The last time Utah faced off with Arizona State in February 2023, Arizona State unexpectedly came away with an upset in a neck-and-neck meet, beating Utah by 0.05.
The Utes should be able to come out on top this time around, but not without a challenge. The latest news coming out of Utah this week is Amelie Morgan has flown back to the UK to compete in the English Championships in hopes of qualifying to the 2024 Olympics. Morgan hopes to be back for the Pac-12 Championships, so in the meantime Utah will have to dig into its lineups to find a replacement for Morgan’s bars and beam.
Arizona State is coming off two-straight low-196s. To pull off another win against Utah is going to be an uphill battle but it could happen if either A. Utah has a bars and beam-tastrophe or B. Arizona State capitalizes on vault, a really good event for this team, and carries that positive momentum to win the meet.
Rotation 1: Utah Vault, Arizona State Bars
I was having connection issues with the Pac-12 Stream so coming in a little late!
Glynn- Utah – vault: Stuck 1.5! 9.925
Smith – Utah – vault: Omelianchik, nearly stuck! A little waver on the landing, but holds the stick. 9.9
Mangahas – ASU – bars: Great handstands throughout, Jaeger into bail, stuck dismount. 9.850
Rucker – Utah – vault: Comes real short and has to take 400 steps back into the table. 9.250
White – ASU – bars: Nice shap half to open, half turn into bail handstand, nice, clean dismount to finish. 9.850
Morgan – Utah – vault: Good 1.5, quite untidy in the air, small step to the side.
Clark – ASU – bars: Good Jaegar, oh wow slips off on the Pac, tidy double layout to finish.
After 1: Utah 49.325, Arizona State 49.175
Not an ideal first rotation for Utah – there were a few missed opportunities, especially with Ruckers only going 9.250. Arizona State had a good first rotation but they also had that miss from Clark, who if had hit would probably have put Arizona State ahead of Utah.
Rotation 2: Utah Bars, Arizona State Vault
Mangahas – ASU – vault: Beautiful opening Yfull, flared and stuck. 9.850
Smith – Utah – bars: Floaty pak, Shalf half, small back waver in the cast, stuck toe-shoot pike half dismount, great start.
Gregoire – ASU – vault: Powerful 1.5, big lunge forwards and some soft knees in the air.
Winger – Utah – bars: Her bars debut! Shap to Pak, a little short on the half turn, back waver on the cast, step on the full-in dismount.
Reeves – ASU – vault: Tucked 1.5, straddles the pre-flight a little, but does a good job to find the landing.
Morgan – Utah – Bars: Shap to Bharwaj, a little wonky, shape half, stalder into stalder front tuck half dismount stuck. 9.875 is high.
Scharf – ASU – vault: Nice Yfull, small step back. 9.800
Zirbes – Utah – bars: Great Ray to Pak, a little late on the turn, small hop on the dismount. 9.875
Theodorou – ASU – vault: Half-on, half-off, almost stuck but small lean into college stick. 9.8
“I don’t think the judges are tricked by college sticks anymore” OH REALLY?
McCallum – Utah – Bars: Shap into Pak, Chow half, super floaty, hop on the dismount. Good one. 9.925
Smith – ASU – vault: Stuck Y1.5, a little off to the side but on par with Glynn for the best vault of the meet. 9.9
O’Keefe – Utah – Bars: Shap into Pak, small leg breaks, great handstands, almost gets the stick on the dismount but has to leannn.
After 2: Utah 98.725, Arizona State 98.350
Utah’s getting its momentum back after a solid bars rotation. This was Winger’s first competitive bar routine for Utah so it looks like The Utes are testing her to see if she can be the one to replace Morgan in the bar lineup once she takes time off for elite. Arizona State had great moments in its vault rotation, anchored by Smith’s stuck 1.5.
Rotation 3: Utah Beam, Arizona State Floor
Morgan – Utah – Beam: BHS mount to beat jump, BHS BHS LOSO series, good positions on switch leap, stuck gainer full dismount. Great start. 9.9
Lee – ASU – floor: Small slide on the front double-full, good 1.5 to layout, clean Rudi to finish. 9.800
Gilstrap – Utah – beam: Adjustment on front aerial, looks a little nervous, solid BHS LOSO, switch leap to ring jump, BHS Gainer full dismount with hop in place. A little nervy looking in some areas but found her confidence as the routine went on. 9.825
Gregoire – ASU – floor: Full-in with a slide, short on straddle positions, Rudi LOSO with a step. 9.800
Smith – Utah – beam: Candle mount, hitch-kick to aerial to split, tiny adjustment, BHS LOSO, some knees, cartwheel into gainer full dismount.
