Utah at Oregon State

Recap

The Big Storyline: Another Jade Cary sweep helped propel the Beavers to a critical upset of visiting Utah to force a four-way tie for the Pac-12 regular season title for the second straight season. An explosion on bars for a 49.550 made the difference for Oregon State, which was able to match or slightly edge the Utes’ totals on every event. Utah started strong on bars, but a flat vault rotation was its biggest deficit of the meet, and it wasn’t able to make up the gap.

Implications: With the Utes’ loss, California, Oregon State, UCLA, and Utah are all Pac-12 regular season co-champions for 2023. Utah will fall behind UCLA to fifth in this week’s rankings while Oregon State will jump to 11th.

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 4 Utah at No. 13 Oregon State

Why You Should Clear Space on Your DVR: It’s Oregon State’s senior night, and you just know you’re going to want to watch and see what happens. Utah has fought through adversity as of late, with Grace McCallum going down and, most recently, Kara Eaker being placed in concussion protocol; we’ll see if Eaker is back. These two teams have some of the best beam workers in the country: Utah’s beam lineup ranks No. 1 nationally, and Oregon State comes in at No. 3. 

You Can Fast Forward, but not Through This: Jade Carey has taken the college gymnastics world by storm, completing her first Gym Slam with a 10 on beam last week. She stands out on the leg events, but don’t sleep on her bars or beam either. Beaver fifth-year Madi Dagen is also a treat to watch on beam and floor. Utah’s beam lineup as a whole is excellent: Maile O’Keefe and Cristal Isa stand out as highlights. Plus, Jaylene Gilstrap has tremendous artistry on floor while Jaedyn Rucker is one to watch for her power on vault and floor.