California at Utah

Recap

The Big Storyline: Maile O’Keefe’s all-around debut this season was a huge one, as the senior’s new career high helped the Utes soar to a new season high mark as they defeated Pac-12 rival California by a point. O’Keefe’s third 10 on beam this year and Jaedyn Rucker’s first career perfect score highlighted a high-scoring night. California’s Maddie Williams’ dual 9.950s on bars and beam helped her to a 39.625 all-around total that ranks top five in program history as she continues the program’s strong all-arounder tradition. Needing to impress after losing Grace McCallum to injury and then suffering an upset loss at Arizona State Monday, the Utes came out of the gates hot with stuck landings on vault and kept that momentum going.

Implications: The Utes’ win brings the two schools even in the loss column in the Pac-12 regular season standings with one each. With three wins and two ties, California finishes its conference slate with Washington while Utah, with four wins, closes against Arizona and Oregon State.

Records: With seven perfect 10s on beam in her career, O’Keefe now owns the Utah record on beam—beating out Theresa Kulikowski. The Utes also notched their third highest team score ever.

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 6 California at No. 4 Utah

Why You Should Cancel Plans for It: Two top 10 teams in the thick of the national and Pac-12 conference races face off with Utah hosting California. The Utes enter needing a momentum-shifting win after a loss in their first meet without Grace McCallum last weekend, while the Golden Bears could use a big road boost after only tying with the rest of the teams in the top half of the conference.

What We’re Watching: Freshman eMjae Frazier tied California’s best all-around mark ever with a 39.700 last week, and we should expect a stellar showdown between her and fellow rookie Makenna Smith from Utah who has stepped into competing on four events to replace McCallum. Vault has been a make-or-break event for both teams recently, and with both showing four 10.0 start values, this matchup could come down to who takes the advantage on the leg events.