Utah looked a lot more like Utah at the Best of Utah meet against BYU, Utah State and Southern Utah

WEST VALLEY CITY — What a difference a day or two makes.

Just over 48 hours removed from what was a disappointing performance against Oklahoma, LSU and UCLA, the University of Utah’s women’s gymnastics team was back in the Maverik Center for another meet, this one against in-state foes BYU, Southern Utah and Utah State.

How the Red Rocks would respond was the main question entering competition Monday, after Utah finished last in Saturday’s competition behind three teams — the Sooners, Tigers and Bruins — they expect to contend with later this season for both conference and national championships.

The answer Monday was resounding. Utah looked like Utah again.

Results

Team scores — Utah, 197.725; BYU, 195.775; Southern Utah, 194.000; Utah State, 193.600.

Event winners

• All-around — Makenna Smith (Utah); 39.525.

• Balance beam — Maile O’Keefe (Utah); 10.0.

• Floor exercise — Grace McCallum (Utah), Maile O’Keefe (Utah); 9.950.

• Uneven bars — Grace McCallum (Utah), Amelie Morgan (Utah); 9.950.

• Vault — Makenna Smith (Utah); 9.875.

The Red Rocks easily defeated the Cougars, T-Birds and Aggies for the fifth consecutive season behind a season-high score of 197.725. BYU finished a distant second with a 195.775, followed by Southern Utah (194.000) and Utah State (193.600).

Utah senior — and reigning NCAA all-around champion — Maile O’Keefe recorded her second perfect 10.0 of the season on beam to go along with an overall bounce back performance.

Junior Amelie Morgan had a career-best outing, recording a new career high on uneven bars while tying her career high on balance beam.

Grace McCallum, Makenna Smith, Abby Paulson... go down the list and numerous Red Rocks had performances worthy of note.

“Obviously really proud of the team tonight,” Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf said. “That was much more reflective of what we are capable of doing. Just so proud that we came back and were aggressive, dynamic and confident. Truly showcased the beautiful routines we have on the team.”

Defining moment

Usually a perfect routine would draw mention here, but not this time.

Instead, it was the Red Rocks’ bars rotation, specifically the final three routines courtesy of Morgan, McCallum and O’Keefe, that turned the meet in Utah’s favor.

Bars was the biggest disappointment for Utah on Saturday, putting the Red Rocks in a hole to start the competition against Oklahoma, LSU and UCLA, a hole they were never able to dig out of and actually only dug deeper as the competition progressed.

After a less-than-great vault rotation to start the Best of Utah on Monday — the Red Rocks barely broke the 49-point barrier with a 49.075 — BYU only trailed the Utes by .125 of a point entering the second rotation.

Through the first three routines on bars Utah wasn’t doing all that much better either, the best score coming from freshman Ella Zirbes with a 9.825.

That was when Morgan, McCallum and O’Keefe took over.

First was Morgan, who recorded a career-high 9.95. There can be debates about the score — one of the Olympians handstand was visibly short but the judges didn’t take the deduction — but Morgan’s routine kickstarted the Red Rocks in a way not seen previously this season.

McCallum followed up that routine with arguably her best performance of the year for which she earned a 9.95 as well, and then O’Keefe closed things out with a solid 9.925.

Their combined efforts helped Utah to a season-high 49.500 on bars, two days after barely scoring above a 49 on the same event.

“Again, we were so aggressive with our routines,” Dockendorf said. “We didn’t hold back and really went for the landings, which was awesome.”

From there Utah was untouchable, and scored a 49.550 on beam before besting that score with a 49.600 on floor exercise.

And it all started with a trio of routines on bars.

Standout routines

There were no shortage of notable performances by the Red Rocks.

Here’s a quick list of every routine that went for scores of 9.90-plus:

• Maile O’Keefe on bars — 9.925.

• Grace McCallum on bars — 9.95.

• Amelie Morgan on bars — 9.95.

• Amelie Morgan on beam — 9.95.

• Abby Paulson on beam — 9.95.

• Maile O’Keefe on beam — 10.0.

• Makenna Smith on floor — 9.925.

