McCallum has been a stalwart for Utah throughout her career, but Smith has undergone a transformation into a superstar this season. Against UCLA, she was Utah’s best gymnast on two events (bars and …
Saturday night in a sold-out Huntsman Center, No. 5 Utah gymnastics hosted No. 4 UCLA in the Red Rocks’ regular season finale.
The meet offered Utah a chance to make a major statement ahead of the postseason. While ranked in the top 5 nationally all season long, the Red Rocks hadn’t fared particularly well against teams considered national title contenders.
Utah lost head-to-head to Oklahoma, LSU, Florida and Cal earlier in the year, all of whom are ranked in the top six nationally, and the Red Rocks were only really competitive against Florida and Cal.
UCLA was the only top six team Utah hadn’t faced this season before Saturday, the only other team available before the postseason for Utah to prove it can contend with the best.
The version of Utah gymnastics that showed up against the Bruins has national title-winning potential.
Led by a trio of star all-around gymnasts in Grace McCallum, Avery Neff and Makenna Smith, Utah scored a season-high 198.100 and ran away from UCLA (197.425).
McCallum, Neff and Smith all scored a 39.675 or better, with Smith winning the all-around title with 39.700.
McCallum recorded the first perfect 10 of her career on balance beam, on Senior Night no less, while Neff and Smith notched new career highs.
Combined, the trio accounted for 60% of Utah’s points in the meet.
It wasn’t just the all-arounders, though, as good as they were. Utah scored a season high on beam and vault and tied its season-best score on floor, as gymnasts such as Ella Zirbes, Camie Winger and Jaylene Gilstrap all contributed 9.9-scoring routines.
It was simply the Red Rocks’ best meet so far this season, and it came against top tier competition, which made it all the more meaningful.
Utah proved it can compete with the best.
“I think this is exactly what we needed,” Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf said. “I think that there’s been doubt every now and then, whether it was with the whole team or certain individuals, but in order for us to do what we’re on a mission to do, everybody needs to be bought in. Everyone needs to believe that we’re capable of doing this.
“That’s something I feel like we’ve been missing here at Utah with this program, a deep belief that we’re not just good, but we’re great, that we’re good enough to win a national title. I really think that this (performance) is going to help instill that belief moving forward.”
Added McCallum: “I think (tonight) just really helped build our confidence. Seeing the hard work we put in the gym and really those little details showing up — sometimes it’s hard and you can get discouraged because those little things won’t show up right away, but everything’s coming together and I think it’s perfect timing for the postseason.”
Defining moment
The Huntsman Center is known its large crowds for gymnastics — boisterous, loud and enthusiastic crowds.
Saturday night was different, though. The sellout crowd was as loud as any crowd that has filled the arena at the University of Utah in years.
So say McCallum and Gilstrap.
“By far,” Gilstrap said.
And the loudest it got was a direct result of McCallum’s performance on beam.
In her Utah career, McCallum has largely been known as a great all-around gymnast and an elite bars worker. She’s always been good at beam, too, but was overshadowed at times by teammates like Maile O’Keefe and Abby Paulson.
This season, McCallum has been Utah’s best gymnast on the event, but she hadn’t broken through for a perfect 10. Until Saturday night.
Sandwiched in the middle of Utah’s beam lineup, McCallum was flawless, competing the best she ever had on beam in her collegiate career.
The result was a perfect score and a standing ovation from 15,000 people who were nothing if not overjoyed.
“You couldn’t ask for more on Senior Night,” Dockendorf said. “She has worked for that and she deserves that, and I’m just so excited that happened tonight for her.”
Neff saw McCallum’s perfect score come up before anyone else — she was next to go in the beam lineup. She won’t soon forget it.
“That was my first 10 that I’ve really seen on beam,” Neff said. “It was super special for me to see it, and just so special for me to see it for Grace on Senior Night.”
For McCallum, the perfect score was the culmination of years of hard work.
“I just felt really grateful,” she said. “I’ve put in a lot of work the last four years and have really tried to build my confidence on that event, so to finally see it all pay off was just really an amazing moment.
“I just felt very grateful to have had gotten a 10 on senior day.”
Needs work
Utah was great overall, but wasn’t perfect — McCallum’s perfect score notwithstanding.
The Red Rocks left tenths of a point on the board on every event. Where that was most apparent was on vault, Utah’s weakest event this season and weakest for six years now.
Outside of a pair of excellent vaults by Smith and Neff — both stuck their landings and had little obvious deductions — the Red Rocks struggled, with landings in particular.
McCallum’s vault was on track to be her best of the year, but she struggled with the landing, shuffling her feet.
Ashley Glynn got more height and distance on her vault than any Red Rock but was completely out of control on her landing, somehow managing to only take a single large step.
Zirbes too took a large step forward on her landing and Zoe Johnson’s first 10.0-valued vault of the season included a significant hop forward.
Compared to previous outings, Utah was better on vault than it had been this season, at any point, with more amplitude and distance than usual, especially.
“I thought our vault rotation was awesome,” Dockendorf said. “Our vaults are getting bigger and bigger, and we’re dialing in on those landings. That’s exactly what we need to continue to do.”
And yet, Utah still has a ways to go.
Utah had strong outings on bars, beam and floor, meanwhile, but left tenths of point out there with landings again — on bars especially.
Even on floor, where Utah ended the night in impressive fashion, multiple Red Rocks couldn’t control the landings of tumbling passes, mistakes that added up and prevented Utah from get a mid-198 score as opposed to the 198.100 it finished with.
Utah was better than it had been all season against UCLA. There’s no denying that.
“We’ve been really focused on fine tuning every single detail,“ Gilstrap said, “and I could see that just in the warmups, like we went out there from the start with confidence and just kind of carried that through all the way.”
There is room for more fine tuning, though, as the calendar shifts to the postseason.
That’s encouraging
There was a lot to be excited about for Utah.
The team responded in the best possible way from a disappointing meet at Washington a week ago, and Utah showed itself elite on three events, with glimpses of real potential on the fourth.
Moreover, multiple gymnasts contributed significantly, and on different events, too. Gymnasts who had been struggling a bit — like Camie Winger on beam — found their form again.
If there is something that is especially notable about this particular Utah team though it is its trio of all-arounders.
McCallum has been a stalwart for Utah throughout her career, but Smith has undergone a transformation into a superstar this season. Against UCLA, she was Utah’s best gymnast on two events (bars and floor) and second-best on a third (vault).
Smith has turned into an incredibly reliable competitor, scoring regularly in the 9.9 range on every event. She’s comfortable, too. Prior to her floor routine she egged on the crowd and relished in it, and her performance didn’t disappoint.
As for Neff, well, she has quickly regained the form she showed early in the season prior to her severe ankle sprains. For 75% of Saturday’s meet she was the best gymnast in the arena, and that was with Olympians like McCallum and UCLA’s Jordan Chiles competing.
Neff competed the best vault of the night, plus one of the best bar and beam routines. The freshman has become the superstar that she was expected to be and nothing less.
Those three make Utah capable of competing with anyone, and Smith and Neff in particularly give hope for future seasons as well.
“I mean, this is kind of the passing of the baton, even just looking at the all around scores, you know, both with (Neff) and Makenna,” Dockendorf said.
“Those are massive all-around scores. To have Grace graduate out as an all-arounder and to know that the future is still bright for many of these athletes on our team — it’s really exciting.”
Source: Utah News