SAN FRANCISCO – Utah gymnasts
Maile O'Keefe and
Cristal Isa picked up Pac-12 weekly awards on Tuesday afternoon, the conference office announced. O'Keefe was named the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week for her first selection of the year, while Isa was named the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week for the first time.
O'Keefe, who has now totaled five gymnast of the week honors in her career, made her debut in the all-around this season against Stanford and highlighted the competition with a Perfect 10 on beam. O'Keefe recorded the flawless routine to post her second career 10.0 on beam and become just the seventh Ute in program history to record two perfect scores on beam in a career. Her 10.0 on beam, which is just one of three this season in the NCAA, led Utah to a 49.725 team score that sits as the best in the country to this point.
O'Keefe also posted a season-high 9.90 on bars to finish in second place, while posting 9.825s on floor and her first vault of the season. She finished tied for third on vault in her debut. O'Keefe posted a 39.550 in the all-around and is ninth in the nation with her score. She is tied for fourth in the NCAA on beam where she has a 9.931 season average.
Isa continued her strong start to the season on bars and beam against Stanford, while she competed on floor for the first time. The Ute senior matched a career-high 9.95 on bars to earn her fourth event title of the year, which ranks second on the team. She then posted her fourth consecutive beam score of 9.90 or better after earning a 9.925.
Her beam score also contributed to the 49.725 team score that helped boost Utah to its 15th-straight regular season conference win. Isa then scored a 9.875 on floor to close out her strong showing and have all three scores count toward the team total. She is tied for fourth in the nation on beam with all of her scores this season coming in above the 9.90-mark.
The awards mark the eighth and ninth weekly awards for the Red Rocks this season. Winners this season have been:
Gymnast of the Week: Isa (Jan. 11), O'Keefe (Feb. 1);
Specialist of the Week: Rucker (Jan. 11), Thompson (Jan. 18), Hoffman (Jan. 25), Isa (Feb. 1);
Freshman of the Week: Morgan (Jan. 11), McCallum (Jan. 18); and
Coaches Choice: Hoffman (Jan. 11).
O'Keefe, Isa and the third-ranked Utah gymnastics team will be in action at No. 22 UCLA this Friday, Feb. 4, in Los Angeles. The Utes and Bruins will compete at 8 p.m. MT in Pauley Pavilion.
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