No. 3 Red Rocks Head to the Desert to Take on ASU

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University of Utah sophomore MaiIe O’Keefe in a NCAA Women’s Gymnastics meet vs. the Washington Huskies at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday, Jan. 30, 2021. (Photo by Kevin Cody | The Daily Utah Chronicle)

By Sammy Mora, Sports Editor

 

For the first time this season the No. 4 University of Utah Red Rocks gymnastics team will hit the road to face off with a Pac-12 opponent. This Saturday’s matinee will have the Red Rocks facing off with an improving Arizona State squad.

Scouting the No. 3 Red RocksĀ 

Record: 5-1, 1-0 Pac-12

Last meet: W vs Washington 197.475-193.500

After a dominating win last week where Maile Oā€™Keefe scored a perfect 10 on the beam for the Red Rocks, the team moved up once again in the rankings, this time to No. 3. Last week’s score was the second highest score in the country for this season and was just shy of being enough to jump LSU to take the No. 2 spot in the rankings.

On the event level, the beam team moved up to No. 2 in the country, while bars jumped to No. 6. Floor moved up to No. 4 in the country and vault stayed at No. 8. Oā€™Keefe also jumped up in the individual rankings, going to No. 2 on the beam and No. 5 in the all-around. Cristal Isa ranks No. 16 in the nation on the bars and Sydney Soloski jumped to No. 14 on the floor. Adrienne Randall ranks No. 22 on the beam and Cammy Hall ranks No. 24 on the vault.

Weekly HonorsĀ 

Utah nearly swept the conference’s weekly honors for the second time this season. Oā€™Keefe was named the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week after her amazing meet. Along with the aforementioned 10 on beam, Oā€™Keefe scored a 9.825 on vault, 9.875 on bars and 9.825 on floor. This is the second time she has been named the conference gymnast of the week this season.

Abby Paulson was named the Specialist of the Week after her meet in which she scored a 9.950 on beam, 9.900 on floor and 9.850 on bars. This is Paulsonā€™s first time being honored by the conference this season.

Alexia Burch was named the Coaches’ Choice of the week on Tuesday. This was the first time the senior has been honored by the conference. Last week she posted a 9.925 on the vault, 9.900 on beam and 9.775 on the bars.

Scouting the Sun DevilsĀ Ā Ā 

Record: 2-2, 1-1 Pac-12

Last meet: W vs Oregon State 196.225-195.850

Arizona State is led by Hannah Scharf who has won the all-around title three times this season for the Sun Devils. She is No. 14 in the all-around rankings in the country. She was named the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week for the week of Jan. 26. That same week, Freshman Jada Mangahas was named the Coaches’ Choice. Sarah Clark has also been honored by the conference as their Freshman of the Week.

The Sun Devils rank No. 20 on vault No. 8 in the country on bars and No. 17 on beam.Ā  Their season’s high score ofĀ  196.275 came against BYU earlier this year.

How to Support the Red Rocks

This week’s meet is set to start at 1 p.m. MST on the Pac-12 Network. Brian Webber and Amanda Borden will be on the call for the television broadcast. As always the meet will also be broadcast on the Home of the Utes, ESPN700.

 

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