Upcoming Event: Gymnastics versus Red Rocks Preview on December 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Gymnastics
vs Red Rocks Preview
The University of Utah Athletics
Friday, January 24
Salt Lake City, UT
7:00 PM
University of Utah
vs
Arizona State
Photo by: Dan Lofgren
Utah Gymnastics Hosts Arizona State For Pac-12 Opener
1/21/2020 10:55 AM | Gymnastics
MEET WEEK
The No. 5-ranked Utah gymnasts (4-0, 0-0 Pac-12) are set for their Pac-12 opener against Arizona State (3-2, 0-0 Pac-12) this Friday, Jan. 24. The meet starts at 7 p.m. MT in the Huntsman Center and will be streamed on UtahUtes.com. The conference opener can also be heard live on ESPN 700 radio. Mike Lageschulte will serve as the play-by-play announcer for both the live stream and ESPN 700 broadcast and will be joined by Ute All-American Kyndal (Robarts) Pond as the color analyst. Additionally, joining the broadcast team will be legendary Utah gymnastics coach and athlete Megan Marsden. The meet will also be simulcast on the Pac-12 Plus Facebook page.
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IN THE RANKINGS
Following a bye week, Utah is ranked No. 5 in the nation with an average score of 196.713. Utah ranks No. 5 on vault, No. 6 on beam, No. 7 on floor, and No. 10 on bars. Kim Tessen ranks No. 6 on bars, No. 12 on vault, and No. 15 on floor. Abby Paulson and Cristal Isa rank tied for No. 14 in the nation on beam.
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CHALK TALK
• Utah scored a 197.000 at the Rio Tinto Best of Utah to become just the third team in the nation to reach the 197-mark this season.
• Utah is 6-2 in Pac-12 openers and has not dropped a conference opener since the 2013 season.
• Senior Kim Tessen was named the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week after claiming event titles on bars and floor at the Rio Tinto Best of Utah. The weekly award marked Utah's first Specialist of the Week since the 2016 season, as well as Tessen's first career Pac-12 weekly award.
• Kristina (Baskett) Peel is the assistant coach for Arizona State. Baskett was a former Ute gymnast who was a 12-time All-American, as well as the 2006 uneven bars NCAA champion.Â
• Individual winners this season are Tessen (5), Cristal Isa (1), Abby Paulson (1), and Sydney Soloski (1).
• Utah has hit 47-48 routines this season. Gymnasts who have hit every routine without a fall are Maile O'Keefe (7-7), Tessen (6-6), Alexia Burch (5-5), Emilie LeBlanc (4-4), Paulson (4-4), Adrienne Randall (4-4), Missy Reinstadtler (4-4), Soloski (4-4), Hunter Dula (2-2), and Cammy Hall (2-2).Â
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LOOKING AT THE LINEUP
Utah made changes to the vault, bars, and floor lineups from week one to week two and has potential to shuffle again this week against Arizona State. Maile O'Keefe made her debut in the all-around at the Best of Utah meet, adding a floor routine that was not competed against Kentucky. On vault and bars, the personnel remained unchanged, but saw positions switched. Alexia Burch and Kim Tessen switched positions on vault to have Burch in the fifth spot and Tessen sixth. On bars, Cristal Isa and Hunter Dula swapped positions with Isa moving to the No. 2 spot and Dula in the No. 3 spot. Isa was moved to the leadoff on floor, followed by Adrienne Randall and Abby Paulson to shake up the front-end of the floor lineup.
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TESSEN TIME
Kim Tessen has had a phenomenal start to her senior season, winning five event titles in two meets. Against Kentucky, Tessen earned the vault, bars, and floor titles after scoring 9.90 or above on all three events. To back the performance up, Tessen set a career-high 9.95 on bars and matched a career-mark of 9.90 on floor at the Rio Tinto Best of Utah to win both events at the quad-meet. Tessen was named the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week following her efforts at the podium event. With her five victories this season, Tessen has totaled seven in her career at Utah.
