#4 Red Rocks Post Third-Best Score In Program History, Defeat #6 Cal 198.550-197.550

SALT LAKE CITY – After two Perfect 10s and season highs in three events, fourth-placed Utah Gymnastics posted their best third-best result in program history, defeating the sixth-placed California Golden Bears 198,550-197,550 on Friday night.

Maile O’Keefe posted a career-high 39.750 in the all-around to win the title in her all-around debut of the season. She earned her seventh career Perfect 10 on beam to stand alone at the top of the record book, and broke the tie for the school record of 10.0 seconds in a career on beam with Theresa Kulikowski (1999-2003), set during her career six earned . Also earning perfection on Friday night was Jaedyn Ruckerwho scored the first 10.0 of her career on vault to win the event title.

In addition to her all-around and beam titles, O’Keefe also won a share of the bars and floor titles. Abby Burner grabbed a part of the Bars title for the first win of her career in Utah Abby Paulson took part of the floor title with a career-high 9.95.

Utah snapped out of its short-lived vaulting woes of the last two encounters by posting a 49.525 in the opening rotation to match its season-high. The Red Rocks saw a 9.85 on O’Keefe’s season debut before Brenner hit a season-high 9.90. Jaylene Gilstrap And Makena Smith Each contributed 9.825 seconds while the spin of the spin came in the final two jumps.

Jillian Hoffman Yurchenko fired 1.5 for a 9.95 and Rucker followed up with another stick, earning her first perfect 10 of her career. The 10.0 on vault for Rucker was a Ute’s first perfect score on vault since the 2020 season. Despite the big rotation, Utah trailed Cal by .050 after the Bears tracked performance on the bars.

The Red Rocks continued the momentum on the beam, starting the set with 9.875 straight seconds Amelie Morgan and blacksmith. Brenner continued her hot start to the night, hitting a career high on bars with a 9.95. Sage Thompson posted a 9.90 to maintain the big scores, while O’Keefe (9.95) and Crystal Isa (9,925) rounded out the list with two more exceptional exercises. Utah hit a season-high 49,600 on parallel bars to lead at halftime 99.125-98.725.

The Ute Beam team put on a show like any other week, scoring 49.750 overall, which was just .025 off a season high/school record. Morgan hit a season-high 9.925 and Smith added 9.875 right after. Utah received 9.975 seconds for the second straight week from Paulson and Kara Eaker. Rounding out the five-pointer was O’Keefe, who made history with her seventh career perfect 10 on beam and topped the record book alone.

After extending the lead, the ground team posted a season-high 49.675 to close the meet in dominating fashion. Utah started the set with a 9.925 from Brenner and Gilstrap (career high), while Paulson posted a career-best 9.95 to keep the momentum going. Smith added a season-high 9.925 to complete her season-high on the night in the all-around (39.500) before Rucker (9.875) and O’Keefe (9.95) put an exclamation mark on the competition.

Utah Gymnastics takes on Arizona in their final home game of the season next Friday, March 3rd. The Utes will send their six seniors off on seniors night at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Senior orientations and recognition begin at 6:45 pm MT in Salt Lake City.