It was a fast start to the season for the Utah gymnastics team with three meets in 11 days to kick off 2026.
Then, the script flipped leaving the Red Rocks with an even bigger time lapse between their next meet.
The practice time has been focused on lineups and preparing for the first out-of-state meet, which pits No. 12 Utah against Iowa State, a team ranked outside of the top 50.
Utah will benefit from starting with its two hottest events in bars and vault in Sunday’s meet that begins at 3 p.m. MST. The Red Rocks rank fourth on bars and second on vault while boasting the nation’s highest score on both events in 49.675 and 49.6, respectively.
“I think it will really boost our energy to begin the meet (on bars and vault). But again, it’s just, you know, it doesn’t matter the rotation, we still have to just go and do our job,” said Utah coach Carly Dockendorf.
Utah has had some inconsistencies so far, ranking 31st on beam and 17th on floor but some of this can be attributed to a bulk of new routines across these lineups.
Vault
The tables seem to have turned for Utah’s vaulters who have seen success across their three meets. It’s an event that has given the Red Rocks some headaches in recent years, with sprinkles of individual highlights along the bumpy path.
“It’s such a volatile event that can go really good, or it can go south really fast because it’s one skill, one landing, and so it’s magnified,” explained assistant coach Mike Hunger.
Hunger was hired in May of 2024 to come in and focus on vault while also helping elsewhere. He’s a veteran club coach who started Twin City Twisters in Minnesota, the club behind Utah All-American and Olympian medalist Grace McCallum, and Utah All-American and U.S. Senior National team member Abby Paulson among many others.
“Mike’s a very veteran coach,” said Utah senior Makenna Smith. “He knows so much about vault and is passionate about it. His passion has bled into us.
“His understanding of vault and how he can dissect it down to a frame-by-frame picture—he tells you exactly about the one little thing that’ll change the whole trajectory on vault.”
Sometimes lost is the uniqueness of vault, in that it really is one big skill versus several skills that comprise the other three events. That leaves little room to cover the misstep.
Hunger has always been a fan of vault and Utah gymnastics. He cheered on many Utah meets while his daughter Breanna Hughes competed for the Red Rocks from 2013-2016, reminiscing about the electric back-to-back 10.0s on the event by Tory Wilson and Georgia Dabritz in 2015.
“Vault has been my world for the last 20 years. As a club owner, I kept hiring coaches that wanted to coach bars, wanted to coach floor. I never hired anybody who wanted to coach vault, so I became the de facto vault coach.”
While Hunger is a big driver for the growth on vault, he admits he was dealt a nice hand.
“They gave me some pretty good (gymnasts) to work with so that never hurts,” laughed Hunger. “We have a lot of really good, natural vaulters and they put in the work. We also have the most carry over for our lineups from last season, so we’ve been able to keep working together.”
Building on each other’s success was most evident in the Sprouts Quad Meet earlier this month where Utah hit the nation-high score. The collective effort was outstanding and was capped by gymnast Avery Neff and Hunger’s first collegiate 10.0.
Adding to it, Utah’s scoring depth has also increased with Hunger confident that seven vaulters could compete their 10.0 starting value on “any given day” with two others close.
Meet notes
Neff has changed her beam routine after it resulted in a couple of judging conferences and lower scores. Neff had trained her leap sequence well in the preseason, but it hasn’t translated consistently in competition.
Dockendorf wanted to give Neff a better scoring opportunity but promised the routine still includes some uniqueness.
To prepare for the new arena this weekend, Dockendorf said her staff printed out pictures of the facility to help the team visualize the setting.
Freshman Abbi Ryssman is coming off Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors after posting career bests on beam (9.9) and bars (9.925) in the Best of Utah meet.
Around the state
All four collegiate teams in Utah rank in the top 25 after three weeks. Behind Utah is No. 22 BYU, No. 23 Utah State and No. 25 Southern Utah.
BYU travels to Arizona State Friday. Utah State has a busy weekend, hosting San Jose State Friday before competing at Oregon State Sunday. Southern Utah doesn’t compete again until Feb. 1.