Utah’s third-ranked gymnastics team had a chance to upend the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners Sunday when Oklahoma had a few uncharacteristic mistakes on the vault, allowing the Utes to lead 49.275-49.15 after the first rotation. However, Utah had its own issues on the vault, allowing the Sooners to come from behind and preserve their dominance at home with the 197.025-196.55 win.
Oklahoma is 110-4 at home under coach K.J. Kindler since 2006.
The Utes still had a chance to win in the last rotation since they trailed the Sooners by just 0.1. Utah was very successful at winning meets on the balance beam last year when it was ranked No. 2 on the event. But it wasn’t meant to be Sunday as the Utes had some small breaks and a fall from leadoff gymnast Emilie LeBlanc (9.125), allowing the Sooners to ultimately win by a comfortable margin.
Sophomore Maile O’Keefe was one of the few Utah gymnasts who made it through the meet relatively unscathed as she won the all-around with a 39.55. She won the balance beam with a 9.95, had 9.875s on the uneven bars and floor and a 9.85 on the vault.
“We felt the team was there for half of the meet,” Utah coach Tom Farden said. “Bars and floor were nice, but vault and beam, we left more on the table than we wanted to.”