Pac-12 Gymnastics Week 2 Recap: Cal emerges as early front-runner; Frazier, O’Keefe perfect
All eight Pac-12 gymnastics teams competed during the same weekend for the first time last weekend, with most of the Pac-12 traveling to non-conference matchups.
Here’s how each school fared in Week 2:
Stanford @ #20 Michigan
Final score: Michigan: 197.725 – Stanford: 193.625
The Cardinal began their first meet on bars, where they got off to a disastrous start. Stanford chose to only use five athletes on vault and bars, meaning all scores counted. This included two routines with mishaps as Ava Sorrento was unable to successfully complete her Pak salto and instead circled her hips around the bars, resulting in a 9.325. After, junior Brenna Neault scored a 7.4 because she fell on her handstand full pirouette and was unable to get the skill right on two other tries. Stanford finished with a 46.125 on bars, effectively putting any chance of a win out of reach.
However, Stanford didn’t let that bars rotation affect the rest of its meet. They put up a 48.775 on vault – an event where they will be getting more 10.0 start value vaults later in the season – before adding strong floor and beam performances.
Coming into this season, Stanford was excited to show off their new choreography, featuring a Super Mario themed routine from Amanda Zeng, which earned a 9.85. To no surprise, Taralyn Nguyen earned the highest floor score of the day for Stanford with a 9.90, highlighted by her double layout opening pass.
On beam, the Cardinal put in a total score of 49.425, capped off by fifth-year Chloe Widner’s stellar 9.950. The experienced Widner managed to stay composed on her acro series despite cheers as Michigan’s Sierra Brooks put in a 10.0 on floor.
#23 Washington @ Iowa
Final score: Iowa: 196.400 – Washington: 196.250
Washington fell just short of a win, but improved off its first meet. The Huskies had the lead after the first rotation, but the Hawkeyes came away with a win, while winning every individual event title as well.
The Huskies rebounded tremendously on bars, with all six gymnasts hitting their routines and scoring a 49.125. Seniors Taylor Russon and Skylar Killough-Wilhelm and freshman Mary McDonough (exhibition), all fell last week but hit versus Iowa.
The highlight of the day for Washington was its final event, beam. The Huskies put up a 49.325 – their highest single event score of the season so far. All of their gymnasts hit, and Killough-Wilhelm tied a career-high 9.925 to close the rotation.
Arizona @ Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad
Final score: Arizona: 196.475, Boise State: 196.250, Nebraska: 195.875, North Carolina: 195.150
What a start for the Wildcats’ season, with Arizona winning its first meet over three other teams. The Wildcats posted at least a 49.000 on every event en route to their highest opening meet score in program history with a 196.475.
The Wildcats got a glimpse of their promising freshman class as Ainsley Greever, Sophie Derr, and Abigayle Martin made their debuts. Martin competed on vault (9.750), bars (9.825), and beam (9.825), Greever anchored on vault with a 9.775, and Derr went 9.725 on bars.
The veterans are still the most reliable for Arizona, with junior Alysen Fears winning the all-around with a 39.250 and fifth-year Malia Hargrove taking vault with a 9.9. The upperclassmen also helped Arizona close out floor with three scores of 9.9+ and a team score of 49.400 on the event – good for sixth in the NCAA.
#13 Oregon State @ Rutgers quad
Final score: Oregon State: 195.850, Rutgers: 194.650, Southern Conn.: 189.025, Utica: 176.725
The Beavers’ performance on bars at the Mean Girls Super 16 doesn’t look like a fluke after Oregon State posted a 49.450 at Rutgers over the weekend. Sure, it didn’t match the 49.625 from the week before, but they scored well again and are tied for first in the country on the event. Sage Thompson and Jade Carey highlighted the performance with Thompson earning a 9.925 and Carey getting a second consecutive 9.975.
Bars once again was the peak for the Beavers at this meet. On beam, Oregon State stayed on but had balance checks from two of its best beam workers in Sydney Gonzales (9.575) and Ellie Weaver (9.625). These troubles became exasperated on floor, where Oregon State saw both Kaitlin Garcia and Savannah Miller land poorly on their double backs. That ultimately cost the Beavers a chance at reaching a 196 this week but didn’t prevent them from winning the quad meet.
