#4 Utah Hosts #5 UCLA for Top-Five Clash at the Huntsman Center on Friday Night

Friday, February 3

Salt Lake City, UT

7:00 PM

University of Utah

UCLA

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#4 Utah Hosts #5 UCLA for Top-Five Clash at the Huntsman Center on Friday Night

1/30/2023 11:31 AM | Gymnastics

Meet Notes - UCLA

Red Rocks welcome Bruins for highly anticipated matchup on ESPN2.

MEET WEEK
Fourth-ranked Utah Gymnastics welcomes fifth-ranked UCLA to the Jon M. Huntsman Center this Friday, Feb. 3, for a top-five Pac-12 clash. Introductions for the Utes and Bruins begin at 6:45 p.m. MT with the highly anticipated meet airing on ESPN2. The meet marks Utah's third regular season meet broadcast on an ESPN network, which is the most in program history. Bart Conner, Kathy Johnson Clarke, and Samantha Peszek will be on the call for ESPN2 once again for the Utes.

FAN FACTS
• Doors open to the public at 5:30 p.m. MT. Tickets for the meet can be found here.
• The meet will be themed 'Top Guns' night at the Huntsman Center. Utah will pay tribute to the long-lasting tradition of the Top Gun theme song being played during introductions since the original movie came out in 1986.
• There will be a Top Gun themed photo booth in the concourse, as well as free aviators for fans while supplies last.
• The Kids Zone will be in sections 11-15 prior to the meet, and there will be a face painter, balloon artist, and other activities.
• Free Utah Gymnastics team posters and trading cards will be available in the concourse.

GETTING TO THE MEET
• Fans can ride TRAX for free with their meet ticket.
• There is a new "Red Rocks Express" this season, which is a free shuttle service from the Guardsman Way Tailgate lot and Broadcast Center lot on Wasatch Drive. The shuttle will run continuously before and after the meet.
• Fans can view the 2023 parking map, including Red Rocks Express routes, here (PDF).

IN THE RANKINGS
Utah remained fourth in the nation after last week's season high against Washington. The Utes also remained ranked first on beam and third on vault, while they improved to eighth overall on both bars and floor. Individually, Maile O'Keefe is ranked first in the nation on beam and Kara Eaker is ranked fourth. Cristal Isa joins the duo in the top-25 on beam as she is tied for 20th entering this week. On vault, Jaedyn Rucker is tied for ninth overall and Makenna Smith is tied for 14th. Grace McCallum is ranked 18th overall in the all-around, highlighted by a ranking of 14th on floor and 19th on bars in the nation.

BY THE NUMBERS
• Utah and UCLA have combined for nine of the 10 Pac-12 Championships. Utah holds a league-best five Pac-12 Championships (2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022), while UCLA follows with four (2012, 2016, 2018, 2019) and Oregon State with one (2013).
• Utah scored a 197.975 last weekend against Washington, which is the highest score in the Pac-12 this season and the third-best score in the nation so far.
• Utah posted a season high on floor (49.475) and bars (49.450) against Washington.
• Utah recorded a season-best 49.525 on vault at Oklahoma. Utah only scored higher once on vault in 2022 (49.550 at UCLA).
• Maile O'Keefe has scored two 9.95s and two 9.975s on her four beam routines this season.
• Kara Eaker recorded her second career 10.0 on beam at the Best of Utah in just her ninth career beam routine. She is now one of eight Red Rocks in program history to earn at least two 10.0s in a career on beam, joining teammate Maile O'Keefe.

CHALK TALK
• Utah swept event titles against Washington with Grace McCallum (all-around, bars, floor), Maile O'Keefe (bars, beam), and Jillian Hoffman (vault) leading the way.
• Hoffman debuted a Yurchenko 1.5 on vault against the Huskies for the first time of her gymnastics career and scored a career-high 9.95 to win her first ever vault title.
• Abby Brenner made her Ute debut on floor last weekend, while Jaylene Gilstrap competed on vault for the first time as a Ute.
• The starting six on beam for Utah has remained the same every meet this season.
• Utah has hit 93-96 routines this season. Gymnasts who have hit every routine are Maile O'Keefe (10-10), Makenna Smith (11-11), Abby Brenner (9-9), Cristal Isa (8-8), Amelie Morgan (6-6), Kara Eaker (5-5), Jaylene Gilstrap (5-5), Jillian Hoffman (4-4), Lucy Stanhope (3-3), and Sage Thompson (3-3).
• Individual event winners this season are Grace McCallum (7), O'Keefe (4), Rucker (2), Eaker (1), Hoffman (1), and Smith (1).

SERIES STATS
• Utah leads the all-time series 59-36-1 against UCLA, which includes a 28-3 record in Salt Lake City.
• The Red Rocks picked up the narrow 197.750-197.650 win in Los Angeles last season, while also taking the previous meeting in Salt Lake City 197.225-197.100.
• Each of the past three regular season meetings have been decided by less than 0.125 points.
• Utah is riding a five-meet winning streak over the Bruins. UCLA last beat Utah in Salt Lake City in 2019.

SCOUTING UCLA
2022 Final Ranking: 12th
2023 Ranking: 5th
Bruin Highlights: UCLA is coming off a 197.275 last weekend against Oregon State, which earned a tie with the Beavers after the Bruins were forced to count a fall on beam … UCLA posted a season high 197.850 at the Wasatch Classic in West Valley, Utah, in week two … The Bruins are second in the nation on floor, third on bars, seventh on vault, and 20th on beam … Freshman Selena Harris leads the team with a 39.650 season average in the all-around, which ranks fourth nationally … Harris is sixth in the nation on bars, seventh on vault, and 11th on floor … Olympic medalist Jordan Chiles is also eighth nationally in the all-around (39.575 avg.), tied for first in the nation on bars, and sixth on floor.

UP NEXT
Utah heads to the Metroplex Challenge next weekend to take on #17 Georgia and Illinois State in the afternoon session. The meet will begin at 1:15 p.m. MT at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Because of scheduling conflicts, Utah will take its score from the afternoon session and Stanford, which competes in the evening session, will take its score and be counted as the regular season dual meet between Utah and Stanford.