It’s not news anymore, really, because as a sophomore she’s already broken the record for most Gymanst of the Week awards, but it remains to be impressive how good MyKayla Skinner is for the Red Rocks. I mean, week after week she is the best gymnast in the meet, and often times it’s not that close. Of course, she was/is one of the best gymnasts in the world so it’s probably not a big surprise. with all that said, the question is can she lead the rest of the team to ending the long national championship drought? It’s not all up to her, obviously, but I think like in so many sports, you need to have a super star to win a title, and Utah has a megastar in Skinner, and they havea lot of talent around her. The results thus far show that, especially the win over UCLA in LA. Hopefully she and the team can continue to build momentum as they move toward the post season.
Anyway, here’s the full release on Skinner’s latest award.
SAN FRANCISCO—Sophomore MyKayla Skinner was named the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week today for winning four individual titles and leading Utah to a 197.550-197.425 victory over No. 2 UCLA in Los Angeles last Sunday. Skinner won the all-around with a 39.625 and tied for first on vault (9.95), beam (9.925) and floor (9.975) in Utah’s first win in Pauley Pavilion in a decade.
Her most clutch routine may have been her last. With the meet on the line as Utah’s final competitor, Skinner scored a 9.925 on the balance beam to secure the win.
It is the fourth time this season and second week in a row that Skinner has won Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week honors. She has a Pac-12 record 11 career Gymnast of the Week awards.
Skinner’s all-around win is her fifth this season and the 17th of her career, which is tied for third in school history. She has a team-high 21 individual titles this season and 64 in her career.
The 2017 NCAA all-around runner-up, Skinner is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation in the all-around. She is No. 4 on vault, No. 8 on floor, No. 15 on bars and No. 16 on beam in the latest rankings.
Utah has won five Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week citations this season: Skinner on Jan. 9, 16, Feb. 13 and Feb. 20, and Makenna Merrell-Giles on Feb. 6.