#2 Utah & #12 UCLA @ Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad
Final score: Oklahoma: 197.900, LSU: 197.150, UCLA: 197.100, Utah: 196.975
Utah
Utah finished a disappointing fourth behind Oklahoma, LSU, and UCLA. However, it’s still encouraging that Utah was right up there with UCLA and LSU, even if the Red Rocks would’ve preferred to be closer to Oklahoma.
The Red Rocks’ struggles were highlighted by a shocking fall on beam and stumble out of her double pike on floor by Maile O’Keefe. The senior normally puts in some of Utah’s best scores – especially on beam – but she had an off meet that proved costly.
The bright side for the Utes was they had an overall strong finish on vault, highlighted by freshman Camie Winger sticking her Yurchenko 1.5 for a 9.95. The Red Rocks improved their first meet vault score (49.150) to a 49.400 this meet, even with 2022 NCAA vault champion Jaedyn Rucker (9.8) and Ashley Glynn (9.725) not landing their vaults smoothly.
UCLA
Though UCLA fell out of second place after the final rotation and finished third, the Bruins beat Utah for the first time in five years and cleared the 197 mark. The Bruins will want to get their beam lineup sorted out soon, especially with Emma Malabuyo slated to miss two meets later in the season. Emma Andres and Brooklyn Moors were inserted in the lineup, and Andres put in a 9.900 while Moors fell on her front tumbling series, forcing UCLA to count Emily Lee’s 9.675.
The main bright spot for UCLA was the team topping their vault performance from last week with a 49.400. Both Lee (9.9) and Selena Harris (9.95) stuck their vaults while freshman Katelyn Rosen earned a 9.850 for her debut on the event.
The Bruins pulled through on bars despite losing senior Sara Ulias to injury. Ulias was slated to make the bars lineup for the first time since 2022 after not competing in 2023 while recovering from knee surgery. But Ulias was hurt during warmups and seen in a wheelchair with a large cast on her leg. In her absence, Lee filled in (9.675) while Chae Campbell, Harris, and Rosen all put in scores of 9.9 or higher.
Individually, Harris won the all-around while putting up a 39.650. The sophomore also tied for first on vault and beam with 9.95s on both.
#6 California @ Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad
Final score: California: 197.875, Michigan State: 196.725, BYU: 196.100, NC State: 195.675
Cal may be a vault team after posting a 49.525 in their first rotation at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad. The Bears added freshman Kyen Mayhew to the vault lineup, and boy did the decision pay off; Mayhew put up a 9.95 in her first collegiate routine.
Though there were still some shaky moments for the Bears on beam, they avoided falls and the back half of the rotation was excellent. eMjae Fraizer more than made up for mistakes with a perfect 10, and the Bears even finished close to a 198.
Cal swept the all-around top three with Frazier setting a new personal and program best as she earned a 39.775. Lauzon followed closely in second (39.750), and Maddie Williams finished third (39.325). This wasn’t even Cal’s best performance across the board, and they already look like one of the top teams this season.
Arizona State @ #6 Denver
Final score: Denver: 196.900, Arizona State: 196.375
The Sun Devils fell short of getting the win versus Denver, but they did well going up against one of the NCAA’s best teams and hit a score over 196 for the first time this season.
Beam was the best event of the night for the Sun Devils, where they posted a 49.375. Sophomore Kayla Lee won the individual event title with a career-high 9.925. Senior Anaya Smith won vault, sticking her Yurchenko 1.5 for a 9.925.
The biggest area the Sun Devils need to grow is on floor – the lone event where they have not scored a 49+ this season. They’ve had good individual scores – including Emily White’s 9.900 against the Pioneers – but only had two scores above a 9.800 in the latest outing.
#2 Utah @ Best of Utah
Final score: Utah: 197.725, BYU: 195.775, Southern Utah: 194.000, Utah State: 193.600
The Red Rocks had a great rebound meet on Monday, defeating their Utah rivals while putting up scores of 49.5 or better on bars, beam, and floor.
This was also a great rebound for Maile O’Keefe, who put her mistakes from Saturday behind her as she recorded another perfect 10 on beam, 9.925 on bars, and 9.950 on floor. Upperclassmen Grace McCallum and Amelie Morgan also excelled, scoring two 9.95s each.