• Abby Paulson on floor — 9.925.

• Grace McCallum on floor — 9.95.

• Maile O’Keefe on floor — 9.95.

Morgan’s pair of 9.95’s were notable, given they either set or tied her previous career high’s.

After stepping out of the lead off spot on beam to start the season, Utah went back to Morgan in that role Monday and it paid off.

“She sure is a good leadoff,” Dockendorf said. “We were trying her in the back of the lineup. I think her routine has improved from last year. She’s got some unique things in there. Typically scores elevate near the back of the lineup, so we’ve been trying here there. I think maybe for the wrong reasons. Just for the score.

“We will probably keep her in the front for now. She sets the tone for beam. She is so confident when she gets up there and the rest of the lineup can feel that.”

Smith took the praise of Morgan even further.

“She is absolutely phenomenal,” Smith said. “I always feel so secure getting to go after her on beam.”

“I think she is amazing,” O’Keefe added. “She is a great leadoff for us on beam and I love that she’s moved deeper in the bars lineup for us. She’d moved deeper in the beam lineup too, but it was nice to have her lead off for us again. She is always really solid.”

O’Keefe, of course, had arguably the most notable routine of the night, another perfect 10 on balance beam for the NCAA active leader in perfect 10s.

It was a significant turnaround, given O’Keefe fell on the same event on Saturday.

“I really was just trying to come in and hit my gymnastics. On Saturday I was a little bit weary, I’m sure you could tell. I just wanted to be confident in my gymnastics today.”

Adjustments to make

As good as Utah was, and the 197.725 is tied with Michigan for the fourth-best team score of the season thus far, behind only a pair of Oklahoma scores and another by Cal, there were mistakes made and corrections needed going forward.

Most obvious were those on vault.

The Red Rocks struggled with their landings specifically, with multiple gymnasts taking significant steps, many times more than one.

“We obviously left a few tenths (of a point) out there with our landings tonight,” Dockendorf said.

She continued: “I think it could be different for everybody, but it is tough to stick a vault. They are blind landings. So it doesn’t take a little bit of time to get comfortable on a competition surface, landing them.

“Some were maybe trying too hard to stick (tonight). Some were trying to do a big, powerful vault. I think that is an area where we will continue to see confidence grow and the landings will become a little more accurate.”

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It wasn’t just vault, though.

Multiple routines on bars had steps on landings, leg separation, short handstands, etc.

On beam, multiple routines included significant balance checks, and even the high scoring ones may have gotten away with balance checks and/or pauses.

On floor, control of landings on tumbling passes was problematic at times, as well as height on tumbling, leg separation again.

As good as Utah competed, and the Red Rocks competed well, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“We are still leaving a lot of tenths out there,” Dockendorf said. “Whether it is in execution or landings. We have a lot of little detail work to focus on between now and the next competition. Hopefully we use this meet to trust in our gymnastics in the next meet, but also we need to chip away at the details, the little deductions we are leaving out on the floor.”

The takeaway

Instant reactions come with the territory following meets, especially early in the season, and those reactions can tend to be overreactions.

That was the case following Utah’s season-opening win over Boise State and again the case following Utah’s fourth-place finish behind Oklahoma, LSU and UCLA on Saturday.

Now with three meets under their belts, the Red Rocks have proven to be a talented team, with gymnasts who will via for All-American honors and even individual national championships.

More than anything else, Utah’s performance in the Best of Utah was a good reset for expectations.

Utah is an elite gymnastics team. They weren’t for a meet, but the talent and ability is there. The challenge will be maintaining that level of performance — and improving upon it — as the season progresses.

“I feel like our goal coming into tonight was to just do Utah gymnastics,” O’Keefe said. “I think we can all agree that Saturday we just weren’t Utah. Our main goal was to come in and gain a little confidence in our gymnastics.”

“We were just a little more comfortable,” Morgan added. “... I think your first meet on podium against some good teams, of course there are going to be some nerves. That is something we pinpointed after the meet and going into today that is something we really wanted to work on. Show the confidence that we know we have. And that is what we did.”