In a rare Monday night meet, the No. 4 University of Utah gymnastics team traveled to Seattle to take on the University of Washington. While most of the University of Utah student body was busy enjoying the day off of school, the Utah gymnastics decided that there was no better way to celebrate President’s Day than by posting a season-high road score of 197.950 to top the Huskies’ 197.275 effort.

“We wanted the athletes to come out here and just let their gymnastics happen and have some fun,” said head coach Tom Farden.

Utah certainly had more than their fair share of fun on Monday, and it all began on bars where they posted a score of 49.350. This was highlighted by Amelie Morgan and Grace McCallum, who led the meet with back-to-back 9.90 scores. After one rotation, Utah held a slim 49.350-49.325 lead.

The Red Rocks then transitioned to vault, where they had a relatively rough start. After scoring a 9.775 and a 9.425 to open the rotation, Utah’s vault routine was essentially saved by back-to-back 9.950’s from Alexia Burch, and none other than Grace McCallum. With a 98.750-98.650 lead after two rotations, Burch and McCallum’s 9.950’s marked a clear shift in momentum. From this point on, it was all Utah.

On floor, Utah saw 9.90 scores from Abby Paulson and Lucy Stanhope. Grace McCallum would end up with her second 9.950 score of the meet later in the rotation as well. Surprisingly enough, these routines were not the highlight of the rotation. That title belongs to anchor Sydney Soloski, who scored a near-perfect 9.975. Washington had a solid rotation of their own, but Utah’s surplus of 9.90 and above scores gave them a 148.350-147.850 lead heading into their final rotation.

At this point, any rational gymnastics fan would conclude that this meet is basically wrapped up, as Utah was heading into their strongest rotation, beam, with a lead. If you assumed at this point that the meet was over, you’d be right. Utah posted three consecutive 9.950 or above scores, proving why they are touted as arguably the best beam team in the nation. Both Adrienne Randall and Amelie Morgan posted 9.950 scores, while Grace McCallum, having a career night, posted a 9.975. Utah would close the final rotation with a combined score of 49.600, good enough to officially secure the victory over Washington, 197.950-197.275.

The Utah gymnastics team improves to 9-1 overall, and 5-1 in Pac-12 competition. The Red Rocks now look forward to Friday night, as they travel to Tuscon to face the University of Arizona.

[email protected]

@Chase_Chat