It’s a Pac-12 and top 20 matchup tonight!
Despite a tumultuous offseason, Utah is putting up another strong season. The Utes started off slow, but only have one score below 197.675 since they posted a 196.975 week two. The midseason departure of Amelie Morgan to pursue an Olympic berth has tested them recently, but Utah appears to be up to the test. Upperclassmen Maile O’Keefe and Grace McCallum are putting up the scores they’re capable of, while freshman Ella Zirbes has contributed solid performances on vault and bars on the whole; she was recently added to the floor lineup and has excelled thus far. Makenna Smith was pulled from last week’s meet as a precaution after a wonky vault and limited reps in practice due to a back flare up. We’ll see if she’s back tonight.
Arizona has been consistently good this season. All but one of its scores this season are between 196.475 and 197, including one 197.000 on January 27. The Wildcats put up a huge 49.625 on beam last week at Washington and have been building on the event most of the season. Elena Deets is nice on the event, with a near-9.9 NQS to show for it. Malia Hargrove was held out of lineups two weeks ago, but luckily for the Wildcats, it was merely precautionary and she returned last week….
