Carly Dockendorf likes to call gymnastics “flips and tricks.”
The head coach of the University of Utah’s women’s gymnastics team is a former collegiate gymnast herself, well accustomed to doing flips and tricks, though she doesn’t do many, if any, now.
Squint a little bit during Utah’s three-team meet against Florida and West Virginia on Sunday afternoon, though, and you may have thought Dockendorf was back in her flips and tricks era.
Immediately after Utah junior Ana Padurariu stuck her dismount at the end of her routine on balance beam Sunday in Morgantown, West Virginia, Dockendorf went airborne in a moment of pure elation.
“I jumped up really high,” Dockendorf said with a laugh. “... I was so excited for her.”
There were multiple moments of jubilation in Morgantown for the Red Rocks:
- The aforementioned Padurariu beam routine.
- Makenna Smith’s vault and Grace McCallum’s too, albeit for a different reason.
- Ella Zirbes’ routine on floor exercise and Amelie Morgan’s uneven bars routine.
There were also many moments Utah left tenths of a point on the floor, moments the Red Rocks would like to have back. It was that kind of meet, where Utah displayed some of its potential for greatness while being undermined by some of the increasingly usual mistakes.
Utah finished second overall in the three-team meet with a score of 197.425. Florida won the competition with a 197.575, while West Virginia finished a distant third with a 195.475.
The Red Rocks were excellent on beam (49.525) and great on bars (49.300) but left something to be desired on floor (49.375) and vault (49.225).
“Overall I was pleased with their performance,” Dockendorf said. “To travel all the way over here (to West Virginia) and have our second-highest scoring performance of the year (behind only the 197.975 it put up at Best of Utah, on the road, I think that that was a real positive for us.
“We were a little bit flat in some areas tonight. We gave some tenths away on some landings, but our team did a really good job staying focused on our team the whole night and I thought they did an excellent job of competing all the way to the very last routine. We didn’t ever give up or start going through the motions. We really stayed focused all the way through the last routine.”
On the road, in a new environment, it was a good showing for the Red Rocks, albeit one that showed Utah still has a ways to go.
Defining moment
The meet turned for Utah during the uneven bars rotation. It ultimately proved too late to catch up to Florida, as prior to that rotation the Red Rocks were flat, lacking in energy on the events— floor and vault — where it is most needed.
Once they got to bars, though, things started to turn in Utah’s favor.
Outside of Smith’s lead off routine, every gymnast scored at least a 9.825, and the trio of McCallum, Morgan and Zirbes closed out the rotation in impressive fashion with back-to-back-to-back 9.875s.
But it was on beam where Utah made its mark in the competition.
It started with Padurariu. The UCLA transfer had struggled through the first month of the season to stick her landings, on either event she competes — bars or beam.
She finally nailed the stick on beam dismount, though, and was rewarded with a 9.925 that sparked Utah’s final rotation to a 49.5-plus score — the mark of an elite rotation.
It was a long time coming for Padurariu, not too far removed from being one of the best beam workers in the world.
“She has been working so hard on that dismount,” Dockendorf said. “It is tough sometimes to stay patient in the process, and she has really had to work with that and not get frustrated with it not coming together sooner.
“For her to put it together, I was so excited for her ... to put an entire routine together.”
After Padurariu’s routine, no Utah gymnast earned a score lower than a 9.850. McCallum, Morgan and Camie Winger all received a 9.90 or better for their efforts.
The rotation was good enough to give Utah a fighting chance at catching Florida in the end, even if the gap between the Gators and Utes ultimately proved insurmountable.
Needs work
Utah was not at its best, though, for at least half of the competition.
The Red Rocks started the meet on floor and lacked their usual energy or something close to it. Add in the fact that floor has been Utah’s weakest event so far this season, and the showing was especially underwhelming, even though Smith and McCallum both had routines score 9.90 or better.
Most of that had to do with the little mistakes that added up. Winger stepped out during her routine — the only major mistake of the day on floor — but multiple gymnasts struggled for control on the landings of their tumbling passes and Dockendorf noted that the team needs to work on better transitioning to the dance elements of their routines following tumbling passes.
Utah was, to put it simply, not sharp for much of the floor rotation, which led to deductions.
“It is really about the details right now and it adds up,” Dockendorf said. “... Those are small things we can definitely fix and they are not permanent deductions we are going to have all year.”
On vault, sticks were hard to come by. Smith, for the third straight competition, was excellent, but she was alone in really handling her landing.
Zirbes came close, but the judges found other errors and she got a 9.775. Ashley Glynn got great height on her effort but under rotated her vault and took a step back.
Morgan over rotated hers, as did McCallum and Jaylene Gilstrap, leading to steps forward.
The Red Rocks simply weren’t close to exact on an event that requires exactness more than any other.
That’s encouraging
There were plenty of reasons for Utah to walk away excited, though, even on events they struggled with.
On floor, Zirbes competed her entire routine without a pause or delay. Performance anxiety had led to her removal from the lineup the last two meets and prior to that she had struggled to finish her routine multiple times.
Back in the lineup she did what she couldn’t before, a major improvement for her.
“We were all extremely proud of Ella today,” Dockendorf said. “That was a huge step for her. Performance anxiety is a real thing in every sport, and for her I thought that showed a lot of courage to get out there.
“She is still working through a lot of things, but to take that step and go out and do her routine even being a little bit uncomfortable, I thought that was really impressive for her.”
McCallum’s vault was also a real source of excitement. She over rotated and had too much power, but it was her best Yurchenko 1.5 in multiple seasons now, going back to her sophomore year.
Week-after-week, McCallum is getting better on vault, a major bright spot for Utah, and she continues to be Utah’s best overall gymnast, finishing Sunday with a team-high 39.575 in the all-around competition.
Smith continues to be on a tear of late as well.
Her vault routine was excellent, her beam routine great and her floor routine good. She didn’t lead off the floor lineup for Utah — Glynn took on that role — and it was a decision made to try to maximize the score Smith could get.
“We really feel like she may benefit from high scores being deeper (in the lineup),” Dockendorf said.
It may not be a permanent move, but it paid off for Utah on Sunday. Making Smith’s outing all the more impressive is she was sick, and as a result lacking in her usual energy.
Go down the list and almost every Red Rock had a routine that was at or close to their top end potential — proving that they can compete at their best — and the beam and bars rotations showed that Utah can be elite on multiple events, which is essential for competing at a championships level.