And just like that, an unprecedented streak has ended.
Utah’s gymnastics team fell just shy of advancing to a 50th straight national championship after coming in third at its NCAA regional final Sunday in Corvallis, Ore.
No. 4 UCLA, the favorite entering Sunday, won the regional with a 197.725. The Bruins were followed by No. 13 Minnesota (197.625), No. 12 Utah (197.500) and No. 5 Alabama (197.175).
The Bruins and Gophers advanced to the championship.
The meet was a nail biter across all four rotations, and highlighted how much every landing and every tenth matter in the postseason.
The Red Rocks didn’t get the start they wanted over the first half of the meet, ending up tied for third with Alabama after the first rotation — bars — (49.325) and falling to fourth after two rotations with a 49.30 on beam.
Bars has been a strong event for Utah, so it opted to lead off with it again Sunday just like it did in its semifinal win Friday. Utah had strong routines, with Avery Neff scoring a 9.95 and Ana Padurariu scoring a 9.9, but it had to count a 9.775 from Abbi Ryssman after Ella Zirbes went 9.75, with both struggling on their landings.
The beam score was also low, and a pressure cooker after Zirbes fell in the second position. The freshman Ryssman responded to the fall with a nice 9.85 and then Padurariu and Neff hit 9.9s.
Camie Winger had some struggles but powered through in the anchor position for a 9.8 to help Utah avoid counting the fall.
After two rotations, the scores were Minnesota (98.825), UCLA (98.75), Alabama (98.675) and Utah (98.625).
Utah has been a team that has shown no quit this season despite several bumps in the road, and it came out swinging with a third-rotation high of 49.525 on floor to catapult from fourth to first with a narrow lead heading into the final rotation.
Standings after three rotations were Utah (148.150), UCLA (148.100), Minnesota (148.100) and Alabama (147.800).
The Red Rocks didn’t count a score lower than Zoe Johnson’s 9.85 on floor, with Neff knotting a 9.9 and Zirbes, Makenna Smith and Sage Curtis recording 9.925s in latter half of the lineup.
Dubbed the toughest regional out of the four, it was no surprise that it came down to the final rotation as three of the four teams were concluding on their highest ranked event.
Add in that UCLA is a top-10 floor team, and it meant you needed to score big and stick to advance.
It just didn’t happen for Utah. Steps by Johnson and Ashley Glynn left them with 9.8s that had to be counted after Winger sat down her vault in the leadoff position.
Those lower scores countered big scores from Smith (9.95) and Zirbes and Neff (9.9s).
The reality is Utah needed better results on three of its events to keep pace with a phenomenal night by the Gophers and another great night from the Bruins that concluded with another 10.0 by Jordan Chiles on floor.
Minnesota has been as hot as any team since mid-March and was simply rolling in the regional for the upset.
The streak
How do you summarize a streak of this magnitude ending?
You don’t. The reality is it is unprecedented, likely won’t be replicated and was going to end sometime. Many suspected this would be the season after the rough start Utah had, but the group rallied to win a second straight Big 12 championship and fought to the end in its last meet.
Team finishes
First — UCLA, 197.725.
Second — Minnesota, 197.625.
Third — Utah, 197.500.
Fourth — Alabama, 197.175.
NCAA Championship
The NCAA championship semifinals are April 16 and the final four is April 18. Teams that advanced to the championship out of the four regionals are:
No. 1 - Oklahoma
No. 2 – LSU
No. 3 – Florida
No. 4 – UCLA
No. 6 – Georgia
No. 7 – Stanford
No. 9 – Arkansas
No. 13 – Minnesota