You can find the Utah Red Rocks scattered all over the Big 12 Preseason Team.
Grace McCallum (all-around), Ella Zirbes (vault) and Jaylene Gilstrip (floor) were unanimous selections. Makenna Smith (all-around) and Amelie Morgan (bars) were honored, too.
The list, however, highlighted one notable question mark for the Utes: What will they look like on the balance beam?
A season ago, Utah’s Abby Paulson, a two-time Pac-12 beam champion, scored 9.925 or better in 12 of her 16 beam routines. Meanwhile, Maile O’Keefe finished third in the nation in the event — and that was a step backward for the gymnast who won the 2023 individual title and had recorded 14 perfect scores on beam during her career.
“I don’t know if we will ever replace Abby and Maile on beam,” Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf said after the Red Rocks Preview last month. “So we have to keep finding people who can keep hitting under pressure.
It’s not that the Red Rocks don’t have talent.
McCallum, an Olympian and a master of the wolf turn, scored a 9.9 in the event at the NCAA championships last year. Morgan posted a 9.9, too.
But there was a reason Dockendorf had so many of her gymnasts perform beam routines during the Red Rocks Preview last month.
“We have a lot of beautiful beam workers that hit in their comfort zones,” Dockendorf said. “I’m just going to test them to see who can handle it when it counts most because most of them can all score 9.9-plus if they hit their routine. But who can do it when there are 15,000 people in the Huntsman or at the Sprouts Collegiate meet on Jan. 10 against the best teams in the country?”
Utah should get a boost by having O’Keefe around the team as a student coach.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Maile O’Keefe celebrates her perfect 10 on the beam with coach Carly Dockendorf during the Pac-12 Gymnastics Championships, at the Maverik Center in West Valley City on Saturday, March 23, 2024.
“It’s been huge for us to have her be a part of the program this year,” Dockendorf said. “I wish we were allowed to have five permanent coaches because she would be hired. It’s really nice because she’s able to connect with the girls on a different level than I can. She obviously just finished doing it herself so she’s able to say some things to help them that maybe I don’t have the same perspective on.”
At the Red Rocks Preview, O’Keefe’s presence in the team’s huddle before the beam performances was indeed calming.
“She’s my go-to girl,” Gilstrap said. “She knows me. She knows how I train and she knows how I think. So having her come up and talk me through it was just like when she was a gymnast.”
But it also served as a reminder.
“We were doing our circle and I forgot that she wasn’t going to be on beam with us,” Smith said.
