The best college gymnasts are on national TV this weekend. It’s an ‘important moment’ for the Utes and the sport.

Carly Dockendorf remembers the time when she felt lucky to be televised on the Pac-10 Network.

As a gymnast at Washington, Utah’s future head coach was a second-team All-American and two-time All-Pac-10 nominee. But how many people knew it? Rarely, if ever, would college programs earn national TV attention. Meets were sometimes held with sparse crowds in massive arenas.

Two decades later, that has all changed.

On Saturday, the No. 4 Red Rocks will face off against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU and No. 6 Cal in the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Oklahoma City. The meet will be broadcast on ABC, which shows how far the sport has come since Dockendorf was an athlete.

“To see the sport continue to grow, especially with the amount of meets that are on ESPN this year — in the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten — everywhere and on ABC, I think it’s just massive for our sport in general,” Dockendorf said this week.

Whether you’re a diehard fan, a “little, rec gymnast that’s dreaming of being a Ute one day” or a competitor, Dockendorf said, “it’s a (great) opportunity for these amazing young women to be on the national scene in January.”

During the 2024 Paris Olympics, NBC’s live daytime broadcast of the women’s gymnastics team final averaged 12.7 million viewers, which was more than a lone game of the 2024 NBA Finals or the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, according to USA Today.

Former superstar Red Rock and 1988 Olympian Missy Marlowe was a star during her time as a gymnast in Salt Lake City. By her junior and senior year, Marlowe and the Red Rocks were easily selling out the 15,000-seat Huntsman Center with rowdy fans.

But Marlowe said she never participated in a collegiate meet that was shown on national television this early in the season.

“This is taking it to another level, especially this early in the season,” Marlowe told The Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s a very high pressure situation, because even though the teams might downplay it and say, ‘Oh, well, we want to see where we’re at. We want to see how things are going.’ Anytime you’ve got matchups like this, you want to look really, really good.

“Especially with this kind of exposure, it’s great for the sport.”

With heightened attention, superstars are born.

At the college ranks, LSU’s Livvy Dunne has become a social-media icon and one of the top women’s athlete earners for Name, Image and Likeness in her five seasons with the Tigers. Her mother, Katherine Dunne, said the fifth-year senior always wants to use her platform to enhance the sport.

Being on ABC gives her another chance to do that.

“I think it’s an important moment for women’s gymnastics,” Katherine told The Tribune. “I think coming off of an Olympic year there’s extra enthusiasm for the sport, and I think it will continue to give it the recognition that these women deserve.

“When Olivia started social media, she always wanted to try to bring more eyeballs to the sport of college gymnastics. It’s really gratifying for her to see the appetite for it grow and the audience grow more and more each year.”

Former Oklahoma star gymnast Maggie Nichols became a star in the sport with Sooners from 2016-2020. She has since stepped away from gymnastics, but said she always gets excited to see the sport thriving.

Nichols thinks that having the broadcast will not only bring in more fans from the sport, but it will also give the four programs, including Utah, a chance to showcase their routines at a high level.

“I just feel like, since I’ve been done, the media attention is even bigger now,” Nichols said. “That’s what those girls deserve. They put in hours in the gym. They work so hard, and they deserve that media time. And I just think people are going to realize how incredible the sport is from it being on bigger networks.”

Nichols is especially excited to watch Utah freshman and former five-star recruit Avery Neff showcase her talents to a national audience this weekend.

As a freshman, Neff has already competed in the Red Rocks all-around rotation once this season.

“She’s absolutely incredible,” Nichols said of Neff. “She’s catching everybody’s eye. Her gymnastics is so beautiful. She has a lot of unique skills, which is really exciting to see. And it just looks like she’s really enjoying herself, and she’s confident, and she’s happy to be at Utah and be an NCAA gymnast, which is really amazing to see. I think she has so much to look forward to. She has so many incredible opportunities coming her way.”

This week, Neff acknowledged she has nerves heading into Oklahoma City, but said she’s excited about her first opportunity to perform in front of a national audience — and to do it against some of the top programs in the entire country.

“I’m definitely nervous about it,” Neff said. “But I think nerves are a good thing that shows that it matters, that you care about it. But I think I’m just trying to focus on myself and the team and not kind of get caught up in everything. Because at the end of the day, if you’re too focused on everything else, you’re not going to do what you know how to do.”

As the Red Rocks prepare for their pivotal meet, Dockendorf has a chance to get an early glimpse of where her team is compared to other national championship contenders.

But, beyond that, it’s an opportunity to embrace how far women’s gymnastics has come and how much more it can grow.

And that’s what makes Saturday’s early-season bout so special.

“It’s just amazing for women’s gymnastics,” Dockendorf said. “I think you can continue to see that numbers are increasing for viewership for our sport and the Olympics. More and more people are following along. And to be on ABC, at this time of year and then also at nationals is just incredible.”