Nothing characterised Utah’s loss to Oregon State’s gymnastics workforce Saturday in Corvallis higher than Maile O’Keefe’s freak fall off the stability beam.
O’Keefe, who turned Utah’s report holder with seven profession 10.0s on the beam this season, was ending her mount and easily slid off the equipment.
Together with her went Utah’s remaining hopes of beating their Pac-12 rival. In actuality, the meet was all however misplaced by the point O’Keefe slipped right into a 9.425 because the Utes had stunning drop-offs on a number of areas, however the miscue was the spotlight of a irritating day for the Utes.
The 197.95-197.7 loss prevented the Utes from successful the Pac-12 title outright, dropping them right into a tie with Oregon State, Cal and UCLA for the regular-season title.
The Utes have been hoping for a giant rating to spice up their nationwide qualifying common, and whereas the rating permits the Utes to drop a decrease mark, the Utes left the world understanding it wasn’t its greatest effort both.
Particular person Outcomes
Vault: Jade Carey (Oregon State) 9.925
Uneven bars: Jennifer McMillan (Oregon State 9.95
Stability beam: Jade Carey (Oregon State) 9.975
Ground: Jade Carey (Oregon State) 9.975
All-around: Jade Carey (Oregon State) 39.825
Surprisingly, among the low marks have been from veteran performers. Along with the autumn off course, O’Keefe had simply 9.775 on the vault and Jaedyn Rucker scored solely 9.7 on the ground. Lucy Stanhope was again within the vault lineup after sitting out the final six meets with a heel bruise and he or she missed her touchdown, scoring 8.925.
Oregon State, in the meantime, put collectively its second-highest scoring effort at school historical past to beat the Utes for the primary time in Corvallis since 2017.
The Utes will get an opportunity at redemption when the Pac-12 Championships are held on the Maverik Heart March 18. Utah coach Tom Farden selected to give attention to the positives and never the loss itself, mentioning the Utes have been with out Grace McCallum on account of her knee harm and Kara Eaker, who missed her second straight meet on account of post-concussion protocol. Utah additionally rested Jillian Hoffman, who has been a stable contributor on vault.
“There’s a whole lot of hope,” Farden mentioned. “We improved our NQS, it was a sellout right here which speaks to the recognition of gymnastics and the place it’s going and our workforce is constant to seek out their id. They aren’t quitting and they’re nonetheless preventing. It’s a workforce of fighters.”
O’Keefe has been so sturdy for the Utes this 12 months that the errors did nothing however show she was human, Farden mentioned.
“I believe there may be an expectation for a ten.0 each time she touches the beam and that may weigh heavy,” he mentioned.
The Utes began out in nice form, scoring a 49.55 on the uneven bars with Cristal Isa and Sage Thompson each scoring 9.95s whereas Oregon State scored a 49.3 on the vault.
The momentum modified with the second rotation the place Utah posted a 49.225 on the vault whereas Oregon State had a season excessive 49.55 on the bars to guide 98.85-98.775 on the midway mark.
Oregon State didn’t let off on the beam, scoring 49.55 whereas the Utes once more had a few points on ground and simply couldn’t get the large scores deep of their lineup. Utah had a 49.475 on ground with O’Keefe scoring 9.925 and Abby Paulson and Jaylene Gilstrap scoring 9.9s.
Utah trailed 148.4-148.25 going into the ultimate rotation, establishing an opportunity for an additional signature comeback on the stability beam, however the dramatic turnaround by no means materialized.