Utah gymnastics coach Carly Dockendorf is ready to turn up the intensity.
The Red Rocks have had a strong start to their 2025 campaign. At their peak, they tied No. 1 Oklahoma’s nation-high score of 197.950 at last month’s Best of Utah meet.
Utah posted its best score in its floor routine this season during its win versus Arizona last week. Now, the Red Rocks are top 10 in every team category in the nation.
But Utah’s head coach knows there’s even more room to grow.
Dockendorf and the Red Rocks' end goal is to win their 11th national championship for the first time in 30 years.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah Red Rocks’ Ella Zirbes competes on the floor during a gymnastics meet against Arizona at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, February. 7, 2025. The University of Utah won.
“I feel like we took a big step forward on Friday,” Dockendorf said of her team’s win over Arizona. “We really implemented some of the changes we’ve been making in practice in that competition, and that’s exactly what we asked the team to do this week. We’ve implemented some more stick stuff in our practice and in our training.
“We as coaches really have to take accountability and make sure that we’re providing the training that they need to make those changes in competition, and so we feel like we’re going to keep chipping away at some of those details.”
Part of Utah’s ascension is finding consistency on vault. The Red Rocks currently rank at No. 6 in the nation in that category, one spot above what they finished last season.
They clocked a 49.275 against Arizona last week. Makenna Smith finished with a season-high 9.975 on vault.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah Red Rocks’ Makenna Smith performs on the floor during a gymnastics meet against Arizona at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, February. 7, 2025. The University of Utah won.
Dockendorf credits Utah’s improvement to assistant coach Mike Hunger, who was hired in 2024.
“He is the vault G.O.A.T,” Dockendorf said, dubbing the former USA National Team coach the “greatest of all time.” “He’s very patient with the process. He doesn’t like to skip steps. He doesn’t like to just get to the end result of focusing on the landing and the stick. He really is methodical about his approach. And I think that we’ve been seeing that in their vaults each week. The vaults are getting a little bit bigger, a little bit cleaner, and the landings are going to continue to come.”
Utah is also in search of fewer deductions in all four routines.
A few gymnasts struggled to stick their landings against Arizona. Dockendorf hopes that will change, as the Red Rocks focus on it more during practice.
“I think we’re just emphasizing it more in training, and we feel like we’re at that point you can’t just get to the landing without being able to do a confident routine,” Dockendorf said. “That’s where we’ve been building on and now we really feel we’re at the point where we’re gonna kind of custom our programs around the landings and making that an emphasis.”
While still focusing on the process, the Red Rocks' are taking pride in where they’re at so far this season. They finished third in the NCAA Championships last season.
With steady improvement, Utah could finally be on track to the top of the podium.
“It’s definitely a reflection of our coaching staff and the work that they put in,” Dockendorf said. “We ask our athletes to bring a level of excellence every single day, and our coaches hold themselves to that same standard. I think those results just show that.”
Up next
No. 4 Utah at. No. 24 Arizona State
Friday, 7 p.m.
Streaming: ESPN+
