Upcoming Event: Gymnastics versus Red Rocks Preview on December 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Gymnastics
vs Red Rocks Preview
The University of Utah Athletics
Friday, January 24
Provo, UT
7:00 PM
University of Utah
at
Brigham Young
Photo by: Misty-Jade Carlson
Fifth-Ranked Red Rocks Travel to BYU Friday
1/21/2025 3:36 PM | Gymnastics
Big 12 battle concludes stretch of 3 meets in 8 days for Utah Gymnastics
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Gymnastics, ranked fifth in the nation in Week Four, travels south on I-15 for a Big 12 rivalry meet against BYU at the Marriott Center in Provo. It will be Utah's third meet in an eight-day span, and follows a Friday home victory over Iowa State in the Big 12 opener for both teams, and a win at Monday's Best of Utah quad meet over BYU, Southern Utah and Utah State. The Red Rocks won that meet with a season-high 197.950, which ties for the highest score in the country thus far in 2025. That score counts as a Week Four competition, and thus will not be reflected in the rankings until next week.
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The meet will be televised live on ESPN+ with Spencer Linton on play-by-play and McKell Merkley providing the analysis.
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QUICK STICKSÂ
Utah will stay on the road with a trip to Morgantown, W.V., to take on West Virginia and No. 3 Florida on Sunday, Feb. 2. The meet begins at noon MT, and will be televised on ESPN+.
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The meet will be televised live on ESPN+ with Spencer Linton on play-by-play and McKell Merkley providing the analysis.
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QUICK STICKSÂ
- The Red Rocks have steadily progressed through the first three weeks of the season, elevating their score each week, culminating in a 197.950 on Monday, Jan. 20, tying the nation's best score thus far in a win over BYU, Southern Utah and Utah State at the Best of Utah quad meet on podium at the Maverik Center in West Valley City.
- Junior Makenna Smith won the all-around at the Best of Utah with a career-high 39.725, fueled by event wins on vault (9.95), beam (9.95) and floor (9.925), and senior Grace McCallum finished second in the all-around with a 39.600, with a win on bars and tying with Smith on floor. Smith's all-around score tied for the second-highest in the nation thus far in 2025.
- Soph. Camie Winger competed in the all-around for the first time in her career and posted an impressive 39.475 to finish third. Her performance included a career-high 9.925 on floor to share the event win with McCallum and Smith.
- Utah's 197.950 at Best of Utah matched Oklahoma's winning score from Jan. 11 at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad for highest in the nation on the young season.
- It was Utah's second meet in four days, having defeated Iowa State on Jan. 17, in its Big 12 opener at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, 197.300-194.850. The Red Rocks' 197.300 was a season high at the time.
- Grace McCallum won the all-around against Iowa State with a season-high 39.475, highlighted by her second 9.975 in as many weeks on bars to win the event. She scored season highs on three events, and shared the win on floor (9.90) with teammates Jaylene Gilstrap and Makenna Smith. Freshman Avery Neff took first on vault with a 9.90 and on beam with a career-high 9.925.
- Utah faced a stern early-season test on Jan. 11 at the Sprouts Farmer's Market Collegiate Quad vs. No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU and No. 6 Cal, finishing fourth among that top-6 ranked quartet with a 196.800. Grace McCallum shared the win on bars (9.975) and Neff tied for second on vault (9.925) and recorded 9.90s on floor and beam.
- Through three weeks, Utah ranked inside the top 12 as a team in each event, which includes scores through Friday's Iowa State win, but not the Best of Utah meet, which will be included in next week's rankings:
- Utah has four gymnasts ranked in the top 25 in an event after the first three weeks of competition:
- Grace McCallum ranks second on bars and 20th in the all-around;
- Avery Neff is tied for 7th on beam and tied for 25th on vault;
- Ashley Glynn is tied for 6th on bars;
- Camie Winger is tied for 12th on the beam;
- Makenna Smith is tied for 24th in the all-around.
- In the team rankings, the Red Rocks ranked at No. 5 after three weeks of competition.
- Utah came into the season ranked fifth in the WCGA Preseason Poll. It marked the eighth season in a row that the Red Rocks were ranked in the top five in the preseason poll.
- The Red Rocks had five gymnasts named to the 2025 Big 12 Preseason Team announced Dec. 20, including Grace McCallum (all-around), Ella Zirbes (vault) and Jaylene Gilstrap (floor) earning unanimous selections. Makenna Smith (all-around) and Amelie Morgan (bars) round out the preseason selections for the Utes.
- Utah returns 16 routines from last year's NCAA Championships third-place team, including three NCAA All-America honorees.
- The Red Rocks tallied 42 event wins a year ago, earned by Grace McCallum (19), Makenna Smith (7), Jaedyn Rucker (4), Amelie Morgan (3), Jaylene Gilstrap (3), Ashley Glynn (2), Camie Winger (2) and Ella Zirbes (2).
- Head coach Carly Dockendorf is in her second season leading the Red Rocks program and her eighth overall with Utah Gymnastics.
- In 2024 Dockendorf became the first head coach in NCAA history to lead a team to the Final Four in the coach's first year in the position, earning the highest finish (third-place) by any first-year head coach.
- Utah returns 16-of-24 routines from last year's team, which finished in third place at the NCAA Championships.
- Utah's roster contains five All-Americans: Grace McCallum (8x), Makenna Smith (4x), Ella Zirbes (2x) and Jaylene Gilstrap.
- Makenna Smith seeks to build off her breakout sophomore season, which saw her hit all 61 routines. The Albuquerque native earned NCAA All-America honors in the all-around and vault, and second team on bars.Â
- Utah closed its 13-year membership in the Pac-12 Conference in 2024 by winning its fourth consecutive Pac-12 Championship meet.
- Utah added two new faces to the coaching staff in the offseason, starting with the addition of assistant coach Mike Hunger, who brings more than 50 years of experience to lead the vault squad and assist on floor.
- Utah Gymnastics legend Maile O'Keefe returns to the Red Rocks as a student assistant coach, coming off one of the most decorated college gymnastics careers, which included four NCAA individual titles (bars, floor – 2021; all-around, beam – 2023). O'Keefe collected 19 All-America awards (7 regular season, 12 NCAA) while competing for the Red Rocks.
- Utah has amassed 110 perfect 10.0 scores all-time, with 80 of those performances coming at home in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
- The fifth-ranked Red Rocks broke out in a big way on Monday night (1/20) at the Maverik Center, posting a 197.950 to win the Best of Utah meet and tying Oklahoma for the highest score in the nation this season.
- Junior Makenna Smith won the all-around with a career-high 39.725, fueled by event wins on vault, beam and floor, and senior Grace McCallum finished second in the all-around with a 39.600, with a win on bars and tying Smith on floor.
- Smith's all-around score tied for the second-highest in the nation thus far in 2025, and tied for 8th-highest Utah's program history.
- Utah's 197.950 matched the Sooners' winning score from two weeks ago at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad for highest in the nation on the young season, and delivered a win for the Red Rocks on Monday against in-state foes Southern Utah (196.175), Utah State (196.000) and BYU (195.750).
- Sophomore Camie Winger competed in the all-around for the first time in her career and posted an impressive 39.475 to finish third. Her performance included a career-high 9.925 on floor to share the event win with McCallum and Smith.
Utah will stay on the road with a trip to Morgantown, W.V., to take on West Virginia and No. 3 Florida on Sunday, Feb. 2. The meet begins at noon MT, and will be televised on ESPN+.
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