Avery Neff had one tumbling pass to go.
The star freshman sprinted into the final act of her floor routine and flipped into the air.
As she landed, Neff took a fall on the mat and immediately grabbed her left ankle, writhing in pain.
The air was sucked out of the thousands of Red Rock fans in attendance.
Minutes went by as Neff was tended to by Utah’s medical staff. She was later carried into the tunnel, marring an otherwise excellent night as No. 4 Utah’s 197.3-194.350 win over Iowa State on Friday night.
“Obviously, at this time, we don’t have any answers on Avery,” Utah head women’s gymnastics coach Carly Dockendorf said after the meet.
“Definitely sitting here with a mixture of emotions right now. What an amazing three-quarters of our meet there, and I was just feeling so good about everything we had done. This is the tough part about sports anywhere on any team, and it’s just it’s hard to watch.”
Neff’s injury caused multiple Red Rock gymnasts to break down in tears.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Red Rocks team mates congratulate Ana Padurariu after her performance on the beam, during Big12 Gymnastics meet against Iowa State, at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, on Friday, Jan 17, 2025. .
Her parents, Brandon and Tonya Neff, later made their way into the tunnel with concerned looks on their faces.
Redshirt senior Jaylene Gilstrap had to follow Neff’s injury with her floor routine. She clocked a 9.9.
She said it was hard to see one of her teammates go down. It was even harder to follow up with her floor routine.
Right after, Grace McCallum ended Utah’s floor rotation with a 9.9 of her own.
“I would say it’s just a part of gymnastics,” Gilstrap said. “We’ve all seen it ... but we have each other’s back. That’s the whole point of six up six go, we have each other’s back. We’re one family here, and we genuinely care about each and every one of us. We just keep that in the forefront of our brain, and we know how to do our gymnastics, so that comes easy, but the support is what gets us through.”
Neff’s injury is a big blow to Utah’s lineup moving forward. The star freshman took first on vault and beam against the Cyclones, scoring 9.9 and a career-high 9.925, respectively.
Dockendorf was impressed with her team’s composure to finish the final floor routines of the meet.
“I don’t even think it has anything to do with how much success she’s had,” Dockendorf said. “If anybody on the team goes down, it’s just hard to watch. But this is still a sport. We still have to get up and finish the rotation.”
If Neff’s injury is serious, Utah’s head coach must carry that mentality into the rest of the season.
Through just three meets, Neff was already becoming a mainstay in all four events.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Ana Padurariu performs on the beam, during Big12 Gymnastics meet against Iowa State, at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, on Friday, Jan 17, 2025. .
“I thought that various people stepped up and made sure that the next person going was ready mentally and they were focused,” Dockendorf said. “It is easy to get distracted and to let the emotions kind of take over, but we still had to finish the meet, and I thought they did a really good job of keeping their composure and still stepping up and finishing the way that they wanted to.”
With Neff’s status still up in the air, the Red Rocks can still hope for good news down the road.
At the end of the night, Neff took time to post on her Instagram story.
“God’s Plan >>>,” it said.
That, for now, is the only thing Utah fans can read into regarding the status of the star freshman.
