The fourth-ranked Red Rocks placed second in a tri-meet matchup between No. 2 Florida and host West Virginia Sunday afternoon at the West Virginia University Coliseum in Morgantown. Utah earned their second-highest score of the season with 197.425, finishing barely behind No. 2 Florida with 197.575.
“Overall, I was pleased with their performance tonight,” head coach Carly Dockendorf said. “To travel all the way over here and have our second-highest score of the year on the road, I think that was a real positive for us. We were a little bit flat in some areas tonight, and we gave some tenths away on our landings, but our team did a really good job of just staying focused on our team the whole night.”
The Red Rocks opened up on the floor with a score 49.375. Ashley Glynn got things started for Utah with a 9.850, while Makenna Smith scored the first 9.900 for the Red Rocks with her floor routine. Grace McCallum won the event for Utah with a 9.925, leaving the Red Rocks to trail No. 2 Florida by .150, with a score of 49.525 to 49.375.
“We made some small adjustments with some dance elements coming out of some of our tumbling, and again, just working on some of those landings and our leaps,” Dockendorf said. “Just really showing our presentation, it really is about the details right now, and as you can see, it adds up — half a point here, one point there and those are small things that we can definitely fix.”
The second rotation saw Utah score a 49.225 on the vault. McCallum scored a 9.850, while Smith won the event for the Red Rocks with a 9.950 — her tenth event win so far this season. After the second rotation Utah trailed Florida by .275 with scores of 98.875 to 98.600.
“I really like the vaults today because everyone was taking steps forward. They were going aggressive and they were going big,” Dockendorf said. “I know that those landings are gonna continue to dial in. We’ve been competing, week after week and I don’t know if we’ve done that consistently this early on in previous seasons. The amount of confidence they’re gonna have competing at the end of the season is gonna be really important and I think it’s gonna be elevated.”
The Red Rocks scored a 49.300 in the third rotation on the bars. Utah came into the meet ranking second in the nation in the bars event. Ana Padurariu scored a 9.850 followed by a Glynn 9.825. The Red Rocks would close out the event with three consecutive 9.875 scores by Amelie Morgan, Ella Zirbes and anchor McCallum. After three rotations, Utah trailed Florida 148.175 to 147.900.
Utah scored a dominant 49.525 on the beam event in the fourth rotation. Padurariu scored a 9.925 to open for the Red Rocks, which tied for the team lead in the event with McCallum. Utah saw two additional 9.900 scores with Camie Winger and Smith, leading the Red Rocks to finish with the second-highest score of the season with 197.425 and placing the team second behind winner No. 2 Florida with 197.575.
Utah was led by McCallum who scored an all-around of 39.575, which was good for second place overall for the meet.
The Red Rocks return home to host No. 20 Arizona for a Big-12 Conference matchup, Friday Feb. 7 at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. The Red Rocks will celebrate the team’s annual alumni night, as well as celebrating the 50th birthday for Gymnastics at the University of Utah.
