Metroplex Challenge Afternoon Session

Recap

The Big Storyline: Despite losing Grace McCallum to an injury on vault in the opening rotation, Utah was able to rally for a respectable road total and easy victory in the afternoon session of Metroplex. The Utes went sub-49 to open the meet, but Makenna Smith stepped up into the all-around, and Maile O’Keefe notched a perfect 10 to right the ship. A new Yurchenko one and a half was able to vault Illinois to second, outpacing a late run from Georgia propelled by a strong floor rotation. Illinois State nearly knocked off a few of these teams, posting a new season-high by over half a point.

Implications: With her injury status unknown at this time, McCallum’s potential loss significantly lowers the Utes’ scoring potential moving forward. They also pick up a conference win over Stanford, who competed in the evening session of this meet, because they don’t have a dual scheduled in 2023.

Records: The Redbirds’ team total ranks fourth all time in program history.

Controversies: The meet did not have streaming or live scoring for fans not in attendance to be able to follow along.

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 4 Utah, No. 18 Georgia, No. 22 Illinois and No. 49 Illinois State

Why You Should Clear Space on Your DVR: Metroplex always provides exciting gymnastics, and this year should be no different as a trio of top 25 teams kicks off the first session. While Utah will be hunting for another total to challenge the national lead, it should be an exciting battle between Georgia and Illinois for runner-up and event title races. All while Illinois State has some individual NCAA qualifiers who can make some noise.

You Can Fast Forward, but not Through This: The Utes’ NCAA-leading beam rotation is always a must-watch event, but keep an eye on vault where they’ve recently come on strong and have the potential for six 10.0 start values. The Redbirds are capable of standing out on vault as well, with Angelica Labat and Jaye Mack both capable of big scores if they can hit. Georgia’s bar work—led by Haley De Jong—has helped the Bulldogs climb up the rankings recently while Mia Takekawa is the star for the Illini on beam where the team ranks 11th.