Perched deftly on the balance beam inside the Huntsman Center at the University of Utah, Grace McCallum first lifted her index finger, then her middle finger and finally her ring finger.

Holding her hand aloft, she smiled at the judges, signaling for them and the thousands in attendance at Utah gymnastics’ meet against Washington that she had just completed three wolf turns on the beam.

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It was a throwback to the Best of Utah meet from earlier in the season, when McCallum made a similar show of counting out her wolf turns for the judges.

Only Saturday afternoon, she didn’t stop at three. After counting out three turns, McCallum did two more, and then humorously added three and two together for a total of five, smiling from ear to ear the whole time.

It was a little playful thing, but instructive.

McCallum isn’t the same as she was a season ago as a true freshman for Utah. The Olympic silver medalist is much more comfortable competing at the NCAA level in her second season.

And she clearly is having fun doing so.

Ahead of her freshman season at Utah, McCallum went through a whirlwind of gymnastics, from the U.S. Olympic Trials, to the Tokyo Olympics themselves, followed by the Gold Over America tour that included 30-plus cities.

By the time she got to Salt Lake City ahead of the 2022 NCAA season, she had little time to get used to college gymnastics and it showed. It took a bit for McCallum to look like one of the best gymnasts in the world.

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Following the NCAA gymnastics championships last April, McCallum could have elected to go back to elite gymnastics, joining Florida’s Leanne Wong, UCLA’s Jordan Chiles and Oregon State’s Jade Carey at Team USA camp.

She elected not to, however.

“I’ve definitely thought about (going back to elite),” McCallum told the Deseret News, “but no, I’m not, not right now. It is not out of the question in the future, but this year I’m going to take a break, get some mental and physical rest.”

It’s paid off.

This season, McCallum has been Utah’s best all-around gymnast, with two all-around titles, three titles on uneven bars and two floor exercise titles, through four meets. No other Utah gymnasts has more than four event titles.

And she has scored a 9.90 or better on nine of the 16 routines she has competed.

“Spending 15 weeks in an actual preseason, and not sleeping on a bus has helped,” Utah head coach Tom Farden said. “Grace is a very routine-oriented woman and she was out of routine all of the preseason last year. You are seeing her with a full preseason. This is her.”

McCallum agrees.

“I think this preseason gave me more confidence going into meets,” she told the Deseret News. “I just feel now that I know I can do it. I’ve now done millions of (routines) in the gym that all could score well.

“Last year I barely did any routines because I was on tour and gone the whole time. Now I have that little extra confidence that I needed to go up and hit my routines and do my normal gymnastics that I do in practice when I compete.”

It has also helped that McCallum feels closer to this year’s team. Those relationships with have helped her, both in competition and with showing more of her personality.

“You can feel the amount of support for each and every person,” she said. “When one person is up on an event, all the attention is on that person. Last year was kind of scattered and all over the place.

“It is genuine. It is real support and you know that they want what is best for you.”

That was clear following the Washington meet.

Jillian Hoffman, Abby Brenner and Maile O’Keefe all lit up when asked about McCallum, specifically her counting on the beam.

“I love it,” Brenner said. “I think it is super cool. Coming from last year to this year, she has grown so much in personality. Just owning who she is and having fun up there.

“Especially coming from the elite world. It is really fun to see her personality shine and to see her owning who she is.”

The counting and other displays of personality should continue, though only McCallum and Utah beam coach Carly Dockendorf have any idea what is coming next.

“That was a new add-on today,” Hoffman said. “I think she plans on changing it each week. None of us know (what she is going to do). We were all surprised and loved it.”

As for how high will McCallum end up counting too, Hoffman could only laugh and say, “Probably pretty high.”

No doubt the Red Rocks hope McCallum can help them reach other heights as well.