The latest edition of the Best of Utah meet between Utah, BYU, Southern Utah and Utah State went the same way all the previous editions had — with a runaway victory by the Red Rocks.
That, in and of itself, wasn’t surprising.
Entering the competition, Utah was ranked No. 5 in the country and considered — per the usual — a national title contender. None of BYU, Southern Utah and Utah State, meanwhile, were ranked and all will likely be battling for spots in the postseason this year, at best.
The Best of Utah went the way it was supposed to go.
How the Red Rocks earned their win, though, was something else altogether.
Without star freshman Avery Neff in the lineup for the first time this season — Neff is sidelined indefinitely with a pair of ankle sprains — Utah reeled off season-high scores on all four events and finished with a score of 197.950, tied with Oklahoma for the best score in a meet so far this season.
Many Utah gymnasts had their best individual performances of the year (it is still early in the season).
Makenna Smith in the all-around, Camie Winger in the all-around (for the first time in her collegiate career), Ana Padurariu on uneven bars, Amelie Morgan on balance beam — the list could go on and on.
It was, as Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf described it, Utah’s best meet so far in 2025. A complete performance.
“What a fantastic night,” Dockendorf said. “One of the highlights was seeing out team complete four events. Just do a complete meet. We hadn’t done that yet, until tonight. I loved their composure all night. I thought they stayed confident and relaxed, but really focused. And it was another great opportunity for us to be at the Maverik (Center).”
It was an especially encouraging showing for a team that is now without one of its best competitors (Neff) for the foreseeable future, quite possibly the rest of the season.
Gymnasts who don’t normally compete were thrust into important roles in Neff’s absence (also with sophomore Ella Zirbes taking a step back in the number of events she competed). And Neff (and Zirbes) took on new roles as supporters.
According to Dockendorf, all took to their new roles well.
“I love how everyone stepped up,” she said. “... Maybe it was a cheering role today when they were used to competing or they went from being a cheerleader to competing. Everyone just brought their very best to their new role tonight.”
The loss of Neff, in brutal fashion Friday night at home against Iowa State, weighed heavily on the team and Utah’s ability to compete at its best in the wake of that was also a point of pride.
“I think it shows the strength of the character of person on our team,” Dockendorf said. “We have a lot of veterans on our team who have been in that position before, where something like that has happened. And they stepped up, stepped forward and continued on together.”
Defining moment
In a meet where Utah scored a 49.525 on three events — bars, beam and floor — and ran away from the competition, there wasn’t much doubt as to the result.
No single routine decided the meet or clinched the victory. Or even got Utah going in a major way.
But the bars rotation was cited by both Smith and Grace McCallum as being a boost for the Red Rocks. A kickstarter to their strong overall outing.
“Starting off strong, that is our season high this year and it just kind of built momentum for the rest of the meet,” McCallum said.
Utah counted only scores of 9.90 or better on bars, dropping a 9.80 by Winger.
McCallum, Morgan, Padurariu, Smith and Ashley Glynn all hit the 9.9 mark, with McCallum’s 9.925 leading the way.
It was clear, from Smith’s lead off routine onward, that Utah was energized by its early success.
Smith credited the fast start to Utah having fun and taking pressure off of itself. Internal pressure created by the talent level of the team, McCallum noted, but pressure nonetheless.
“I think we were just really having fun and were doing the gymnastics that we worked so hard for in the preseason,” Smith said.
She later added “I think we did a really good job today of taking a step forward.”
Needs work
Dockendorf noted that there is room for improvement for Utah.
Specifically, she cited “we definitely have some details we still need to clean up. Handstands and landings, small little deductions here and there.
Dockendorf added that “the biggest thing is to see this team grow in confidence and grow as a family together. And step up for one another and I think that is going to carry us a long way this season.”
Realistically, Utah wasn’t as great as its score indicated Monday.
Call it home cooking (even though the competition was at the Maverik Center), one of those nights in college gymnastics. Whatever really — Utah benefitted from generous scoring.
The details that Dockendorf mentioned Utah needing to work on weren’t deducted consistently during the competition. And there were routines on every event that were over-scored.
On bars, handstands were a struggle at times. In multiple routines. On beam, small balance checks made appearances. On floor, there was a lack of control on landings. And on vault, a lack of sticks, often due to under-rotation.
Other deductions existed too as Utah is clearly still rounding into form less than a month into the season.
On Monday, there weren’t any glaring major mistakes made, for the most part. But a lot of little ones — some which Utah was penalized for and others that the Red Rocks got away with.
That’s encouraging
Inflated scores don’t take away from the strong performances that Utah did have, however.
And there were plenty of good to great individual performances.
Smith had a pair of standout routines, on floor and on vault.
Sticking her vault has been a struggle for Smith throughout her time at Utah, to start this season especially.
Smith stuck it emphatically Monday night, though.
“Oh it felt really really good,” she said. “We’ve been working to get me to bend my knees. I was very happy that I actually did that today. It was awesome.”
Smith also showed improved control on floor. At times in her Red Rock career she has lacked control when landing her tumbling passes. Not Monday, however. Another show of improvement for the junior all-arounder.
“If she is in her element, just vibing in her own world, she is going to have a fantastic night,” Dockendorf said. “Makenna works so hard every single day. She comes in and has a great attitude. She is encouraging her teammates. And she loves to compete and have a crowd. I think she was vibing tonight.”
Smith wasn’t the only Red Rock to impress.
Winger made her all-around debut and was effective on floor (her first time competing the event this season). She also remained one of Utah’s best gymnasts on beam, her aggressiveness on the event paying off.
Padurariu wasn’t perfect on either event she competed — bars and beam, but her performances were notable, nonetheless.
She led off Utah’s beam lineup with a strong showing, only her dismount really taking away from her effort. And on bars, she was arguably Utah’s second best gymnast (either her or Glynn) behind McCallum.
Glynn, meanwhile, continues to come into her own for Utah. Competing three events for the second straight meet, Glynn was solid nearly every time she competed, performances that would have earned good scores regardless of the judges. On Monday, that meant a 9.9 on bars, a 9.9 on floor and a 9.85 on vault.
Most encouraging for Dockendorf was the confidence her team showed. Confidence that she believes should only grow thanks to the score Utah put up.
“This is definitely going to give us some confidence going forward,” she said. “(Our score) ties the highest team score by any team this year and to do that early on (in the season)... definitely elevates our confidence moving forward.”