No. 12 Utah Gymnastics End Regular Season Against No. 5 UCLA

Saturday, March 14

Los Angeles, CA

8:30 pm MT

University of Utah

UCLA

Photo by: Misty-Jade Carlson

No. 12 Utah Gymnastics End Regular Season Against No. 5 UCLA

3/11/2026 2:27 PM | Gymnastics

Week 10 Notes

Red Rocks hit the road for gymnastics rivalry showdown

SALT LAKE CITY-- The twelfth-ranked Red Rocks head to the Golden State to take on the fifth-ranked UCLA Bruins in their final regular season meet of 2026 on Saturday, March 14 at 8:30 p.m. MT in Pauley Pavilion.

Fans can catch all the gymnastics rivalry action on Big Ten Network with Evan Heiter and Olivia Karas on the call.

QUICK STICKS

Head coach Carly Dockendorf is in her third season at the helm of the Red Rocks and ninth season with Utah Gymnastics overall in 2026.
Dockendorf is joined by 12 returners from last season's team, including senior Makenna Smith and sophomore Avery Neff, while welcoming four freshmen to the mix in Norah Christian, Sage Curtis, Abbi Ryssman, and Bailey Stroud.
For the second year in a row, Utah went undefeated in Big 12 competition (6-0) after wins over Iowa State (1/25), ASU (1/30, Arizona (2/6), BYU (2/13), Denver (3/1) and West Virginia (3/7)- earning the Big 12 Regular Season Title outright against the Pioneers two weeks prior.
The Red Rocks earned their second-highest score of the 2026 season (197.650) hosting West Virginia and No. 24 BYU in a tri-meet (3/7) to end Big 12 regular season competition. Additionally, Utah impressively posted 49.500 as a team on three events (vault, bars, and floor).
Utah's senior class (Makenna Smith, Ana Padurariu, Ashley Glynn and Sarah Krump) showed out on Senior Day with Padurariu posting a career-high on bars (9.975), Smith and Krump matching career-highs on floor (9.975 and 9.85), and Smith and Glynn posting season-highs on bars (9.925 and 9.90). (Glynn also added a solid 9.90 on vault for the Utes.)
Smith was named Big 12 Gymnast of the Week for the first time this season after her strong showing on Senior Day while Glynn earned the first conference recognition of her career as the Big 12 Specialist of the Week (3/11).
Ella Zirbes took the all-around title with a career-high 39.450 and was also the vault winner with a career-high tying 9.925. Padurariu took the bars title with her 9.975, while Avery Neff and Abbi Ryssman tied for the beam title at 9.875, and Smith took the floor crown with her 9.975.
The Red Rocks earned a season-high score of 198.025 against BYU to earn their first 198 score of the season, and became the fourth program in the country to cross the mark in 2026.
Utah set their second-highest program bars score with a season-high 49.750 against BYU (2/13) while simultaneously setting the high-score on the event for the entire country. The effort was just shy of their 49.800 record set in 2022 and jumped their previous second-highest score (49.700 set in 1993).
Utah tied its fourth highest team vault score in program history at Sprouts of 49.600. Last time Utah hit that mark was in 2005, with their highest score set in 2004 of 49.775.
The Red Rocks announced a multi-year NIL partnership with local company Redmond (1/5/26) that will provide Utah Gymnastics with healthy meals, and electrolyte products, as well as provide funds for future international service trips to be announced at a later date.
Two Red Rocks legends remain on staff for Utah Gymnastics in 2026 with all-time perfect 10s record holder (15) Maile O'Keefe taking on an Operations Specialist position and recently graduated Olympic silver medalist Grace McCallum moving into the Student Assistant Coach role.
Utah Gymnastics clinched Utah Athletics' first two Big 12 Titles since joining the league before the 2024 fall sports season began. The Red Rocks won the Big 12's Regular Season Championship outright on 2/21/25, and clinched the Big 12 Championship on 3/22/25. In 2014, Utah Gymnastics earned Utah Athletics' first Pac-12 Title, four years after the Utes made the jump to the league from the Mountain West Conference.