Smith – ASU – floor: Good double pike to open, front full to layout, solid, double tuck with step back. 9.825
McCallum – Utah – Beam: Candle mount, solid triple wolf, double wolf, great, great save on the BHS LOSO just a small check, hitch-kick into switch leap, gainer full with a step. 9.775
White – ASU – floor: Wonderful opening front-double full, back 1.5 to front-full, solid, switch ring to switch half. 9.825
Paulson – Utah – Beam: beat jump to aerial to LOSO, solid, switch leap to split jump, great, stuck gainer full dismount. Let’s see what the judges do with that. 9.975
Mangahas – Arizona State – Floor: Big opening full-in, controlled landing, front tuck through to double-tuck, lunge back. She by far has the best artistry of the lineup.
O’Keefe – Utah – Beam: Nice opening dance series, solid aerial LOSO, BHS gainer dismount with a bit of a lean on the dismount. I think the lean was enough for a 0.05, but let’s see if the judges give her the 10.0 – interestingly they went 9.925.
Scharf – Arizona State – Floor: Front tuck through to double tuck, great landing control, front full to front tuck, another controlled landing, excellent double pike to finish. Great way to finish. 9.925
After 3: Utah 148.175, Arizona State 147.550
There were some nervy moments on beam for Utah, but the lineup got through without any major errors for its second-best beam score of the season. Arizona State had a great floor rotation but besides Scharf’s 9.925, couldn’t break 9.825 which will keep them behind Utah.
Rotation 4: Utah floor, Arizona State Beam
Lee – Arizona State – Beam: Good opening dance combo, BHS BHS LOSO, great, hip break on a sheep jump, stuck 1.5 dismount. 9.825
Smith – Utah – Floor: Bounce on the front double-full, great Rudi to layout, Rudi to stag to finish.
Reeves – Arizona State – Beam: BHS BHS LOSO, small bobble, switch leap to split jump, a bit short of 180, front aerial, stuck tucked 1.5. 9.8
Gilstrap – Utah – Floor: Front layout to Rudi, nice positions on every dance element, layout into front-full with lunge.
Mangahas – Arizona State – Beam: front aerial to BHS, a bit tentative in that connection, switch leap to switch half, front toss, solid, small step on the gainer pike dismount. “Sure to be better than her 9.825 from last week!” 9.8
Paulson – Utah – Floor: Front tuck through to 2.5, great control, layout to front full, back 1.5 to layout. 9.925
Clark – Arizona State – Beam: Lean on BHS BHS LOSO series, split jump to stag jump, solid front aerial, aerial full dismount with a step back. 9.750
Rucker – Utah – Floor: I think she stepped OOB before going into her first pass? Crashes her full-in, that was definitely painful I hope she’s okay, fights for her back 1.5 to layout which is solid. Rough meet for her. 9.025
Scharf – Arizona State – Beam: Nice wolf double, off on her LOSO series, lean on the side somi, short on her leap series, 1.5 dismount. 9.050
McCallum – Utah – Floor: Big full-in to start, switch leap to switch full, layout to Rudi to finish. Good one. 9.925
White – Arizona State – Beam: Solid BHS LOSO series, tiny lean on full turn, front aerial to beat jump, split jump to stag jump, nice, stuck 1.5 They’ll be happy with that one to drop Scharf’s score.
O’Keefe – Utah – Floor: Great control on the double pike to open, front layout to full, 1.5 to floaty layout to finish. Great finish for this team. 9.9
FINAL: Utah 197.675, Arizona State 196.7
This will be Utah’s second-highest score of the season so far. There were some tentative moments, but the team did a good job of not letting mistakes snowball. Arizona State had an impressive meet nearing the 197 mark for its highest score so far this season with areas to improve.
VT: Ashley Glynn (Utah) 9.925
UB: Grace McCallum (Utah) 9.925
BB: Abby Paulson (Utah) 9.975
FX: Abby Paulson (Utah), Grace McCallum (Utah), Hannah Scharf (Arizona State) 9.925
AA: Makenna Smith (Utah) 39.475
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Live blog by Daniel Rothwell
