Grace McCallum scores 10.0 on bars as Utah gymnasts escape UCLA with narrow win

Grace McCallum found perfection and the Utes earned a win. Call Utah’s trip to UCLA a success, but just barely.

Second-ranked Utah won the Pac-12 showdown 197.75-197.65 Friday as McCallum earned the Utes’ first perfect score on the uneven bars since 2015. But the meet had a lot more drama than most expected given the No. 22 Bruins’ rough start this year.

Leading comfortably 148.7-148.05 after three rotations, the Utes nearly gave away the meet with two uncharacteristic falls on balance beam (McCallum 9.15 and Adrienne Randall 9.35), suddenly making an upset by the Bruins possible.

But then Abby Paulson put the Utes right again with a 9.9 and Cristal Isa had a 9.95, leaving the meet in the hands of Maile O’Keefe.

She needed a 9.975 or better after UCLA’s Jordan Chiles scored a 10.0 on the floor. O’Keefe had a remarkable routine under pressure and delivered the 9.975, clinching the win for the Utes.

A week ago O’Keefe earned the Utes’ first 10.0 of the season with a perfect routine on the balance beam.

“She was in her element,” Utah coach Tom Farden said. “She blocked everything out and was so focused. We have the luxury of seeing her week in and week out in the Utah arena but it is another thing to see her here.”

The Utes’ mistakes on the beam dashed what was shaping up to be a huge score after they scored 49.55s on the vault and bars then totaled 49.6 on the floor.

Farden called the win “bittersweet” for the mistakes, but still felt like the team is on pace.

“Getting season highs on the road is what you want to see start happening in Utah,” he said.

McCallum was the highlight of the bars, becoming the first Utah gymnast to earn a 10.0 on the bars since Georgia Dabritz did so at the 2015 NCAA Championships. She also earned a 9.9 on the vault and 9.95 on the floor.

While the bars routine was perfection, the floor effort was just as impressive in Farden’s mind.

“She did a great job of handling things well,” Farden said.

If it hadn’t been for the falls off beam the Utes would have broken the 198 mark. Falling short was a little disappointing, but getting the win in such a challenging atmosphere was enough, at least for a night.

“You want to get athletes conditioned to the chaos and distractions and everything on the road,” Farden said.

The Utes stay on the road next week, competing at California Saturday.