CHALK TALK

Dockendorf is in her third season leading the Red Rocks program and her ninth overall with Utah Gymnastics.
In 2024 Dockendorf became the first head coach in NCAA history to lead a team to the Final Four in her first year as head coach, earning the highest finish (3rd-place) by any first-year head coach.
Utah returns 18-of-24 routines from last year's team, which finished in fourth place at the NCAA Championships.
Utah's roster contains three All-Americans: Makenna Smith (10x), Avery Neff (4x), and Ella Zirbes (3x) plus regular-season All-American Camie Winger (1x).
Smith will seek to end her productive career with a bang currently sitting at 202 hit routines out of 206 in her career and 44 total event victories and counting.
Neff takes on a bigger role for the Utes in 2026 after showing the college gymnastics world what she's made of as a freshman and No. 1 recruit last season. Despite missing time with injury, Neff racked up the accolades earning four All-American nods, Regional All-Around and Vault Champion, 2025 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, 2025 All-Big 12 Freshman Team selection, 2025 Big 12 Beam Champion, and eight total career wins.
Utah has amassed 123 perfect 10.0 scores all-time, with 86 of those performances coming at home in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

LAST TIME OUT

For the second year in a row, Utah went undefeated in Big 12 competition (6-0) after wins over Iowa State (1/25), ASU (1/30, Arizona (2/6), BYU (2/13), Denver (3/1) and West Virginia (3/7)- earning the Big 12 Regular Season Title outright against the Pioneers two weeks prior.
The Red Rocks earned their second-highest score of the 2026 season (197.650) hosting West Virginia and No. 24 BYU in a tri-meet (3/7) to end Big 12 regular season competition. Additionally, Utah impressively posted 49.500 as a team on three events (vault, bars, and floor).
Utah's senior class (Makenna Smith, Ana Padurariu, Ashley Glynn and Sarah Krump) showed out on Senior Day with Padurariu posting a career-high on bars (9.975), Smith and Krump matching career-highs on floor (9.975 and 9.85), and Smith and Glynn posting season-highs on bars (9.925 and 9.90). (Glynn also added a solid 9.90 on vault for the Utes.)
Smith was named Big 12 Gymnast of the Week for the first time this season after her strong showing on Senior Day while Glynn earned the first conference recognition of her career as the Big 12 Specialist of the Week (3/11).
Ella Zirbes took the all-around title with a career-high 39.450 and was also the vault winner with a career-high tying 9.925. Padurariu took the bars title with her 9.975, while Avery Neff and Abbi Ryssman tied for the beam title at 9.875, and Smith took the floor crown with her 9.975.

RED ROCKS RETURNING DEPTH

Utah returns nine contributing members of the squad from last season, including four All-Americans: Makenna Smith (7 NCAA, 3 RS), Avery Neff (3 NCAA, 1 RS), Ella Zirbes (3 NCAA), and Camie Winger (1 RS).
As of the end of the 2025 season, Smith hit 171 of 172 routines in her career and 34 career victories.
Neff earned her first all-around win (39.650) during the Regional Semifinal while also cementing herself as the vault champion. She was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, All-Big 12 Freshman Team, and 2025 Big 12 Beam Champion.
Zirbes continued her growth with the Utes as a steady performer on three events (vault, bars, floor) making the All-Big 12 vault and bars team while notching four wins in 2025 (1 vault, 2 bars, 1 floor). She is set for a bigger role in 2026 competing in the all-around.
Winger starts her junior campaign as a reigning member of the All-Big 12 Beam Team and notching two event wins in 2025 on beam and floor.
Ashley Glynn and Ana Padurariu join Smith as a senior providing steady results in three and two events respectively. Glynn hit all 61 of her routines as a Ute in her first two seasons with the program and was named to the 2025 All-Big 12 Vault Team and was the 2025 Big 12 Vault Co-Champion. Padurariu matched her career-high on beam last season (9.95) in the Big 12 Championship, earning her Co-Champion on beam.

NEW KIDS ON THE ROCKS

Utah welcomed four new faces to the program this year, with the addition of Norah Christian, Sage Curtis, Abbi Ryssman, and Bailey Stroud.
Christian brings all-around ability from the state of Washington where she trained with Cascade Elite Gymnastics West.
Locally grown Curtis comes to the Utes as the 2024 Level 10 national champion and Region 1 champion on vault.
Ryssman joins Utah after earning the 2025 Level 10 national title on bars and the Region 4 title on bars and beam, while finishing as the all-around runner-up.
Stroud adds a strong resume to the mix having notched the 2024 Level 10 titles for all-around and beam, and cleaning up that the Region 5 champion on vault, beam, floor, and the all-around.

UP NEXT

The Red Rocks will prepare to defend their crown in the Big 12 Championship at the Maverik Center on Saturday, March 21 at 5 p.m. MT.

Fans are encouraged to sellout the West Valley City, Utah arena or can catch all the action on ESPNU.

FOLLOW THE RED ROCKS
For an inside look at the Utah Gymnastics program, including tournament, roster and news updates, fans can follow the Red Rocks on social media (TikTok: @utahgymnastics |Instagram: @utahgymnastics).

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