FORT WORTH, Texas — The national championship meet, and the opportunity to win a 10th NCAA national title, awaits Utah gymnastics after the Red Rocks finished first in their national semifinal of the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships late Thursday night.
Saturday afternoon at Dickies Arena, Utah will compete against Oklahoma, UCLA and Missouri in a winner-take-all competition for the title of best women’s college gymnastics team in the country.
It has been more than 30 years (1995) since the Red Rocks last brought a national championship back to Salt Lake City, and this might be their best chance yet to end the drought.
Of the remaining teams, only Oklahoma (No. 2) is seeded higher than Utah (No. 4). Two of the top three seeds in the tournament — LSU and Florida — were upset during Thursday’s semifinals. Utah has already defeated UCLA three times this year, including Thursday night, and No. 7 seed Missouri is in its first-ever national championship competition.
Even the Sooners, the most recent dynasty in the sport, haven’t looked unbeatable. It could, at long last, be Utah’s year.
Before the national championship meet, though, the Red Rocks have some unfinished business. Not gymnastics related, but rather involving Easter baskets and families in real need.
On Friday, their “day off” between nationals competitions, which is typically reserved for light and relaxing activities and a lot of rest, the Red Rocks are headed to the Ronald McDonald House in Dallas to volunteer.
The theme is Easter, as the Red Rocks — gymnasts and coaches alone — will be handing out baskets to families in need ahead of the holiday on Sunday.
Why is Utah gymnastics volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House?
A year ago, Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf had the Friday between meets at the 2024 NCAA women’s gymnastics championships all planned out.
Traditionally, Utah has used the day off between competitions at nationals as sort of a vacation day. The team tries to do an activity together in an attempt to get the gymnasts out of their beds and the hotel for at least a few hours. Rest and recovery are important, but gymnasts in bed all day isn’t ideal either.
“We just try to do something to get up and moving,” fifth-year senior Jaylene Gilstrap said. “That’s our goal. It’s never something super big.”
One year, for instance, the gymnasts went to the Fort Worth Stockyards with their families for a couple of hours. To shop and take in the iconic “Cattle Drive.”
Last year Dockendorf orchestrated a tour of AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys. It was supposed to be an exciting and interesting distraction, only it proved too much for the Red Rocks.
“It took a lot to get that all planned out and sorted,” Dockendorf said. “And then when the day came, they were like, ‘That’s just too much for us to do. We can’t do it.’”
Said Gilstrap: “That was pretty far of a drive (to Arlington) and we were all kind of tired, so they backed it off.”
Ahead of this year’s national championships, Dockendorf didn’t want to plan something that the Red Rocks wouldn’t want to do. Not again. So she thought about what this Utah team cares about the most?
She settled on volunteer work.
“I just started thinking about, you know, what does this team care about?” Dockendorf said. “And this team truly cares about community and using their platform in the right way to give back. They’re just such servant leaders, both in our program and in our community. So I just kind of suggested, well, ‘What if we do some kind of community service thing in our day off? That’s what you love doing, and you’ve done a lot of it this year.’”
The response was immediate. The Red Rocks were in.
Gilstrap was put in charge of organizing it — she and teammates Elizabeth Gantner and Ashley Glynn have been volunteering at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City so it was in her wheelhouse— and orchestrated an hour of volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House, celebrating Easter with children and their families.
“We talked about giving back, especially because it is Easter weekend,” Gilstrap said.
Making Easter weekend special
The NCAA gymnastics championships don’t traditionally fall on Easter weekend, but it does happen on occasion. Many of the Red Rocks are very rooted in faith, be it through mainline Protestant denominations or nondenominational churches or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
That they have to compete Easter weekend isn’t ideal to some — junior Ana Padurariu was most concerned that her church in Salt Lake City is hosting an Easter service at the Huntsman Center and it isn’t clear if Utah will be back from Texas in time for her and a few other Red Rocks, including Gilstrap, to attend — but it is also seen as a positive.
“I think it is a blessing in a way,” Padurariu said. “Because you just know how blessed the days are leading up to (Easter). ... At least in my Elite (gymnastics) career, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m competing on a Sunday, it’s going to be a good day.’”
For Gilstrap, competing Easter weekend is nothing but a blessing.
“I think (the NCAA gymnastics championships have happened Easter weekend) one other time during my career, but I think it’s just a good opportunity,” she said. “When I compete I really bring the Lord into everything I do, with prayer and everything. So it’s just another chance to show appreciation (to the Lord), to preach and give prayer, giving him a little extra love and support.”
That it is Easter weekend only makes the Red Rocks’ volunteer efforts that much more meaningful, which is what Dockendorf wanted.
In her tenure as head coach, she has emphasized to her team frequently that they are more than just gymnasts. It can be easy to forget that, especially as the team contends for yet another national championship (Utah currently has the longest running streak of qualifications to nationals in the NCAA with 49 straight trips and has the longest running streak of qualifications to the Four on the Floor with five straight trips).
Volunteering has been an effective way to remind the Red Rocks that they are much more than what they put on display for people on the competition floor.
“(When I’m volunteering), I’m the girl in the green shirt that brings toys or makes slime with the kids. I’m the one who puts a smile on their faces,” Gilstrap said about her volunteer work at Primary Children’s Hospital. “So my identity is not gymnastics. It’s a very refreshing atmosphere to be in, and it’s just nice to know that even though I’m not super scientific and couldn’t necessarily go into the medical field, I’m making an impact in some way.”
The Red Rocks are sure to make an impact Friday in the lives of those at the Ronald McDonald house, and then it will be back to gymnastics on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT. And maybe, just maybe, this will be the year when Utah will climb the mountaintop again. It is Easter weekend after all.