Brilliant Beam Set Pushes No. 3 Utah To Edge No. 12 Cal 197.550-197.325

Saturday, February 8

Berkeley, CA

1:30 PM

University of Utah

197.550

197.325

California

Photo by: Deena Lofgren

Brilliant Beam Set Pushes No. 3 Utah To Edge No. 12 Cal 197.550-197.325

2/8/2020 4:53 PM | Gymnastics

Tied through three rotations, Utah's beam lineup comes through to win the meet.

BERKELEY, Calif. – The top-15 clash in the Bay Area on Saturday afternoon did not disappoint after the meet came down to the final rotation, where No. 3 Utah shined on beam to come away with the 197.550-197.325 road win over No. 12 California in Haas Pavilion. Utah remains undefeated this season at 7-0 (3-0 Pac-12), while Cal drops to 6-5 (1-3 Pac-12) on the year.

Tied at 147.925 after three rotations, Utah was set to close out the meet on beam while Cal was headed to floor. The Utes came out firing on beam and together earned a whopping 49.625 to outscore Cal's 49.400 on floor and win the meet. With beam said to be a strength this year, Utah backed up it and showed remarkable poise and composure to pick up the road win.

"Just an incredible effort on beam to win the meet," said head coach Tom Farden. "Our young team handled some last minute lineup changes on different events like a veteran team would. They showed tremendous resiliency on the road and it payed dividends in the end to win at Cal."

Under pressure to begin beam, Emilie LeBlanc and Alexia Burch were once again steady in the top spots of the beam lineup and both scored 9.875s. Building from the momentum, Maile O'Keefe rattled off a phenomenal routine and earned a career-high 9.95. Cristal Isa followed with yet another terrific performance that would score 9.90.

The traveling Ute fans in Haas Pavilion were then treated to back-to-back career-high 9.95 routines from Adrienne Randall and Abby Paulson. Three 9.95 scores and Utah needing to drop a 9.875 as the team-low capped off a sensational final rotation for the Utes.

Utah started the meet soaring to a season-high 49.425 on bars to take an early lead over Cal's 49.200 earned on vault. The bars lineup for Utah was solid in every position and was capped off by senior Kim Tessen's near perfect routine that would come in as a career-high 9.975.

Utah added a pair of 9.875s on bars from Cristal Isa and Missy Reinstadtler, while LeBlanc and Paulson, who competed her first scored bars routine, rang in 9.850s to round out the set.

The Utes could not hang on to the lead after their vault set and found themselves trailing the Golden Bears 98.500-98.575. Large steps on vaults across the lineup doomed Utah for the scores they needed to remain in the lead and ended with a 49.075 vault score. Highlighting the vaulters, Burch stuck her Yurchenko 1.5 in the No. 5 spot to lift the Utes, scoring a 9.90 to win the vault title for the second time this season. Reinstadtler and Tessen added 9.825s, while Cammy Hall scored a 9.80 to add to the team score.

On floor, Utah had last minute changes that shuffled gymnasts around, but still managed to produce a season-high 49.425. Paulson moved to the leadoff and scored a 9.875, which was followed by Randall also earning a 9.875 after a clean performance. In her collegiate debut, Jillian Hoffman poured in a 9.850.

O'Keefe followed the solid start on floor by performing her best floor routine of the season and scored a 9.90. Needing to hit after Tessen suffered a fall on her last pass, Sydney Soloski came through when the Utes needed her and recorded a 9.925, which would tie for the event title. Soloski's score evened the Utes and Bears 147.925-147.925 through three rotations before the incredible beam set earned the win.

No. 3 Utah will return home to the Huntsman Center after being on the road the last two weeks. The Utes will host No. 22 Oregon State on Saturday, Feb. 15 for Character Day at 1 p.m. MT. The meet will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.

MEET NOTES
• Utah's 49.625 on beam was just .025 short of matching the program's all-time high beam score of 49.650 that was set in the 1995 season.
• Utah scored three 9.95s on beam, which were all career-high scores from Maile O'Keefe, Adrienne Randall, and Abby Paulson.
• Improving their season-high event score on bars (49.425), beam (49.425), and floor (49.425), Utah has surpassed its previous event season-high on bars, beam, and floor in every meet this season.
• Six different Utes won an event title (outright or shared) against Cal. Alexia Burch won vault (9.90), Kim Tessen won bars (9.975), Soloski claimed floor (9.925), while Maile O'Keefe, Adrienne Randall, and Abby Paulson (9.95) took home the beam title.
• Abby Paulson competed her first college bars routine, while Jillian Hoffman saw her collegiate debut on floor.