No. 12 Utah Gymnastics Ready to Wrap Up 2026 Home Slate

Saturday, March 7

Salt Lake City, UT

3 p.m.

University of Utah

West Virginia

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Photo by: Misty-Jade Carlson

No. 12 Utah Gymnastics Ready to Wrap Up 2026 Home Slate

3/4/2026 11:36 AM | Gymnastics

Week Nine Notes

Four Red Rocks seniors to be honored in Huntsman Center finale

SALT LAKE CITY-- The No. 12 Red Rocks will wrap up Big 12 regular season competition in a tri-meet against West Virginia and No. 24 BYU for Senior Day on Saturday, March 7 at 3 p.m. MT. Utah and WVU will compete against each other for Big 12 standings, while BYU will count for both as out of conference.

Utah Gymnastics will honor its four departing seniors- Makenna Smith, Ana Padurariu, Ashley Glynn and Sarah Krump in their last home meet at the Huntsman Center.

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Fans that can't attend live can catch all the action on ESPN+ with Alisa Mowe and Nick Koop on the call.

FOR THE FANS

Come celebrate Utah's outgoing senior class- Makenna Smith, Ana Padurariu, Ashley Glynn, and Sarah Krump.
Help us Stripe the Huntsman red and black!
800 red sunglasses, pom poms, and light sticks.
The Red Rocks are running a Family Four-Pack Deal. Fans can purchase four or more upper bowl tickets that come with a $5 concessions voucher.

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.
Utah sits 5-0 in Big 12 competition after wins over Iowa State (1/25), ASU (1/30, Arizona (2/6), BYU (2/13) and Denver (3/1)- clinching its second-straight Big 12 Regular Season Title with their 197.200 - 196.100 win over the Pioneers last weekend.
Sophomore Neff earned her fifth straight all-around crown against Denver going 39.650. She also secured the bars and beam titles with 9.95s. Neff's performance earned her a sixth Big 12 Gymnast of the Week award for the 2026 season (3/3).
Freshman Sage Curtis earned a career-high 9.925 on floor against Denver in the anchor position after going two consecutive weeks at 9.90 (her previous career-high) against BYU and Southern Utah. Curtis earned her first Big 12 Newcomer of the Week award for the effort (3/3).
Junior Ella Zirbes competed in the all-around for the first time since Arizona State on Jan. 30, taking second-place behind Neff with a 39.375. Zirbes took the floor title with a 9.95 while senior Makenna Smith claimed her stake with the vault title going 9.925.
Utah posted their second-highest score of the season against the Thunderbirds of 197.425 on 2/20 after earning their second-highest score of the season on vault (49.550), tying their second-highest mark of the season on bars (49.625), and setting a season-high on floor (49.575).
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 199 hit routines out of 203 in her career and 43 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

Utah sits 5-0 in Big 12 competition after wins over Iowa State (1/25), ASU (1/30, Arizona (2/6), BYU (2/13) and Denver (3/1)- clinching its second-straight Big 12 Regular Season Title with their 197.200 - 196.100 win over the Pioneers last weekend.
Neff earned her fifth straight all-around crown against Denver going 39.650. She also secured the bars and beam titles with 9.95s. Neff's performance earned her a sixth Big 12 Gymnast of the Week award for the 2026 season (3/3).
Curtis earned a career-high 9.925 on floor against Denver in the anchor position after going two consecutive weeks at 9.90 (her previous career-high) against BYU and Southern Utah. Curtis earned her first Big 12 Newcomer of the Week award for the effort (3/3).
Zirbes competed in the all-around for the first time since Arizona State on Jan. 30, taking second-place behind Neff with a 39.375. Zirbes took the floor title with a 9.95 while senior Smith claimed her stake with the vault title going 9.925.

UP NEXT

The Red Rocks will travel to Los Angeles to close out the regular season against No. 5 UCLA on Saturday, March 14 before turning their attention to the Big 12 Championship at the Maverik Center on March 21.

Fans catch all of the rivalry gymnastics action on Big Ten Network at 8:30 p.m. MT.

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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