The University of Utah gymnastics team wins the Pac-12 Championship

Utah wins the conference meeting for the first time since 2017, with Cal second and UCLA third.

Two opinions could be taken from the latest performances of the Utah gymnastics team, that the disappointing performances would be a great alert for the Pac-12 Championships or that they meant that the Utes had passed their high point and were going down in the wrong time of year.

Well, I guess we know which theory was correct.

The Utah gymnastics team came out of their fall to make a dominant performance Saturday to win the Pac-12 Championship at the Maverik Center with a 197,725. California overtook UCLA in the final rotation to finish second with 197,375, while the Bruins settled for third (196,725) and Arizona State was fourth (196,375). The Utes last won the conference meeting in 2017.

“It was a fantastic night,” Utah coach Tom Farden said. “I am super proud of the team, the athletes and the staff. It takes a town to win a conference championship and right now I’m very grateful. “

UCLA, which won in 2018 and 2019, was the closest competitor to the Utes in the first half of the meet and led Utah 49,525-49,325 after the first rotation.

There was no sense of panic among the Utes, however, as they assumed their first event at the bars would be their low score, even if it was the best season.

With the bars behind, the Utes performed the kind of performance they have said they were capable of having, as Utah posted one score after another of 9.9 or higher. In total, the Utes finished with 13 scores of 9.9 or more, a count that Farden has been emphasizing lately.

The Utes absolutely dominated the balance bar, achieving a 49,675 with Cristal Isa, Maile O’Keefe and Abby Paulson all 9.9.

This mark was good enough to place the Utes ahead of UCLA 99-98.95. This beam performance, as impressive as it was, came as no surprise given the Utes ’talent on the apparatus for the past two years.

What was surprising was Utah’s ability to equalize that score on the ground. There, O’Keefe, Jaedyn Rucker and Sydney Soloski had 9.95, giving Utah a comfortable margin of 148,675 to 148.3 from UCLA in the final rotation.

Vault was disappointing, as the Utes scored just 49.05, but then the Utes led comfortably and had the meeting almost closed.

O’Keefe has had such a strong season. Saturday’s efforts seemed almost mundane to him, as he scored 9.95 in all but the lap, where he had a 9.85. It wasn’t until the final scores were counted that it was evident how magnificent one night was spent winning the overall and winning one piece of each individual title except the lap.

The immediate reaction to the Utes ’victory was that he showed that the Utes can intensify their gymnastics at big meetings, just as they said they could.

“They were hungry,” Farden said. “I have said that the last two weeks of training have been good, solid and safe, and that they have been fed tonight in close competition. They had a chip on their shoulder and something to prove. ”

As for the program, it was a big win because the conference meeting has eluded the Utes in recent years. After seeing UCLA win consecutive titles, the Utes thought they would get their shot last year after going undefeated, only to cancel the postseason due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Now, the Utes can not only enjoy regular season titles and conference meetings, but they can look forward to the NCAA regional meeting in two weeks with some renewed confidence.

Really, the loss of Saturday’s meeting could have been a devastating enough loss to make the Utes drop from the rankings and out of the national scene.

Saturday’s victory puts the Utes in a whole new position, given their way of dominating.

Yes, the match started with a shaky start when Abby Paulson fell off the bars in the lead, but the Utes barely seemed baffled as they put together so many strong routines that the long-awaited next meeting was based on being a defeat. total.

It was the kind of encounter the Utes not only wanted to have, but needed if they wanted to be taken seriously as the NCAAs were put in jeopardy.