Finishing up their third meet in just six days, Utah gymnastics turned in their worst performance of the season, losing for the first time in program history to Arizona, falling to 68-1 all-time against the Wildcats.
As the road team, the Red Rocks took to the bars to open the event, where Sage Thompson recorded a team-leading 9.925, however, she would be the lone Ute to crack the 9.900 mark on the apparatus, with poor dismounts and lackadaisical handstands plaguing the team from beginning to end.
Problems continued on the vault where Jaedyn Rucker was again the sole Utah gymnast to break the 9.900 threshold with a beautiful Yurchenko full and a half that earned an event-high 9.950, with Lucy Stanhope taking second off a 9.875. Utah’s issues on the vault were once again compounded by Cammy Hall who fell off the pommel for her the second straight meet.
Rucker’s good night continued as the team transitioned to the floor, earning a 9.875 thanks to a flawless opening pass that brought even the minuscule Arizona crowd to its feet, but it was Grace McCallum who opened up the high scoring in the fourth position, notching a 9.925, a benchmark that was matched by Mailie O’Keefe. Anchor Sidney Soloski exited the floor wincing after finishing her final aerial pass by landing on her toe after a noticeable under rotation that resulted in a 9.825. Ultimately, Utah would walk away with 49.400, their highest score of the evening.
Adrienne Randall’s 8.925 (you read that right) on the beam was a rare low-point for the top beam team in the country, but it was Cristal Isa’s fall that landed the final nail in the coffin, forcing Utah to count a fall in their final score, opening the door for Arizona to close a half-point gap in the final rotation, edging out Utah 196.850 to 196.775.
Utah’s second loss of the season, this time at the hands of the conference’s worst team, comes as Utah was poised to move up in the rankings, sitting at #2 before the weekend’s gamut of competition was complete. Red Rocks gymnastics will return to the Huntsman Center on March 4th at 7:00 PM against Minnesota.