Historic Performance Sees Maile O'Keefe Earn Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week Honors

SAN FRANCISCO – Coming off a historic performance, University of Utah gymnast Maile O'Keefe has been named the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week for the second time this season. O'Keefe has collected three weekly awards this season with the addition of one specialist of the week honor, while it is the sixth gymnast of the week honor in her career.

O'Keefe recorded two Perfect 10s against Minnesota, along with a 9.95 on floor to continue adding her name to the Utah record books. O'Keefe became the first Utah gymnast since 1999 to score multiple 10.0s in the same meet and just the fourth Red Rock in school history to do so.

The Las Vegas native earned her first career 10.0 on bars to begin the night, leading a school-record 49.800 performance from the team. Her 10.0 on bars was directly after teammate Sage Thompson's perfect score, which marked the first time in school history that consecutive 10s had been recorded on the uneven bars and the first on any event since 2015. O'Keefe's perfect score on bars helped guide the team to breaking the previous school record that had stood since 1993.

The Ute junior then followed the performance on bars by recording another 10.0 – this time on beam. O'Keefe posted her second 10.0 on beam this season and now has three in her career on the event, which is tied for the second-most in program history on beam. She also finished the night with a 9.95 on floor to place second overall.

Her three scores counted toward the 198.575 team total in Utah's win over No. 9 Minnesota. Powered by O'Keefe's historic night, the 198.575 team score is the second best in school history and is tied for the fourth best score in NCAA history. O'Keefe has hit 29-29 routines and 113-113 career routines, while she has collected eight wins this year and 44 career wins. She is ranked fourth in the nation on beam with a 9.965 NQS.

O'Keefe's selection is the 14th weekly award for the Red Rocks this season. Winners have been: Gymnast of the Week: Cristal Isa (Jan. 11), Maile O'Keefe (Feb. 1, March 8); Specialist of the Week: Jaedyn Rucker (Jan. 11, Feb. 15), Sage Thompson (Jan. 18), Jillian Hoffman (Jan. 25), Isa (Feb. 1, Feb. 22), O'Keefe (Feb. 8); Freshman of the Week: Amelie Morgan (Jan. 11), Grace McCallum (Jan. 18); and Coaches Choice: Hoffman (Jan. 11, Feb. 15).

Utah Gymnastics is set to close out the regular season this Friday, March 11, against No. 7 LSU. The top-10 matchup will begin at 6:30 p.m. MT at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La. The meet will be streamed on the SEC Network+.