Red Rocks Fall Short, Place Third at Nationals
Share this story Despite posting a season-high 197.9875, the University of Utah Red Rocks were unable to clinch the national title, falling a mere .262 shy of first place Michigan, a first-time NCAA champion, and .088 short of second-place Oklahoma. Posting a 49.4250 on the bars in the first rotation, Utah started the afternoon strong before making their biggest statement on the beam. Led by sophomore and solo national champion Maile O’Keefe, Utah was near perfect on the beam with an impressive 49.7000. O’Keefe’s 9.9875 was the highest score of the meet, while juniors Adrienne Randall and Cristal Isa matched sophomore Abby Paulson’s 9.9375. In total, all five of the Red Rocks’ counted scores came in no lower than 9.9000.
Apr 17, 2021
FORT WORTH – The Utah gymnastics team left it all out on the floor Saturday afternoon, recording a season-high and the program s best score at the NCAA Championships in history to end the season in third place at Dickies Arena. Utah posted a 197.9875 to collect its best finish at the NCAA Championships since 2015.
Utah pushed it all day and had its best meet of the season as a unit. Utah hit 24-of-24 routines for the second-straight day and was the only team to go without a fall inside Dickies Arena over the two-day span. In the finals this afternoon, Utah kept it close wire to wire, but in the end placed third behind first-time national champions Michigan (198.250), who recorded the third-highest winning team score in NCAA history, and Oklahoma (198.1625), who placed second. Florida rounded out the final four with a score of 197.1375.
Deseret News
A record-breaking performance propelled Utah to its best finish at the national championships in years
The Red Rocks finished third behind national champion Michigan and runner-up Oklahoma, the best finish by Utah since 2015
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Matt Strasen, Associated Press
Utah gymnastics’ national championship drought will continue for at least another year.
The Red Rocks finished in third place at the NCAA gymnastics championships Saturday afternoon behind national champion Michigan and runner-up Oklahoma at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Wolverines scored a 198.2500, winning the meet on the final routine, edging out the Sooners (198.1625) and Red Rocks (197.9875). Florida finished a distant fourth with a 197.1375.
SALT LAKE CITY Don t call it a comeback, the Red Rocks have been here for years.
Entering the final rotation of the second session of Friday s NCAA gymnastics nationals meet in Fort Worth, Texas, the No. 6 Red Rocks were solidly in third place and in need of a prayer to land a spot in Saturday s finals. Only the top two teams qualified. I think we were all a little down maybe just kind of not trusting ourselves going into the last event, and one of our captains, Sydney Soloski, is like, We are fighters. We re gonna fight. We still have one more event left, so let s show them what we re worth, sophomore gymnast Maile O Keefe said. And I really think that pushed us over the edge and we just had one of our best bar rotations of the year.
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