A new banner will soon hang from the Huntsman Center rafters.
And this one — the school’s first Big 12 championship ever — will be historic.
The No. 4 Red Rocks claimed the conference’s regular season gymnastics title with their 198.075-197.525 victory over Denver on Friday.
“I think it’s really important to celebrate it,” Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf said. “I mean, they worked really hard for that conference championship. I mean, that’s huge [to be] the first program at Utah to win the Big 12 championship title. We have to celebrate all our wins. This was a great win for us tonight.”
Utah senior Grace McCallum, who finished as the meet’s all-around leader, has won an Olympic silver medal. However, after having to share a few Pac-12 championships, McCallum was proud to claim the new Big 12 hardware outright.
“I think it’s really cool to win the first Big 12 championship title in our first year as part of the Big 12,” she said. “Just after the last three years of me being here, we’ve had to share the Pac-12 title. So to finally have it on our own, it feels really good.”
A meet full of season-highs
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf, top row fourth from right, speaks to her team during a college gymnastics meet against BYU, Utah State and Southern Utah in West Valley City, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.
Utah arguably had its best performance of the 2025 season on Friday, eclipsing a 198 score for the first time.
The Red Rocks had a pair of season-high scores on the balance beam (49.575) and floor routines (49.600). Things are clearly trending in the right direction at the right time with nationals and the Big 12 tournament on the horizon.
“It feels really good to get the 198,” McCallum said. “I feel like we put in a lot of hard work and to see it finally start coming together, I feel like it’s been a long time coming. We’ve had the pieces we need, and we just fall short. So to finally have that happen, I mean, it’s unreal. It’s a good feeling.”
Last week, the Red Rocks struggled on beam at Arizona State. They fell twice during the routine. Their deductions resulted in Utah’s lowest overall score (196.600) in a meet since Jan. 17, 2021.
On Friday, they got back on track with a season-best performance.
“I am really proud of them,” Dockendorf said. “I mean, they’ve been working so hard. … For them to put it all together in a meet is just, I think, honestly, the start of what this team is capable of. It takes four events. Can’t be great on three events and expect a 198.”
McCallum added: “I just wanted to approach the beam this week differently from last week. I wanted to approach it with confidence and just have no doubt in myself and have fun up there. I feel like, when I take it too seriously, that some little unusual mistakes happen.”
With only two weeks remaining until the postseason, the Red Rocks hope this is a sign they’re putting it all together. For so long Dockendorf has talked about sticking to the process, not focusing on scoring and peaking at the right time.
“I feel like we’re on the up, and we’re on the climb,” sophomore Ella Zirbes said. “We obviously had a rough patch last week, but rather get it done then, then in a [later] meet. I feel like we just keep getting closer as a team and finding more out about ourselves and how it makes us more successful.”
Avery Neff added back to beam lineup
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah's Avery Neff on vault at Utah Gymnastics' Red Rocks Preview, NCAA gymnastics in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024.
Utah star freshman Avery Neff turned heads three weeks ago after returning to Utah’s lineup three weeks ago on uneven bars.
The former No. 1 recruit suffered a pair of severe ankle sprains a month ago versus Iowa State.
As part of her quick recovery, Neff’s now added the balance beam back to her repertoire. She scored a 9.9 in her return to the event, and it wasn’t even her normal routine.
“To see Avery back out there — this was her first week practicing full routines, so this would have been her fourth day of full routines — that just speaks to the quality of athletes she is,” Dockendorf said. “To be able to have that kind of mindset to go up there. She probably did 12 routines in total before today. To score a 9.9 in her first routine back with new skills — I mean, that combination she did that‘s not what she was doing before, and so that was new as well.”
Dockendorf also didn’t rule out Neff’s return to the all-around.
“Her training is coming along really well,” Dockendorf said of Neff. “We’re monitoring it day by day, and as we keep adding a little bit more, we just keep making sure that we’re not having to take steps back because she’s more sore. [The more she adds] the more she keeps saying, ‘I feel better and better,’ so I definitely wouldn’t count her out for adding in more events moving forward.”
What’s Next?
The Red Rocks will get the next week off before they travel to Washington for a March 8 meet in Seattle.
