For diehard gymnastics fans, Friday’s first-round action at the NCAA Regionals at the Maverik Center probably seemed a little odd. The Utes were solid, but even though they earned their third-highest score of the year, their performance left something to be desired. In the night session, LSU, a team tabbed to be a strong contender at the NCAA Championships, had to battle from a last-place finish to qualify. It was helped in its efforts by some big mistakes by other teams.
Overall, that first-day showing was a little unsatisfying. After all these are the teams that are supposed to be best of the best, the ones who could perform at their top level with the season on the line.
Well, hello Saturday.
Team results
Utah 197.925
LSU 197.75
Arizona State 197.6
Kentucky 197.6
The regional final competition was everything that first day wasn’t with crisp routines, stuck landings and high scores flying. This was the kind of meet the 2,500 gymnastics fans allowed in the building had come to expect and brave a pandemic to see.
The intensity was evident and if slugfest can be used to describe a gymnastics meet, there is no better place to use it than here.
When it was all said and done, the Utes were the team standing atop the podium, finishing with a season-high 197.925.
LSU finished with a 197.75 to also advance to the NCAA Championships April 16-17, while Arizona State and Kentucky both scored 197.6 and failed to qualify.
In the other regional competitions, Michigan (198.1) and Cal (197.75) advanced out of the Morgantown regional, Florida (197.7) and Minnesota (197.425) advanced out of the Athens regional, and Oklahoma (198.175) and Alabama (197.575) advanced out of the Tuscaloosa regional.
“The athletes came to compete,” Utah coach Tom Farden said. “Red Rock Nation showed up, too, and it was good to have fans in the building, and it really felt like it was a big tailwind in terms of competing.”
The Utes picked a perfect time to have their best bar set of the season as Abby Paulson (9.85), Alani Sabado (9.875), Emilie LeBlanc (9.9) and Maile O’Keefe (9.95) all tied their career highs. Cristal Isa missed out on the career-tying effort but still had a solid routine and ended the rotation with a 9.9.
Beam was no surprise as the Utes had another great night on the 4-inch wide apparatus, scoring 49.6 with Abby Paulson and O’Keefe earning 9.95s.
The Utes had a great night on the floor with a team score of 49.625, the second-highest score of the year, as Sydney Soloski and O’Keefe had 9.95s.
The only disappointing trend that continued was a dip in scoring on the vault. Just as they have done in recent meets, the Utes suffered a few mistakes and scored just 49.225 with Jaedyn Rucker leading the way scoring 9.95.
No doubt the small steps and mistakes are an irritant that must be addressed before nationals, but for now the Utes deserve to enjoy the big win.
Utah hasn’t hidden the fact it wants to be known as a serious contender for the national title and has put an importance on winning the big meets. To that end, just qualifying for the national championships would have left a little something to be desired.
In past years, the Utes have too often talked about showing up for the big meets but couldn’t lift their efforts to hang with teams such as Oklahoma, LSU and Florida.
On Saturday, the Utes showed they not only could compete with the top-tier teams but also beat them.
“This is a great confidence booster for our team,” Soloski said. “Our dreams are in our hands, we just have to put it together.”