The No. 4 Red Rocks defeated the Iowa State Cyclones 197.300 to 194.850 Friday night at the Jon M. Hunstman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
This was Utah’s first meet in the Big-12 Conference.
The story of the meet is a sad one — No. 1 recruit in the nation and Utah’s own, Avery Neff, suffered an apparent lower leg injury at the end of her floor routine. Neff, coming off a Big-12 Newcomer of the Week Award for her all-around performance at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad, was enroute to another stellar all-around performance before the injury.
“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, it’s just it’s hard to watch,” Head Coach Carly Dockendorf said on the injury. “It definitely changed the emotional feeling of the meet at the end, but this is why we’re a team, this is why we always say you got to be ready, you don’t know when your name is going to be called, but it’s going to be important for us.”
The Red Rocks started the first rotation confident on the vault, scoring a 49.370. Camie Winger scored a 9.875 on the vault, tying it up with anchor Ashley Gylnn who also scored a 9.875. Neff scored a 9.900, continuing her all-around excellence for the Red Rocks. After the first rotation Utah led Iowa State 49.370 to 47.925.
“I thought our vault rotation, they just looked so confident and aggressive out there and looked just like what they’ve been doing in practice, big vaults with controlled steps,” Dockendorf said. “Camie’s vault was incredible, and she’s made some really big improvements. I thought we carried good energy over to bars.”
The second rotation saw Utah nab a 49.375 on the bars with Makenna Smith opening the scoring with a 9.800. Glynn scored the first 9.900 for the Red Rocks on the bars and second consecutive for the meet. Grace McCallum scored a 9.975 on the bars for the second consecutive week, the first of which earned the first Big-12 Gymnast Award of the Week of the season for the Red Rocks. Utah led Iowa State 98.675 to 96.775 after the second rotation.
McCallum refused to be discouraged with the scoring on her routines, but continues to look for ways to find the improvements.
“In the moment it can be frustrating, but looking back, I just need to give them less of an opportunity to take those little deductions,” McCallum said. “Obviously there’s something there and so it’s now just going back in the gym and just really taking away all of those little things that it could have been.”
Utah came out strong for the third rotation on the beam, scoring a 49.350. Ana Padurariu scored a 9.875, followed by a Winger 9.900. Neff scored a team high with a 9.925 display on the beam. McCallum anchored the Red Rocks with a 9.850 score to finish off the beam for Utah, helping the Red Rocks to lead Iowa State 148.025 to 145.775 after the third rotation.
The fourth and final rotation saw the Red Rocks score a 49.275 on the floor. Smith was the first of three Utes to score a 9.900 on the floor, the most of all four events. Neff completed a 9.350 after going down with a lower leg injury on the last turn of her routine, with no word as to the extent of the injury. The Red Rocks then followed up the injury with two 9.900 performances by Jaylene Gilstrap and anchor McCallum.
Gilstrap on what the Red Rocks have put an emphasis on for their routines this season so far:
“Our goal this time was just emphasis on holding the landings, cause that’s kind of a new thing, that rule happened last year so it goes out your brain to hold for three seconds,” she said. “Our second goal was just to smile, find a place in your routine to smile. We have been training all fall and its been like the best fall of hard work and just overall depth and talent. Gymnastics comes, but it’s the fun, you know, being able to smile and then the work follows.”
The Red Rocks will have a quick turnaround with the Les Olson IT Best of Utah on Monday January 20 at 6:00 p.m. MT. The Red Rocks will face Utah State, Southern Utah, and BYU at the Maverick Center in West Valley City.
