The No. 5 ranked University of Utah Red Rocks opened their season with a 196.775 to 194.450 win over Utah State Friday night at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
This season marks the 50th year that the Red Rocks will have competed, dating back to 1976.
Before the meet, the Red Rocks unveiled a fourth consecutive Pac-12 championship banner, as well as a NCAA Final Four banner after placing third at the 2024 championship for a fourth consecutive year.
This is also the first year that the Red Rocks will be competing in the Big 12 conference.
During the first rotation, the Red Rocks came out of the gate to a slow start on the vault until anchor Ashley Glynn scored a 9.925, matching her career high. Utah opened with a 48.925 to 48.875 lead over Utah State after their rotation on the bars.
“I think it’s good to get all those weird little things out. We made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes, things you don’t see in the gym every day,” Grace McCallum said. “I think it’s a good spot to just keep building off of, and just go back in the gym and tune in our mental routines.”
During the second rotation the Red Rocks earned a pair of 9.9 performances from two of their seniors on the bars to swing the momentum in Utahs favor. Amelie Morgan and anchor McCallum both scored 9.90 to give the Red Rocks a 98.300 to 97.200 lead over Utah State.
The third rotation saw the Red Rocks continue to show why they’re one of the best teams in the country, especially on the beam. Utah scored a 49.475, their highest score of all four events. Camie Winger scored a career high 9.950 with her beam performance, bringing the Huntsman crowd to their feet with thunderous applause. Utah led Utah State 147.775 to 145.600 heading into the final rotation.
“I think tonight for me, it was the little girl inside of me that was really proud, just because growing up,” Winger said. “I always watched Utah’s beam and that’s always something that I wanted to do — and not just do, but do very well — and tonight just showed that for me.”
The fourth and final rotation saw the Red Rocks score a 49.000 on the floor. Sarah Krump came off the bench and earn MVP for her floor performance that scored a 9.825. The Red Rocks took the meet with a final score over Utah State of 196.775 to 194.450.
After the competition, the Red Rocks were focused on ways to improve before next weekends pivotal roadtrip against the best teams in the country.
“In the locker room, before we came in here, we just talked about, when we see those kinds of mistakes, that really means that our mind isn’t in the same place, because those aren’t things that we see often,” said head coach Carly Dockendorf. “ So for them to come out and do some uncharacteristic things, that means that’s where our mind is at, it’s not in the right place. I think there’s a lot that we can learn from tonight, areas that we can improve mentally, and with our confidence going into next weekend.”
The Red Rocks will travel to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where they will compete in the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad. Utah will face No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU and No. 4 California on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 2 p.m. MST.
