Utah gymnastics led after three rotations but fell short of a national title again

FORT WORTH, Texas — Maile O’Keefe walked slowly off the floor of Dickies Arena, eyes red and tears streaming down her face.

Confetti fell in the background, cheered on its descent by the dulcet tones of hundreds of fans sporting LSU colors.

For each tear O’Keefe wiped away from her cheek, she’d raise her hand in a wave to one fan or another in the stands, all of whom were calling her name as though they were dear, dear friends.

“Maile! Mai! Hey, Maile!”

O’Keefe’s smile with each wave of her hand was clearly pained. For good reason.

On Saturday afternoon here, O’Keefe and Utah gymnastics did not win the national championship.

The Red Rocks finished third overall, behind the LSU Tigers and Cal Bears.

LSU won its first-ever national title with a score of 198.2250. Cal, in its first ever trip to the Final Four, finished with a 197.8500, while Utah ended up with a 197.800.

Florida finished a distant fourth with a 197.4375.

The third-place finish marked the fourth straight year Utah has finished in that spot. In every postseason held during O’Keefe’s collegiate career, her team finished third overall.

And yet, O’Keefe’s tears weren’t just those of sorrow, though those were absolutely present. There was pride there, too. Maybe even joy.

Utah had finished third overall, the program’s national title drought now standing at 29 years. A national championship remained elusive for the Red Rocks, but this one felt different.

For one, Utah was right there, at the level of the best the sport has to offer.

In third place after the first rotation, Utah climbed into second after two events, then first place after three.

Entering the final rotation of the meet, the Red Rocks had a real and genuine shot at the title, something that couldn’t always be said in some of their prior third-place finishes.

It didn’t work out, as Utah’s vault rotation began with a fall, a mistake that was followed by a near fall on the very next vault. Meanwhile, LSU was lights out on balance beam, from the start of the rotation to the end.

Ultimately, the Red Rocks wouldn’t have won the title had they scored a 9.90 on every vault — the Tigers were that good.

There was more too it than that, though.

The fact that the Red Rocks were even competing for a national title was something to smile about.

“Obviously we would have wanted to be on top tonight,” junior Amelie Morgan said. “Every team (here) would have wanted to be on top, but to go through what we went through this year, to even be at the national championships and then to come in third is such an accomplishment.

“I think sometimes we forget that ourselves, how much we’ve gone through and that is is amazing that we were even here.

Utah gymnastics’ story this season isn’t an unknown one by any means.

There was a third party investigation of the program last summer after allegations of abuse were levied against former head coach Tom Farden.

That outside investigation concluded that Farden did not engage in any “severe, pervasive or egregious” acts of emotional, verbal or physical abuse, but in the months after those findings were released, multiple former Utah gymnasts went public with additional allegations.

Reactions to those allegations were varied. Some denounced their validity altogether, while others condemned Utah gymnasts who didn’t come out in support of their former teammates.

All the while, Utah attempted to prepare for the 2024 gymnastics season, berated almost constantly as it were by a cacophony of voices.

Ultimately last November, Utah and Farden parted ways less than a month prior to the team’s annual preseason showcase — the Red Rocks Preview.

Carly Dockendorf was elevated to the position of interim head coach before eventually being promoted permanently to head coach a week before the preview, but Utah entered the season playing catch up.

The Red Rocks were down a coach (and would be throughout the season) and the gymnasts, well, it was difficult for them to focus solely on gymnastics.

And yet, come March the Red Rocks won a fourth straight Pac-12 championship, and come April they were once again battling for the national title.

And on Saturday they were an event away from winning it.

It is a notable story to say the least, which made even defeat in this instance something to remember, rather than bemoan.

“This group means everything to me, to be honest,” Dockendorf said. “Everything we went through this year, to be able to accomplish what we accomplished I think is huge. I don’t know the right word. I don’t know if I have the right words for it. We did more than probably most would have imagined we would be able to do. I feel like I am a little bit lost for words.

“Obviously we wanted a different number at the end, but I told them they needed to be so proud about what they accomplished. It really is about the journey. It isn’t just about the destination. It is about what we did together, what we accomplished together and how we went about doing it. You can’t put a number on that.”

More than anything else, that is what Utah was focused on when things were said and done Saturday.

Not the mistakes on balance beam, uneven bars or vault. Not the missed opportunity to end the title drought. Not even what the future might hold. And the future of Utah gymnastics looks bright.

On the floor of Dickies Arena, amid celebration and defeat, Utah was focused on itself. This group of gymnasts. For one final time.

“This group means everything to me,” Morgan said, “and I know it means everything to every single person on this team. We spend day in and day out with each other. We live with each other. We live for each other. We do this for each other. We don’t do this for ourselves.

“Yes, it is emotional. This (the national championship) is the one thing the whole year has led up to. So, so many emotions going round, but I couldn’t be more proud of who this team is and how much we care for each other and the genuine connection that we’ve made.”

Utah will be back. Of that the Red Rocks are confident.

But for now the future can wait a bit. The Red Rocks are going to revel in a season that didn’t appear likely, if even possible, only five months ago, and with that comes tears aplenty, good and bad.

“I keep going back and reflecting on what we did with what we had,” Dockendorf said. “We did this.”