Avery Neff injury overshadows bounce back performance for Utah gymnastics

Tears welled up in Jaylene Gilstrap’s eyes.

Ashley Glynn and Grace McCallum sat on either side of her, each appearing almost frozen.

The three gymnasts were the ones tasked with speaking after Utah gymnastics' victory over Iowa State on Friday night.

It was a bounce back performance by the Red Rocks in their Big 12 opener and there were no shortage of highlights.

The 197.300 scored was a season-high for Utah, the first time in the 2025 season that the Red Rocks had broken the 197 barrier.

Utah set or tied its season high on two events — uneven bars and vault.

McCallum nearly recorded Utah’s first perfect 10 of the year (she ended up with a 9.975) with a remarkable routine on uneven bars.

Glynn had her best meet as as Red Rock, setting a new career high score on bars herself (9.90) while competing on three events.

Go down the list and numerous gymnasts had their best performances of the young season. It was, overall, an encouraging showing for a Utah team that hadn’t performed quite to the level that it wanted to through the first two weeks. Despite being ranked No. 4 in the country.

Gilstrap’s tears had nothing to do with any of that, though.

Utah’s success Friday was overshadowed by a devastating injury to star freshman Avery Neff.

Neff, the highest rated recruit ever (since College Gym News started ranking gymnastics recruits starting with the 2021 class), collapsed on the floor at the tail end of her floor routine.

While executing her final tumbling pass, something went wrong and Neff punched off the ground using her ankle, her foot bent sideways. She then collapsed on the floor and was eventually carried off, unable to put any sort of weight on her left leg.

It was clear to any and all observers inside the Huntsman Center that something had gone seriously wrong. That Utah’s star freshman was badly injured.

After the meet, Utah couldn’t provide any specifics, with head coach Carly Dockendorf stating only, “obviously at this time we don’t know, we don’t have any answers on Avery.”

But the loss of Neff, its impact on everyone involved with Utah’s program, was clear.

Displayed in Gilstrap’s tears and elsewhere.

“This is the tough part about sports,” Dockendorf said. “Anywhere, on any team. It is hard to watch. It kind of changed the emotional feeling of the meet at the end.”

Neff had been, both Friday night and through the first three meets of the season, Utah’s best overall gymnast. Which was simultaneously surprising and unsurprising. On Friday, she was Utah’s best gymnast on beam and vault, second best on bars and third in the all-around, even with a 9.350 on floor.

Her loss — for however long it will be — will impact Utah competitively, but Dockendorf noted that it goes well beyond that.

“I don’t even think it has to do with how much success she’s had,” Dockendorf said. “Anybody on our team that goes down, it is hard to watch. This is still a sport.”

Gilstrap was the gymnast tasked with following Neff on floor. And the fifth year senior did so exceptionally well, recording a 9.90 that tied her for the meet-high on the event.

The meet wasn’t in doubt when Gilstrap stepped up — Utah, as expected, had run away from Iowa State. But a season-high score was in doubt. And Gilstrap delivered, McCallum too with the final counting routines of the night.

Gilstrap put things into perspective afterward. Albeit with tears in her eyes and a slight tremor in her voice.

“It is a part of gymnastics. We’ve all seen it,” she said. “As hard as this is, we go up there and have each other’s backs. That is the whole point of six up, six go. We have each other’s back. We are one family here and we genuinely care about each one of us, so we just keep that in the forefront of our brain.”

Gilstrap, Glynn, McCallum and Dockendorf all attempted to keep the focus on the competition — on Utah’s overall performance — even in light of Neff’s injury.

The sports cliche “next man up,” holding true for gymnastics as much as in any other sport.

And Utah’s performance was notable.

“Overall, there were some amazing things that happened tonight,” Dockendorf said.

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Defining moment

Perhaps the most notable routine of the night came from Glynn. Not because of the score itself, but more on that in a second.

A junior, Glynn transferred to Utah two summers ago, following a standout freshman season at Temple.

At Temple, Glynn had been a star, competing in the all-around regularly.

Last season, her first with the Red Rocks, Glynn was limited to competing on only one event all season really — vault. Not because of injury or anything like that. She just couldn’t crack into another lineup, the closest she got being on uneven bars.

And according to Dockendorf, that didn’t sit all that well with Glynn.

“She did not like that,” Dockendorf said. “She was determined to do more events and knew she was capable of contributing on many more.”

Glynn made it her goal to break into more lineups this season and to start the year was successful in getting into two — vault and floor.

On Friday, she made her debut on bars, though, and was excellent. Only McCallum and Neff outscored Glynn on the event.

The now-three event gymnast scored a 9.85 or better on each of her routines. Making her a key figure in Utah’s success against Iowa State.

“I feel like I have been putting in a lot of hard work in the gym. Being very intentional with my turns,” she said. “The hard work is paying off. A lot of things went right and I’m happy with what I did (tonight), but I know there is still room to improve.”

Needs work

Utah wasn’t perfect Friday, even with the improved showing.

Mistakes reared their heads on every event.

On bars, landings were a problem, be it hops or the shuffling of feet.

Clara Raposo made her collegiate debut on the event and showed flashes — her cast handstands might have been the best put on display by any Red Rock — but the freshman also showed real room for improvement.

Camie Winger, Amelie Morgan, Makenna Smith — all had solid routines but mistakes kept their scores in the low 9.8 range. Below the potential of each of those gymnasts.

The same held true on beam, with balance checks and imperfect landings being the biggest issue. For multiple gymnasts, even ones who had strong outings.

Utah’s floor score was the team’s lowest on the night — the Red Rocks finished with a 49.275 — but much of that was the result of Neff’s injury and Ella Zirbes stopping in the middle of her routine to settle herself/catch her breath.

It was the second week in a row that Zirbes stopped competing in the middle of her floor routine and Dockendorf said afterward only that the sophomore — expected to be a star for Utah this season — is “working through some things right now. And we are here to support her.”

Three weeks into the season Utah hasn’t been close to its best, with little correctable mistakes being the main issue.

That’s encouraging

Vault has, for years now, been something of an Achilles heel for Utah.

Not frequently during the regular season, but in the postseason for sure — especially in the national championship meet.

Mid-April is still a long way away, but Utah’s vault rotation seems to be coming around.

In a promising way too.

Utah scored a season high on vault Friday, and it was a group effort.

Only McCallum — who competed a Yurchenko 1.5 for the first time competitively since her sophomore season — scored lower than a 9.80.

Smith, Winger, Neff and Glynn all scored at least a 9.85 while competing 10.0-valued vaults.

There were steps on landings, sure, but the falls that have plagued Utah for years were nowhere to be found.

And more encouraging that that, each gymnast that competed looked comfortable and at ease with their vault.

“I thought our vault rotation, they just looked so confident and aggressive out there,” Dockendorf said. “They looked just like what they’ve looked like in practice. Big vaults with controlled steps. Camie’s vault was incredible and she has made some really big improvements.”