No. 4 Utah Gymnastics Handles No. 21 Arizona
Feb 1, 2020, 5:58 PM
Utah gymnastics’ Soloski (Steve Griffin, Deseret News)
(Steve Griffin, Deseret News)
TUCSON, Ariz. – The 4th ranked University of Utah women’s gymnastics team handled No. 21 Arizona 197.300-195.975 in their second meet of the Pac-12 schedule on Saturday.
The Utes started on the bars for the first time this season and opened the rotation with back-to-back 9.80s from Maile O’Keefe and Emilie LeBlanc. Cristal Isa had an impressive routine that led to her matching her career-high of 9.925, the best score of the set.
“Today was our first road test and I thought we narrowed the gap between what we see in practice and what we see in actual competition,” said Utah head coach Tom Farden. “We started nicely on bars, vault was good, and floor and beam were really strong to finish the meet. We still need to get better at landings and will work hard to improve this area. There are too many tenths being left on the floor from not sticking enough landings.”
S E A S O N – H I G H ‼️
Utah 197.30 | Arizona 195.975 pic.twitter.com/u6q4HvbKqQ
— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics) February 1, 2020
Rounding out the first rotation was a 9.80 score from Hunter Dula, followed by a 9.875 score from Missy Reinstadtler and Kim Tessen closing out the set with a 9.90. The Red Rocks led the first rotation 49.300-49.025.
Sydney Soloski started the second rotation on vault with a career-high 9.875, which led to the event title. Cammy Hall added a 9.85 score and Reinstadtler chipped in a score of 9.825. Tessen closed the second rotation with a 9.85 and extended Utah’s lead over Arizona 98.500-98.125.
The Red Rocks went to the floor on the third rotation and Isa started with a 9.85 score, along with a 9.825 from Abby Paulson. O’Keefe posted a 9.825 before Tessen scored a career-high 9.925. Soloski closed the set with a career-high 9.95, handing the Utes a 147.875-147.025 advantage at the end of three rotations.
Freshman Abby Paulson with a beautiful routine in the anchor spot to close out the meet! pic.twitter.com/MbCshtnCwq
— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics) February 1, 2020
With the meet in hand, Utah ended with a tremendous rotation on the beam. LeBlanc earned a 9.85, Alexia Burch added a 9.875 score before O’Keefe scored a season-high 9.90. The Red Rocks will remain on the road next week when they square off with No. 10 California in Berkeley on Saturday, February 8 at 1:30 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.
