All Utes

Red Rocks Show No Mercy In Second Straight Best Of Utah Title

Although not a perfect performance, the Red Rocks proved how deep and talented they are with a dominating victory over No. 17 BYU, No. 23 Southern Utah and Utah State in the 'Best of Utah' gymnastics meet

Ryan Kostecka

In the second annual 'Best of Utah' event at the Maverick Center in West Valley City, Utah gymnastics left no doubt as to who the best truly is. 

With a dominating performance in every aspect of their routines, the No. 4 Utes throttled No 17 BYU, No. 23 Southern Utah and Utah State on Saturday night.

β€œIt was really fun to be back out there with the gang,” head coach Tom Farden said. β€œI thought our athletes handled it well. In terms of a first meet, it was a really nice meet as a jumping off point. We went 28-for-28 routines. That was our goal to come in here and hit, and hit every exhibition. One of the things you always worry about as a coach is consistency. By them coming out and hitting 28 routines showed they are ready to check that box, do what they do in practice, and simulate it in a meet.”

Utah is now 3-0 after the meet, finishing with a score of 196.9. The Cougars came in second with 195.7 points, followed by Southern Utah at 194.325 and Utah State at 194.1. Anything more than a full-point victory can be considered a blowout in the gymnastics community.

Junior Cristal Isa battled with sophomore teammate Maile O'Keefe for the all-around competition winner, narrowly edging her out by a score of 39.4 to 39.375. O'Keefe won shares of both the floor and the beam titles, sharing the beam title with teammate Abby Paulson after they both recorded scores of 9.925. Fellow Ute Cammy Hall recorded a 9.90 on the vault, good enough to win the competition.

β€œI think we are all more loose,” Isa said. β€œLast year we were caught up in our landings and the degrees of our leaps. This year we dance and have fun. There is a lot more energy. We didn’t have that last year and we needed it.”

It wasn't the most ideal of starts for the Red Rocks after beginning the event on the uneven bars. Despite pretty solid routines and sticking their landings, their highest score was a 9.85, leaving them with a small lead over Southern Utah. 

That lead shrunk even moreso during Utah's beam routine, their second phase of the event. But that's when Isa stepped up and delivered a routine that not only sparked the Utes, but appeared to calm the team down.

β€œI definitely think Cristal’s routine sparked us,” O’Keefe said. β€œBars was fairly good, a little bit here and there, and our first two beam routines were a little shaky, but we can always count on Cris to hit. From then on, we were calm and collected. We went out and did what we can do.”

O'Keefe and Paulson, who competed in the fifth and sixth spots on beam, used the momentum from Isa's routine to dominate and send the Utes on their way to overall victory.

Utah will now turn its attention to a marquee showdown with No. 2 Oklahoma on Saturday, Jan. 17 in Norman. The meet will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 3 p.m. MT

Want to share opinions or ask questions? We want to hear them! Making a profile is free and it only takes ~1 minute to set up. Also, be sure to like us on social media for future coverage:

Twitter β€” @UtahUtes_SI and Ryan Kostecka at @Ryan_Kostecka

Published
Ryan Kostecka
RYAN KOSTECKA

Home/Other Sports