Transfer Abby Brenner wants to get Utes off on the right foot at NCAA Championships

Utah gymnast Abby Brenner has a challenge for her teammates: make her irrelevant.

The Utah senior wants her floor score to be so low, compared to her teammates, it is forgotten, eliminated, tossed out and thrown in the trash like a worn grip.

If that happens, Brenner will know she has done her job for the Utes in the NCAA Championships. The Utes start their championship bid on the floor, which puts Brenner under pressure as the leadoff gymnast. Brenner, a fifth-year transfer from Michigan, had a similar role for the Wolverines, although she couldn’t compete on the floor in 2021 when Michigan won the NCAA title due to a calf injury.

She sees the current opportunity as a great chance to make her mark.

“My mentality is to go out there and start us with a bang,” she said. “I want to set the precedent for the rest of the team but get my score dropped.”

Brenner did a great job of that at the NCAA regionals, scoring a 9.875 to start Utah’s rotation. Indeed that turned out to be the low score as the rest of the lineup went 9.9 or higher to score a 49.6.

Moving Brenner into the leadoff spot looks like one of coach Tom Farden’s best decisions since she uses her experience and savviness to do a remarkable job of selling her routine too. As a member of Utah’s “six-pack” of senior leaders, her score is a challenge for opponents and teammates alike. Often it is the anchors that get most of the praise and attention, but Brenner knows how important her role is and thrives in it.

“She has been the perfect addition for us,” fellow senior Jaedyn Rucker said. “You can see it in her face and the way she dances that she has so much energy and that gives us a lot to build off.”

Brenner’s presence is good for the Utes in itself, but the impact is heightened by the contrasting style of Jaylene Gilstrap, who follows Brenner’s exuberant routine with a more classical one.

It is a one-two punch that makes the judges take notice and dole out big scores. By the time Abby Paulson goes as third up, the Utes are pushing 9.9s.

“Abby’s confidence carries through the rest of the lineup and makes you want to give it your all,” Gilstrap said. “When we have a good start, we know we are just going up from there.”

Freshman Makenna Smith, Jaedyn Rucker and Maile O’Keefe close out the lineup. The Utes would love to have the option of having Grace McCallum in there, too, but the knee injury she suffered earlier in the year is preventing that.

But the rest of the team has minimized her absence.

“It is a testament to how hard they have been working and getting better,” Farden said. “You don’t want to come out with everything you have in January because you can’t come back from being overcooked.”

As the Utes have shown, they aren’t past their prime yet. If anything, they are heating up a little more thanks to their leadoff gymnasts.

“In the beginning of the year we were more hesitant and it wasn’t our best event,” Brenner said. “We had to own into our gymnastics and prove to everyone we are the University of Utah and what we can do.”