Why Utah freshman phenom Avery Neff has the Red Rocks dreaming big

Avery Neff’s debut went just how she imagined it.

“Oh, my goodness,” the freshman gymnast said. “It was a dream come true.”

Literally.

A couple of weeks before the annual Red Rocks Preview, Neff said, she fell asleep and dreamed about performing in front of the crowd at the Huntsman Center for the first time.

When that moment finally arrived, it lived up to the expectations the teen phenom had unconsciously conjured in her mind.

It may have exceeded the expectations of everyone watching.

Neff, the No. 1 recruit in the country in the Class of 2024, opened her night on vault, sprinting down the runway, hitting a roundoff onto the springboard and then laying out for a flip and a 540-degree twist into a blind landing. The vault, a Yurchenko 1.5, is difficult enough to have a start value of 10. Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf called Neff’s attempt “perfect.”

“What an entrance into the Huntsman,” the coach said with a wide smile. “But would she have done it any other way?”

Dockendorf and the Utes will soon find out what Neff can do when the judges’ scores become real. The Red Rocks open their season on Friday when they host Utah State at the Huntsman Center. On Jan. 11, the Red Rocks will be in Oklahoma City for an event with the reigning champion LSU Tigers, the perennial powerhouse Oklahoma Sooners and former Pac-12 foes the California Golden Bears.

It remains to be seen how much Neff will be called upon to do in her first season at the U., but few on the Red Rocks’ roster possess as much potential.

“Just between her character and her quality of gymnastics,” Dockendorf said, “she’s going to be a huge star.”

Neff and fellow freshmen Zoe Johnson, Clara Raposo and Poppy-Grace Stickler each impressed Dockendorf during their debuts at the Red Rocks Preview.

“You can compete at all your club meets your whole life, but to step in this arena knowing that everyone here cares so much about this program is definitely a different kind of pressure,” the coach said.

Neff said that the freshmen cohort has leaned on one another early in their promising careers.

“We’re actually all roommates,” Neff said, “so it makes it so much fun. It’s like a party every day.”

It’s also a support group and a chance to measure themselves against each other.

“We kind of build on it together,” Neff said. “Us coming in as freshmen, we know there’s pressure on us and just evaluating it together is really cool.”

A Utah native who went to Bingham High School, Neff knows better than most the pressure that comes with being a Red Rock. She grew up coming to meets at the Huntsman Center, cheering for Utah stars Baely Rowe and Georgia Dabritz.

“All of those girls that I looked up to, they really left a legacy at Utah,” she said. “I know that … I can leave a legacy like all these amazing athletes and girls before me.”

Dockendorf knows her young star can do that, too.

“She truly works hard every single day,” the coach said. “She’s definitely a talented gymnast. But she doesn’t take that for granted. She comes in every single day and competes. She’s an amazing teammate. She supports everybody in the gym. She’s so encouraging.”

And she’s living out her dream.

As the ute gymnasts huddled ahead of the floor event during last month’s showcase, Neff became overcome with excitement as she realized she was about to join in a cheer entrenched in Red Rock tradition.

“Are we doing ‘Who Rocks the House!?’” Neff asked her veteran teammates.

“It was so precious,” fifth-year senior Jaylene Gilstrap said.

So in the moments after her Huntsman Center debut, Neff was still buzzing as she discussed the night.

“It was the greatest,” she said. “I felt like I was on cloud nine the whole night. I couldn’t get the smile off my face.”

If Neff can live up to her potential, the Red Rocks will be smiling — and dreaming — even bigger.

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