The 12th-ranked Utah’s gymnastics team locked up its second straight Big 12 regular season title Sunday with a 197.200-196.100 victory over No. 21 Denver.
The Red Rocks, who are undefeated in Big 12 meets, put together a solid effort that resulted in their highest score outside of Utah this year.
“Regular season champions for the Big 12, and that’s a big deal. You know, it really is,” said Utah coach Carly Dockendorf after the meet.
Utah gymnasts won all the individual event titles, highlighted by Avery Neff’s 9.95s on bars and beam and Ella Zirbes’ 9.95 on floor, which ties her career high.
Makenna Smith won vault with a 9.925, and Neff also added another all-around win to her resume with a 39.650.
Utah didn’t have the sharpness we’ve seen in its last two home meets at beginning of Sunday’s matchup, taking a bit to get going while facing an uphill battle with a lot of low scores flying all meet.
On its first event, bars, the Red Rocks counted a 9.775 by Clara Raposo after dropping Abbi Ryssman’s 9.725, which was an uncharacteristic score for the freshman.
But the final three gymnasts were able to find success, with Ella Zirbes hitting a 9.875 and Ana Padurariu recording a 9.9 to set up Neff nicely as Utah finished what is typically its best event with a 49.325.
Utah suffered from the landing bug on vault in its second rotation. The Red Rocks also didn’t get any breaks from the judges when it came to the scores, with Ella Zirbes’ 9.725, Zoe Johnson’s 9.825 and Avery Neff’s 9.875 all seemingly low.
“I was really proud of how we just stayed focused on our own team tonight,” said Dockendorf. “Not gonna lie, some of the scoring was interesting. I’ll use that word.”
Smith was the only Red Rock to score in the 9.9s as the team finished with a 49.150 for its lowest event score in the meet, though the overall score still had Utah ahead of the Pioneers and the Red Rocks sped away in the third event, floor.
Floor was Utah’s best showing Sunday with a 49.45 led by Zirbes, who was followed by 9.925s from Smith and Sage Curtis to close things out.
It was Curtis’ best showing this season as the freshman continues to get better each meet in the anchor position.
Beam was the final rotation for Utah, and the Red Rocks finished at 49.275, which included only Neff going 9.9 or higher. There were a few tiny balance checks or tiny steps on landings, but it was probably the tightest scored event in the meet.
While there were a lot of positives in the win, including the highest away score, another conference title and hitting 24 of 24 routines, there is still room for improvement, Dockendorf admitted.
Utah has two regular season meets left to make those improvements.
“We need to continue to just keep moving forward, eliminating some of the small little deductions, continuing to not replicate the same mistakes week after week,” Dockendorf said.
The other focus will be on finalizing the lineups, as the exhibition routines were strong in the meet, showing the coveted sixth spot is still up for grabs in a few events.
“I think it also talks to the depth of our team that we have the ability to still put other people in,” Dockendorf explained. “But yeah, we definitely would like to settle into our lineups. We are getting closer and closer to that.”
Event winners
All-Around — Avery Neff (Utah); 39.65
Vault — Makenna Smith (Utah); 9.925
Bars — Avery Neff (Utah); 9.95
Beam — Avery Neff (Utah); 9.95
Floor — Ella Zirbes (Utah); 9.95
Next up
Utah competes in the Huntsman Center for the last time this season when it hosts West Virginia and No. 24 BYU Saturday at 3 p.m.