Carly Dockendorf pulled her team aside, and didn’t mince any words.
She’s heard the excuses. She understands the hype surrounding No. 5 Utah’s season. The Red Rocks' head coach also feels the pressure that comes with trying capture the program’s 11th national championship.
“We’ve done a lot of talking,” Dockendorf said. “They know exactly what they need to do. They know the energy level they need to bring it to, but they need to just do it now. And at the end, when we circled up, I feel like we’ve said kind of what we need to say. Now it’s really up to them to kind of look at each other and say, like, ‘Hey, what do we need to step up do what we know we’re capable of?‘”
Coming off a bye week, the Red Rocks defeated the Huskies 197.225 to 195.875 over the weekend. Utah also scored high enough to replace a lower score from earlier in 2025 for their national qualifying score (NQS).
But Dockendorf knows her team can score better, and having inconsistent performances this late into the season was a cause of frustration.
“I definitely was hoping for more today, to be honest,” Dockendorf said following Utah’s meet on Saturday. “I thought this was going to be a really great opportunity for us to get a little bit of a bigger road score. I feel like this team is ready for that. Their skills have been looking really refined in practice, and their confidence is there in training.”
Dockendorf felt like the Red Rocks were “fragmented” at different points during the meet, and it caused fluctuations in their individual scores.
On balance beam, senior Grace McCallum clocked a 9.95, while sophomore Elizabeth Gantner finished with a 9.675, the lowest score of the rotation. Junior all-around star Makenna Smith finished with a 9.95 on vault, while star freshman Avery Neff had a 9.675 in the event.
(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.
Those were just a few examples of the inconsistencies from the meet in Seattle.
“There’s a lot of space in here,” Dockendorf said of Washington’s venue. “I don’t know if they felt like they had the space to just separate, but when they do that, they actually lose kind the core energy [of the team]. It felt like some people were really here to get the job done tonight, and others were just kind of here. So I think that it didn’t really spark a complete energetic performance by our team as a whole.”
The Red Rocks did leave the meet with some positives, however.
Neff made her long-awaited return to the all around after spraining both her ankles against Iowa State in January. She finished the afternoon with a 39.275.
Her return to the lineup is a good sign for the Red Rocks, as the postseason nears. Now the freshman needs to find the consistency she posed at the beginning of the season.
“I thought she did exceptional,” Utah’s coach said of Neff. “It was so important for her to be back out competing on floor again. I know she was excited after she was done, and her beam, she just keeps getting more and more confident. I thought that it was a perfect opportunity for her today to do the all around and then get herself primed for next weekend.”
McCallum and Smith continued their strong seasons. Smith notched a 39.6, which was highlighted by a 9.925 on floor and a 9.95 on vault. McCallum ended the day with a 39.525.
Ella Zirbes performed in three rotations. She also did an exhibition on balance beam, meaning the sophomore is getting closer to competing as one of Utah’s all-arounds.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Ella Zirbes lands her vault, during Big12 Gymnastics meet against Iowa State, at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, on Friday, Jan 17, 2025. .
“This was the most relaxed that she’s been so far this season,” Dockendorf said. “It just looked like she was enjoying being out there and having a lot of fun. I do think that she continues to just trust in herself more and really enjoy, you know, competing and being in the moment.”
With two weeks left until the Big 12 Championship in West Valley and an upcoming matchup against No. 3 UCLA this week, the Red Rocks will have to dig deep to improve from its win against Washington.
“We’re not asking them to do anything that they’re not capable of doing,” Dockendorf said. “It’s just what they do in practice every day, and that’s going to be more than enough, and I asked them to bring to the start practice next week what they feel like we need to do, because we’ve kind of said it all year. We’ve gone through it all. We’ve talked through it all.
“Now we actually have to get up and just do it.”
