Red Rocks Finish NCAA Championship in Third as Vault Struggles Continue
The Utah Red Rocks pose for a photo at the 2023 NCAA Women’s National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships Finals at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX, on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Xiangyao “Axe” Tang | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
April 16, 2023
With their big win in Session 2 of the semifinals on Thursday, the No. 5 Red Rocks advanced to their third consecutive NCAA Championship Final. The team scored 198.225, their highest score ever at the NCAA Championships, and took the top spot in the second session to advance with No. 1 Oklahoma.
Facing Oklahoma as well as No. 2 Florida and No. 6 LSU, the Red Rocks looked to take their first national title since 1995. Head coach Tom Farden has had plenty of success with the Red Rocks since joining the team in 2011, but ultimately hasn’t taken the national title. The Red Rocks came close in 2015 when they finished as runner-up with 197.800, behind Florida’s 197.850.
Utah was the only Pac-12 team in the finals after UCLA was unable to advance out of the semifinals. LSU and Florida are both in the SEC, with Oklahoma set to join the conference in 2024.
Once again, the Red Rocks started the day off on floor, with Abby Brenner scoring 9.875 and getting the crowd on their feet right from the start. Brenner was followed by a beautiful routine from Jaylene Gilstrap that would score another 9.875 for the Red Rocks and Abby Paulson with a 9.900.
Freshman Makenna Smith came in big with a 9.925 and Jaedyn Rucker hit 9.900. Maile O’Keefe came in at the anchor with another 9.900 to set Utah at 49.500, behind Oklahoma’s 49.5625 on vault and Florida’s 49.525 on beam.
O’Keefe wasn’t able to keep the momentum up heading into vault, scoring a 9.7375 that would be dropped. Brenner came in with a 9.90 before Jillian Hoffman got 9.7625. Smith and Rucker hit 9.8375 before Gilstrap closed with 9.8125. Utah finished vault with only 49.150, putting them at 98.650 and falling further behind Oklahoma and Florida. Once again, Utah’s hit-or-miss vault rotation put them at a disadvantage as the Red Rocks would record the three lowest vault scores of the day.
The Red Rocks moved on to bars, hoping to replicate Thursday’s great performance. Amelie Morgan made her first appearance of the day with a 9.850. Brenner came in with a 9.875 and Sage Thompson came in big with a 9.9375 in her only appearance of the day.
O’Keefe found a 9.925 and Cristal Isa came in with a 9.875 in her first event of the day. Grace McCallum came in with a 9.9375 as the anchor to give the Red Rocks 49.550 on bars and 148.200 through three events.
With Oklahoma sitting at 148.7125 and Florida at 148.525, it became apparent that the Red Rocks wouldn’t walk out on top.
Moving to beam, Morgan started Utah off with a strong 9.9125, followed by Paulson with a huge 9.9625. Kara Eaker came in for her only performance of the day with 9.9125, followed by Isa with 9.950 in her last routine as a Red Rock. O’Keefe put up another perfect performance, quite literally, with another perfect 10 to further extend her school record. She had perfect beam scores throughout both days of the championships.
McCallum came in as anchor and scored 9.8875 to finish the season for Utah as they would score 49.7375 on beam and finish third with 197.9375. While the result wasn’t the one that the Red Rocks were looking for, they put together a wonderful performance and have a bright future.
Oklahoma took the championship with 198.3875, Florida followed in second with 198.2375, the Red Rocks took third with 197.9375 and LSU rounded it out with 197.525. The Red Rocks have made 47 consecutive National Championship appearances and have advanced to the final for three consecutive years.
The Red Rocks didn’t finish on top today, but they have built a winning culture that will continue for years to come.
