The brutal math of championship gymnastics leaves little room for error. Just ask the Utah Gymnastics team. The Red Rocks punched their ticket to gymnastics’ Final Four for the fifth straight year, riding Thursday’s impressive 197.7625 semifinal performance into Saturday’s finals with a shot at ending their 30-year title drought. The ten-time NCAA champions had momentum on their side after finishing first in the semifinals. But championship Saturday brought a different story!

And as Oklahoma’s Jordan Bowers, fresh off her all-around individual title, guided the Sooners to their seventh national championship since 2016, Utah watched another opportunity slip away. The Utes finished fourth behind the champions, Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles’ UCLA Bruins, and Mizzou Gymnastics, extending their title-less streak to three decades. For a program that once dominated the sport, the near miss sparked an immediate reaction from fans who gave analyses of some mistakes.

The numbers tell the story of Utah’s unraveling: a respectable but insufficient 197.2375 overall score, breaking down to 49.45 on bars, 49.1875 on beam, 49.475 on floor, and 49.125 on vault. For a team that dominated Thursday’s semifinals, Saturday felt like competing in quicksand. The bright start on bars gave way to subtle signs of trouble, minor balance checks, and hesitations that judges’ trained eyes immediately caught and penalized.

Beam, often called gymnastics’ great equalizer, proved particularly costly. The rotation featured an uncharacteristic wobble. Grace McCallum—the team’s Olympic silver medalist and normally rock-solid leader—somewhat tumbled on the apparatus. Her 9.2875 on the vault sent gasps through the arena. But lightning had already struck once before her. Amelie Morgan’s routine, filled with wobbles and balance checks, had posted just a 9.6875.

The real killer? Utah couldn’t even drop Morgan’s score because of McCallum’s fall, forcing them to count both performances, and they added 49.1875 on the beam. The Utes showed championship heart on the floor, posting their strongest rotation with a 49.475, but by then, Oklahoma was pulling away with their remarkable 49.5875 on the same apparatus.

Vault was delivered with the final disappointment, with a score of 49.125. Their lowest event score of the day came when they needed their highest. Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s 198.0125 proved untouchable, with their beam rotation (49.6125) essentially sealing the championship before their final passes on the floor.

The sting of defeat was intensified with an unexpected twist; what first appeared to be a third-place finish changed after a score inquiry from Missouri. It pushed Utah Gymnastics down to fourth. And fans have few pointers as to what went wrong with the Red Rocks.

Fans point out mistakes over Utah Gymnastics performance in the NCAA finals

It wasn’t the ending Red Rocks fans had envisioned, but Utah Gymnastics’ return to the Final Four on the mats once again showed just how elite this program continues to be. Getting to this stage isn’t easy, and Utah has made it look routine, even when the night itself didn’t go to plan. Across the board, it was one of those meets where both major and minor mistakes crept in, something fans haven’t seen from Utah in a while. The nerves were visible. One fan summed it up with a laugh-and-cry moment: “Utah needs to CALM DOWN and get these sticks.”

And another fan also shared a similar sentiment: “Obviously, today did not go how Utah wanted or hoped. Major mistakes and little ones showed up across every event, which had not happened for Utah for a while. It remains incredibly impressive though that the Red Rocks were here again. Getting to Four on the Floor is hard to do.”

That beam rotation, in particular, was tough to watch. Grace McCallum’s fall was a pivotal moment, especially after a wobble-filled routine from Amelie Morgan. One fan noted, “Following up her 9.9375 on floor, graduate student Brooklyn Moors adds #UCLA’s third 9.825 to the Bruins’ vault rotation. Meanwhile, Utah’s Grace McCallum falls on beam for a 9.2875, forcing the Red Rocks to count Amelie Morgan’s 9.6875.”

Another fan had a similar sentiment as well: “Grace McCallum takes a fall on beam. That’s a really pivotal mistake that might cost them the national championship. It follows a pretty brutal balance check from Amelie Morgan, as well. Utah is just letting the mistakes pile up.” Amelie Morgan did have a mixed season, but she never slipped below 9.7 on beams in the entire season except today. Also, her score of 9.7500 during the semis was an isolated event, as her scores throughout the season have been 9.800 or above.

It even drew dramatic comparisons like “Grace McCallum falling from the beam is Will Gardner meeting his end inside a courtroom.” Well, Grace’s score of 9.2875 on beams was the lowest she scored in the entire season. She did score 9.400 in the meet against Arizona State, but other than that, she has been faring well. While once she did register a score of 9.750, the rest of her scores were fourteen 9.9+, three 9.8+, and even one perfect 10. So what happened today was a major miss.