Pac-12 Championship Session Two

Recap

The Big Storyline: All around runner-up Grace McCallum’s perfect 10 on bars picked the Utes up after an average vault rotation and propelled them to their second-straight Pac-12 title. Utah claimed at least a share of every event title, with standout Jade Carey of Oregon State expectedly taking the all-around and helping boost the Beavers to third. California’s big start on its best event, bars, helped it edge the Beavers for second, with Arizona State’s total good enough for fifth overall.

Postseason Implications: All four teams in this session were able to lock themselves into seeded spots for regionals, with Utah hanging on to the final No. 1 seed and California nabbing the top three-seed.

Records: The Golden Bears notched their best-ever score at the Pac-12 championship with freshman Maddie Williams upping her bars career high to a 9.925.

Conference Awards

• Gymnast of the Year: Jade Carey (Oregon State)
• Event Specialist of the Year: Maile O’Keefe (Utah)
• Freshman of the Year: Jade Carey (Oregon State)
• Coach of the Year: Tanya Chaplin (Oregon State)

Preview

• No. 4 Utah | 197.870 NQS | 198.575 season high
• No. 10 California | 197.220 NQS | 197.900 season high
• No. 13 Oregon State | 197.040 NQS | 197.375 season high
• No. 14 Arizona State | 196.880 NQS | 197.800 season high

If you can only watch one meet, here’s why it should be this one…

In an extremely rare feat, the evening session of Pac-12s will be a showdown between the four teams who all claimed a share of the regular season title. While the Utes enter as the favorite, they’ve fallen victim to upsets from conference foes throughout the season, with the parody of this conference making for an exciting championship meet.

If this is one of many meets you’ll be watching, don’t miss this…

Beam has primarily been the reason why Utah won or lost each of its regular season matchups, so make sure to watch the third rotation to see if two-time NCAA champion Maile O’Keefe is leading the lineup to 10s or not. Expect a possible California lead after rotation one as the Golden Bears, led by returning bars national champion Maya Bordas, start on their best event. Jade Carey, who anchors the Beavers on every event, has been stellar this season and is the easy favorite for the all-around title but could be pushed by Sun Devil Hannah Scharf, who also ranks in the top 15 nationally. All four programs also have key injury comebacks in process as well, with Kara Eaker (Utah), Kyana George (California), Kaitlyn Yanish (Oregon State) and Anaya Smith (Arizona State) all capable of positively changing the scoring landscape for their teams.

What’s the bigger picture to keep an eye on?

All four schools are locked into a regionals spot for the 2022 postseason but are all still eyeing big totals to jockey for positioning amongst the seeded teams. Anything 198 or better keeps Utah among the top four and a one-seed at regionals, California and Oregon State need mid-197s to maintain similar spots and Arizona State needs a 197.325 to guarantee a top 16 finish and seed for regionals.

By the Numbers

Past Champions

• UCLA: 19 titles, last won in 2019
• Oregon State: 6 titles, last won in 2013
• Stanford: 5 titles, last won in 2008
• Utah: 4 titles, last won in 2021

Records Watch

• Team: 198.400 (UCLA, 2019) | Vault: 49.675 (Utah, 2015) | Bars: 49.675 (Oregon State, 2013) | Beam: 49.675 (Utah, 2021) | Floor: 49.775 (UCLA, 2019)
• All Around: 39.825 (Richardson, UCLA, 2004) | Vault: 10.000 (Basaldua, Arizona, 1992) | Bars: 10.000 (Fenton, UCLA, 1993) | Beam: 10.000 (Ross, UCLA, 2017) | Floor: 10.000 (Brinkman, Arizona State, 1992)

Last Time Out

Utah and Maile O’Keefe got their postseasons off to a great start as she captured the all-around win en route to leading the Utes to their fifth Pac-12 title in only 10 years of competing in the conference. California and UCLA rounded out the team podium, and 11 athletes combined for ties to take home shares of event titles, led by O’Keefe’s three (bars, beam, floor).