nominee for the second consecutive year, she will achieve something only four other Red Rocks have ever done.
Missy Marlowe, Theresa Kulikowski, Ashley Postell and Georgia Dabritz are the only Utah gymnasts to ever win the AAI Award. The most recent finalist for the award — prior to O’Keefe last season — being Baely Rowe in 2017.
That is a who’s who in Utah gymnastics history, a group O’Keefe is already a part of. Win the AAI Award, though, and O’Keefe may take a place at the head of the group.
The competition for this year’s AAI award is fierce.
Bryant is the top all-around gymnast in the country, with a national qualifying score, or NQS, of 39.800, with a season high of 39.925. She is also the best vaulter in the NCAA, with an NQS of 9.955. And she is just one of five other finalists.
Davis is the best bars competitor, with an NQS of 9.975. Worley, meanwhile, is the top-ranked floor competitor in the country, plus a top-three gymnast on bars. Wilson is a top-five competitor on floor — Michigan gymnasts have won the award the last two seasons — and Blanco is a top-six vaulter, per NQS.
O’Keefe’s claim to fame this season, as in years past, is on beam, where she currently ranks No. 2 in the country with an NQS of 9.985, behind Oklahoma’s Ragan Smith.
The American Athletic Inc. will announce the winner of the AAI Award next month at the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, by which time O’Keefe may be Utah’s record holder for most perfect 10s in a career and the Red Rocks may have advanced to the national championships for a record 48th time.
Which is to say that O’Keefe’s place in history is already set. She has done enough in her five seasons at Utah to be considered one of the greatest Red Rocks ever. She simply has a chance to add another notable achievement to a career that has been full of them.
