Utah Gymnastics Set For NCAA Seattle Regional Beginning Thursday Night
MEET WEEK
The fourth-ranked Utah gymnasts will begin NCAA tournament action this Thursday, March 31, in the NCAA Seattle Regional Second Round at 8 p.m. MT. Competing with the Utes in the evening session will be No. 13 Oregon State, Illinois, and the winner of the Stanford/San Jose State play-in meet, which will take place on Wednesday, March 30. The NCAA Seattle Regional will be held at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The first session on Thursday will feature No. 5 Alabama, No. 12 Michigan State, BYU, and hosts Washington. The first semifinal will begin at 2 p.m. MT. The top two teams from both sessions will advance to the regional final on Saturday, Apr. 2 at 6 p.m. MT. Both the second round and regional final will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Bart Conner and Kathy Johnson Clarke serving as the commentators.
QUICK HITS
• Utah is attempting to advance to a record 46th-consecutive national championship. Utah is the only program to qualify for the last 45 national championships, dating back to 1976 and including all 39 NCAA Championships (began in 1982).
• Utah has won 32 regional titles (29 NCAA) and has finished second the other 13 years.
• Utah last competed in an NCAA Regional in Seattle during the 2009 season. Utah won the Seattle Regional with a 197.675 over Illinois, Boise State, Auburn, Washington and San Jose State.
• Utah will begin on floor this Thursday, while Oregon State will begin on vault, Illinois on bars, and Stanford/San Jose State on beam.
LEADING THE PAC
• Utah won its second-straight Pac-12 Championship on March 19, putting the program total to eight titles overall. The Utes have earned five Pac-12 Championships, while the Utes have claimed all three regular season championships since the award began in 2020 either outright or a share of.
• Maile O'Keefe was named the 2022 Pac-12 Specialist of the Year after a consistent regular season on bars, beam and floor.
• Utah earned Pac-12 titles on all four events at the conference championships with Alexia Burch winning the vault title, Abby Paulson winning her second Pac-12 beam title, and Grace McCallum taking a share of the floor title and winning the bars title outright.
• Utah holds the highest National Qualifying Score on vault, bars, beam and floor in the Pac-12.
AWARD SEASON
As the regular season wrapped up, the Utah gymnasts were rewarded for their season-long efforts as a program-record 10 Red Rocks were named All-Pac-12 on at least one event, while five Utes earned WCGA Regular Season All-America honors. Grace McCallum collected first team All-Pac-12 honors on every event and in the all-around and is the first Ute to do so since 2018. She also led the All-American efforts for the Utes with first team honors on bars and in the all-around, while earning second team on floor. Utah landed five gymnasts to the All-Pac-12 beam team as McCallum, Maile O'Keefe, Cristal Isa and Abby Paulson earned a first-team nod, and Amelie Morgan was named honorable mention. The Ute vaulters also had four Utes earn All-Pac-12 honors, while Sydney Soloski racked up both conference and national awards on floor.
2022 All-Pac-12 Conference
Grace McCallum – AA, VT, UB, BB, FX
Cristal Isa – BB, UB*; Maile O'Keefe – BB, FX*
Alexia Burch – VT; Amelie Morgan – BB*; Abby Paulson – BB; Jaedyn Rucker – VT
Sydney Soloski – FX; Lucy Stanhope – VT; Sage Thompson – UB
*-denotes honorable mention
2022 WCGA Regular Season All-Americans
Grace McCallum – AA, UB, FX*
Maile O'Keefe- BB; Cristal Isa - BB
Abby Paulson – BB*; Sydney Soloski – FX
*-denotes second team
BY THE NUMBERS
• Utah has hit the 198-mark in three competitions this season. The three 198s ties the most all-time in a single season by a Utah team with the 2015 squad.
• Maile O'Keefe has scored a 9.925 or better in 9-of-11 beam routines this year, which includes two 10s and two 9.975s.
• Sydney Soloski has recorded a 9.925 or better on floor in 9-of-12 meets, which includes three 9.975s.
• Grace McCallum has scored a 9.90 or better in 17 of her last 24 routines.
• Amelie Morgan has posted a 9.825 or better in the leadoff position on bars and beam in all but two routines this season, which includes 15-of-24 routines scored at a 9.875 or better.
• Cristal Isa has posted six-straight routines of 9.90 or better between her two events – bars and beam. She has also scored a 9.875 or better on bars in nine consecutive competitions.
• Sage Thompson has posted four consecutive bar routines of a 9.90 or better.
CHALK TALK
• Utah has had 10 of the 16 gymnasts who have competed at least one routine this season earn an event title.
• The floor lineup has seen 11 gymnasts compete at least one routine this season, while vault has gone nine gymnasts deep.
• After competing in the all-around just once during the regular season, Maile O'Keefe made her return to all four events at the Pac-12 Championships and placed third overall. Grace McCallum was the Pac-12 all-around runner up.
• Utah has hit 272-288 routines this season. Gymnasts who have hit every routine are O'Keefe (33-33), Amelie Morgan (24-24), Lucy Stanhope (18-18), Sage Thompson (17-17), Sydney Soloski (12-12), Jillian Hoffman (9-9), Jaylene Gilstrap (5-5), Eaker (4-4) and Alani Sabado (1-1).
• Individual event winners this season are Grace McCallum (18), O'Keefe (8), Cristal Isa (6), Alexia Burch (4), Soloski (4), Abby Paulson (3), Jaedyn Rucker (3), Thompson (3), Stanhope (2), and Hoffman (1).
• Pac-12 weekly award winners this season were: Gymnast of the Week: Isa (Jan. 11), O'Keefe (Feb. 1, March 8); Specialist of the Week: Rucker (Jan. 11, Feb. 15), Thompson (Jan. 18), Hoffman (Jan. 25), Isa (Feb. 1, Feb. 22), O'Keefe (Feb. 8); Freshman of the Week: Morgan (Jan. 11), McCallum (Jan. 18); and Coaches Choice: Hoffman (Jan. 11, Feb. 15).
UP NEXT
The top two finishing teams from each of the four NCAA Regional sites – Seattle, Norman, Raleigh, Auburn – will advance to the 2022 NCAA Championships at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The NCAA Championships will have the semifinals held on Thursday, Apr. 14, while the NCAA final will be on Saturday, Apr. 16.