Maile O'Keefe

In 2013, O'Keefe, then eleven, was a level 9 gymnast. She attended a developmental camp at the Karolyi Ranch where she earned the opportunity to compete at an elite qualifier. At the qualifier, she performed at a high enough level where she was qualified to Junior Elite status, bypassing level 10 completely.[4]

O'Keefe competed at various domestic meets. She finished 13th and 17th at the 2014 and 2015 National Championships respectively. She encountered breakthrough during the 2016 season, where she won the all-around title in the Junior division at the 2016 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, in addition to the beam and floor titles too.[5]

In March, O'Keefe competed at International Gymnix in Canada where she placed first in the all-around and finished top three on every event.[6] In April, she participated in the 2017 City of Jesolo Trophy. In Jesolo she finished second in the all-around behind Gabby Perea.[7] O'Keefe also won bronze medals in the uneven bars and balance beam finals, as well as a silver medal in the floor exercise final.[8] In June O'Keefe announced that she had verbally committed to attend the University of Utah on a gymnastics scholarship.[9] In August, she won the all-around at the 2017 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships.[10] She along with silver medalist Emma Malabuyo were selected to represent the USA at the 2017 International Junior Gymnastics Competition the following month in Japan.[11] There O'Keefe won gold in the all-around and on beam and silver on floor, vault, and uneven bars.[12]

In February 2018, O'Keefe was named as the wildcard athlete for the 2018 American Cup.[13] In her senior international debut, O'Keefe finished third with a score of 54.365, behind fellow American Morgan Hurd and Mai Murakami of Japan.[14] In the spring O'Keefe underwent wrist surgery to fix a ganglion cyst. She spent the remainder of the year recovering.[15]

In early 2019, O'Keefe announced that she had dropped back down to level 10. Her first meet was at the Brestyan’s Las Vegas Invitational in February.[16] After the meet she announced that she received early admission to the University of Utah and would be competing with their gymnastics program in the 2019–2020 season.[17]

O'Keefe signed her National Letter of Intent with the University of Utah in March 2019. She joined Abby Paulson, Jillian Hoffman, and Jaedyn Rucker as the freshmen class of the 2019–2020 season.[18]

O'Keefe made her NCAA debut in a meet against the Kentucky Wildcats where she competed on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam to help Utah win 196.425 to 195.350.[19] She made her all-around debut at the inaugural Best of Utah meet against BYU, Southern Utah, and Utah State, where she helped Utah win and individually she placed third in the all-around.[20]

In a meet against defending national champions the Oklahoma Sooners, O'Keefe competed all four events. Although Utah lost, O'Keefe claimed the all-around and balance beam titles with scores of 39.550 and 9.95 respectively.[21] She was subsequently named as the Pac-12 gymnast of the week.[22] The following week in a meet against Arizona O'Keefe only competed on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. She received the highest score, a 9.90, on the latter two events.[23]

On January 30, in a meet against Washington, O'Keefe earned her first perfect 10, achieving this score on the balance beam. Additionally she won the all-around with a score of 39.525.[24] As a result O'Keefe was named as the Pac-12 gymnast of the week for the second time this season.[25]