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FIERCE FRESHMEN
One of the best signing classes in program history, Utah's four freshmen on the roster came in as the second-ranked recruiting class in the nation according to CollegeGymFans.com. Already seeing the competition floor for Utah, Maile O'Keefe and Abby Paulson have made immediate impacts to event lineups. O'Keefe competed in the all-around at the Rio Tinto Best of Utah and three events against Kentucky, while Paulson has competed on beam and floor in both meets and has scored two-straight 9.90s on beam, which would earn the beam title last week at the Best of Utah.
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The 2017 Junior Olympic Champion in the all-around, Jillian Hoffman has been held out due to a sprained foot, but is on the cusp of returning to competition. Rounding out Utah's phenomenal signing class, Jaedyn Rucker, the 2018 J.O. national vault champion, is out indefinitely after sustaining a knee injury prior to joining the Utes.
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FOR THE FANS
The meet against Arizona State is Fan Appreciation/Ford Teddy Bear Toss night. The first 2,000 fans will receive a 'State of Utah Best Fans in the Nation' t-shirt. Fans are encouraged to bring a packaged Teddy Bear to throw onto the floor post-meet. Before the meet begins, the Ford Kids Zone will feature a photo booth, providing both physical and digital copies of photos. The Ford Kids Zone will also have two balloon artists, two face painters and a poster making station.
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SERIES SHORTS
Utah leads the series against Arizona State 77-16-1 (36-2 in Salt Lake City). The Red Rocks have won the last 26 meetings between the programs dating back to a loss in Salt Lake City during the 2003 season. Last year, Utah downed Arizona State 197.375-195.825 in Tempe. Missy Reinstadtler recorded a career-high 9.95 on bars against Arizona State last year to win the event title.
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SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE
Coach: Jay Santos (4th season)
2019 NCAA Finish: No. 25
National Ranking: N/A
Record: 3-2, 0-0 Pac-12
Notes: Season-high 195.250 in last week's win against UC Davis … Two losses on the season have come from top-ranked Oklahoma and then-ranked No. 7 Denver … Led by junior Cairo Leonard-Baker who qualified into the NCAA Championships as an individual last season for the second-straight year and was named a second-team All-American on bars … Arizona State beat out two preseason top-25 teams in No. 13 Auburn and No. 25 Penn State in their season opener, the Collegiate Challenge.
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UP NEXT
The Utah gymnastics team will head to Tucson, Ariz. for the first conference road trip of the season to face No. 22 Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 1. The meet is set to begin at 2 p.m. MT at the McKale Center.
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The No. 5-ranked Utah gymnasts (4-0, 0-0 Pac-12) are set for their Pac-12 opener against Arizona State (3-2, 0-0 Pac-12) this Friday, Jan. 24. The meet starts at 7 p.m. MT in the Huntsman Center and will be streamed on UtahUtes.com. The conference opener can also be heard live on ESPN 700 radio. Mike Lageschulte will serve as the play-by-play announcer for both the live stream and ESPN 700 broadcast and will be joined by Ute All-American Kyndal (Robarts) Pond as the color analyst. Additionally, joining the broadcast team will be legendary Utah gymnastics coach and athlete Megan Marsden. The meet will also be simulcast on the Pac-12 Plus Facebook page.
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IN THE RANKINGS
Following a bye week, Utah is ranked No. 5 in the nation with an average score of 196.713. Utah ranks No. 5 on vault, No. 6 on beam, No. 7 on floor, and No. 10 on bars. Kim Tessen ranks No. 6 on bars, No. 12 on vault, and No. 15 on floor. Abby Paulson and Cristal Isa rank tied for No. 14 in the nation on beam.
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CHALK TALK
• Utah scored a 197.000 at the Rio Tinto Best of Utah to become just the third team in the nation to reach the 197-mark this season.
• Utah is 6-2 in Pac-12 openers and has not dropped a conference opener since the 2013 season.
• Senior Kim Tessen was named the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week after claiming event titles on bars and floor at the Rio Tinto Best of Utah. The weekly award marked Utah's first Specialist of the Week since the 2016 season, as well as Tessen's first career Pac-12 weekly award.
• Kristina (Baskett) Peel is the assistant coach for Arizona State. Baskett was a former Ute gymnast who was a 12-time All-American, as well as the 2006 uneven bars NCAA champion.Â
• Individual winners this season are Tessen (5), Cristal Isa (1), Abby Paulson (1), and Sydney Soloski (1).
