Utah’s gymnastics team has crafted so many comebacks with its fantastic balance beam lineup. But Monday wasn’t one of those days as the Utes couldn’t overcome a subpar effort on the vault and fell at Arizona State 197.55-197.5.
The loss broke a 33-meet winning streak dating back to the 2003 season for the Utes against their Pac-12 rival.
The Utes were without Grace McCallum, who suffered a hyperextended knee last week and is out indefinitely.
Utah coach Tom Farden acknowledged her absence was felt, but didn’t feel that is why the Utes lost either. Rather, Farden pointed to a vault score that was less than 49.0 for the second meet in a row.
“It caught up to us today,” he said. “It wasn’t the outcome we were training for or anticipated.”
Arizona State put itself in position to win in the second rotation when the Sun Devils scored a 49.55 on the uneven bars while Utah struggled on the vault, scoring 48.925. Utah’s Jaedyn Rucker sat her vault landing and scored just 9.35 while others landed short or failed to stick. Jillian Hoffman and Sage Thompson led the Utes with 9.825s.
“Maybe they were trying too hard today to stick landings and they came up short and got caught up in some things,” Farden said.
The swing erased the .225 edge the Utes had after the first rotation, when the Utes opened with a 49.5 on the bars. Abby Brenner and Thompson led Utah with 9.925s.
The Sun Devils kept the pressure on in the third rotation where they scored a 49.325 on the balance beam and the Utes totaled 49.375 on the floor. Brenner and Jaylene Gilstrap led the Utes with 9.9s.
Even so, a 148.15-147.8 deficit didn’t seem insurmountable for the Utes, who rank No. 1 on the beam.
Utah had a strong showing, scoring 49.7, but Arizona State scored a 49.4 on the floor to hang onto the win.
The Utes were led on the beam by 9.975s from Kara Eaker and Abby Paulson and 9.925s from Makenna Smith and Maile O’Keefe.
Utah’s effort was enough to put pressure on Arizona State’s anchor, Hannah Scharf, who needed a 9.9 to clinch the win. Instead she earned a 9.925. Scharf also tied for the uneven bars win with a 9.975 and won the all-around with 39.675.
“The silver lining is everything they did under high pressure,” Farden said. “It speaks volumes for this team. They aren’t quitters. We just came out and shot ourselves in the foot in the second rotation.”
The Utes don’t have a lot of time to dwell on the loss with Cal paying a visit Friday for a 6 p.m. meet in the Huntsman Center.
Utah isn’t panicking, believing that vault rotation was the reason for the loss and not McCallum’s absence. However, the result probably drives home the reality the Utes don’t have as much leeway without the Olympian.
“Let’s be honest, we play to win and coach to win not lose by five-tenths,” Farden said. “But we are going to bounce back. We don’t have a choice. The last rotations we saw what fighters they are and we’ll carry that plan into Friday. That is the plan.”
Individual Results
Vault: Anaya Smith (Arizona State) 9.9
Uneven bars: Hannah Scharf (Arizona State) and Sarah Clark (Arizona State) 9.975
Balance beam: Abby Paulson (Utah) and Kara Eaker (Utah) 9.975
Floor: Hannah Scharf (Arizona State) 9.925
All-around: Hannah Scharf (Arizona State) 39.675
