No. 12 Utah Gymnastics Ready to Defend its Big 12 Title

Saturday, March 21

West Valley City/Maverik Center

5:00 PM

University of Utah

Big 12 Championship

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Photo by: Misty-Jade Carlson

No. 12 Utah Gymnastics Ready to Defend its Big 12 Title

3/18/2026 4:00 PM | Gymnastics

Week 11 Notes

Red Rocks return to the Maverik Center with hopes of repeating as Big 12 Champions

SALT LAKE CITY-- No. 12 Utah Gymnastics will compete to defend their Big 12 Title from a season ago at the Maverik Center on Saturday, March 21 in West Valley City, Utah.

The Big 12 Championship will be split into two meets with Arizona State and West Virginia competing in a duel format at 12 p.m. MT and the Red Rocks facing No. 23 Denver, No. 24 BYU, and Arizona in a quad format at 5 p.m. MT.

The earlier meet can be found on ESPN+ and the evening session will air on ESPNU with Alex Perlman, Kennedy Baker and Lauren Sisler on the call.

Purchase tickets here.

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.
Eight Red Rocks were named to All-Big 12 teams: Avery Neff (vault, bars, beam, floor, and all-around), Ella Zirbes (vault, bars, and floor), Makenna Smith (vault, bars, and floor), Abbi Ryssman (bars, beam, and freshman), Ana Padurariu (bars and beam), Ashley Glynn (vault), Zoe Johnson (vault), and Camie Winger (beam).
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.
Utah wrapped up their regular season on the road against No. 5 UCLA posting their highest road score of the season of 197.400 against the Bruins on senior night.
The Red Rocks kept close to the Bruins through two rotations with only .05 of a point (49.475-49.425) and .025 of a point (98.900- 98.875) separating them.
Sophomore Avery Neff earned her second-highest career all-around score of 39.675 while going toe-to-toe with Olympian Jordan Chiles for the crown. Neff earned one win on bars posting a 9.975 out of the gate at Pauley Pavilion and cemented her seventh Big 12 Gymnast of the Week recognition for the effort (3/17)Neff also recorded a 9.925 on vault, a 9.90 on beam, and a 9.875 on floor.
Ella Zirbes earned a career-high in the all-around at UCLA with a 39.550 after posting a pair of 9.90s on bars and floor, along with a 9.925 on vault and a 9.825 on beam.
Camie Winger earned a season-high on vault against the Bruins of 9.90 in the leadoff position.
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).
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

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).
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

Utah wrapped up their regular season on the road against No. 5 UCLA posting their highest road score of the season of 197.400 against the Bruins on senior night.
The Red Rocks kept close to the Bruins through two rotations with only .05 of a point (49.475-49.425) and .025 of a point (98.900- 98.875) separating them.
Sophomore Avery Neff earned her second-highest career all-around score of 39.675 while going toe-to-toe with Olympian Jordan Chiles for the crown. Neff earned one win on bars posting a 9.975 out of the gate at Pauley Pavilion and cemented her seventh Big 12 Gymnast of the Week recognition for the effort (3/17). Neff also recorded a 9.925 on vault, a 9.90 on beam, and a 9.875 on floor.
Ella Zirbes earned a career-high in the all-around with a 39.550 after posting a pair of 9.90s on bars and floor, along with a 9.925 on vault and a 9.825 on beam.
Camie Winger earned a season-high on vault of 9.90 in the leadoff position.
Eight Red Rocks were named to All-Big 12 teams: Avery Neff (vault, bars, beam, floor, and all-around), Ella Zirbes (vault, bars, and floor), Makenna Smith (vault, bars, and floor), Abbi Ryssman (bars, beam, and freshman), Ana Padurariu (bars and beam), Ashley Glynn (vault), Zoe Johnson (vault), and Camie Winger (beam).

UP NEXT

The Red Rocks will learn their regional fate on Monday, March 23 starting at 10 a.m. MT 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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