• Utah has hit 47-48 routines this season. Gymnasts who have hit every routine without a fall are Maile O'Keefe (7-7), Tessen (6-6), Alexia Burch (5-5), Emilie LeBlanc (4-4), Paulson (4-4), Adrienne Randall (4-4), Missy Reinstadtler (4-4), Soloski (4-4), Hunter Dula (2-2), and Cammy Hall (2-2).Â
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LOOKING AT THE LINEUP
Utah made changes to the vault, bars, and floor lineups from week one to week two and has potential to shuffle again this week against Arizona State. Maile O'Keefe made her debut in the all-around at the Best of Utah meet, adding a floor routine that was not competed against Kentucky. On vault and bars, the personnel remained unchanged, but saw positions switched. Alexia Burch and Kim Tessen switched positions on vault to have Burch in the fifth spot and Tessen sixth. On bars, Cristal Isa and Hunter Dula swapped positions with Isa moving to the No. 2 spot and Dula in the No. 3 spot. Isa was moved to the leadoff on floor, followed by Adrienne Randall and Abby Paulson to shake up the front-end of the floor lineup.
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TESSEN TIME
Kim Tessen has had a phenomenal start to her senior season, winning five event titles in two meets. Against Kentucky, Tessen earned the vault, bars, and floor titles after scoring 9.90 or above on all three events. To back the performance up, Tessen set a career-high 9.95 on bars and matched a career-mark of 9.90 on floor at the Rio Tinto Best of Utah to win both events at the quad-meet. Tessen was named the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week following her efforts at the podium event. With her five victories this season, Tessen has totaled seven in her career at Utah.
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FIERCE FRESHMEN
One of the best signing classes in program history, Utah's four freshmen on the roster came in as the second-ranked recruiting class in the nation according to CollegeGymFans.com. Already seeing the competition floor for Utah, Maile O'Keefe and Abby Paulson have made immediate impacts to event lineups. O'Keefe competed in the all-around at the Rio Tinto Best of Utah and three events against Kentucky, while Paulson has competed on beam and floor in both meets and has scored two-straight 9.90s on beam, which would earn the beam title last week at the Best of Utah.
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The 2017 Junior Olympic Champion in the all-around, Jillian Hoffman has been held out due to a sprained foot, but is on the cusp of returning to competition. Rounding out Utah's phenomenal signing class, Jaedyn Rucker, the 2018 J.O. national vault champion, is out indefinitely after sustaining a knee injury prior to joining the Utes.
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FOR THE FANS
The meet against Arizona State is Fan Appreciation/Ford Teddy Bear Toss night. The first 2,000 fans will receive a 'State of Utah Best Fans in the Nation' t-shirt. Fans are encouraged to bring a packaged Teddy Bear to throw onto the floor post-meet. Before the meet begins, the Ford Kids Zone will feature a photo booth, providing both physical and digital copies of photos. The Ford Kids Zone will also have two balloon artists, two face painters and a poster making station.
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SERIES SHORTS
Utah leads the series against Arizona State 77-16-1 (36-2 in Salt Lake City). The Red Rocks have won the last 26 meetings between the programs dating back to a loss in Salt Lake City during the 2003 season. Last year, Utah downed Arizona State 197.375-195.825 in Tempe. Missy Reinstadtler recorded a career-high 9.95 on bars against Arizona State last year to win the event title.
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SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE
Coach: Jay Santos (4th season)
2019 NCAA Finish: No. 25
National Ranking: N/A
Record: 3-2, 0-0 Pac-12
Notes: Season-high 195.250 in last week's win against UC Davis … Two losses on the season have come from top-ranked Oklahoma and then-ranked No. 7 Denver … Led by junior Cairo Leonard-Baker who qualified into the NCAA Championships as an individual last season for the second-straight year and was named a second-team All-American on bars … Arizona State beat out two preseason top-25 teams in No. 13 Auburn and No. 25 Penn State in their season opener, the Collegiate Challenge.
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UP NEXT
The Utah gymnastics team will head to Tucson, Ariz. for the first conference road trip of the season to face No. 22 Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 1. The meet is set to begin at 2 p.m. MT at the McKale Center.
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Players Mentioned
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