The fourth-ranked Red Rocks walked away with a 196.600 to 196.475 win over No. 24-ranked Arizona State on Friday night in Tempe, Arizona.
The meet was a Valentine’s variety of sweet and sour moments. The Red Rocks’ Grace McCallum scored the first perfect score of the season on the bars, while the team underperformed on the beam with very uncharacteristic mistakes.
Head coach Carly Dockendorf felt encouraged that her team is facing this kind of adversity early in the season compared to later.
“On beam, we learned some valuable lessons. My words to the team after the meet was that I would rather learn these lessons now than later in the season,” Dockendorf said. “We haven’t had a fall on beam this year. This is the first time we’ve had a fall, and for it to be the first person up, we clearly didn’t know how to handle that extra kind of pressure on beam.”
Utah opened the first rotation with a season-high monster score of 49.600 on the bars. The Red Rocks came into the meet ranking third in the country on the event. Makenna Smith scored a 9.875, followed by an Ashley Glynn 9.900. Utah closed out the rotation in dominant fashion with Amelie Morgan scoring a 9.900 followed by an Ella Zirbes 9.925. Anchor McCallum celebrated her second Big 12 Gymnast of the Week recognition, with the first perfect 10 score of the season for the Red Rocks. After the first rotation Utah led Arizona St, 49.600 to 48.950.
Afterwards, Dockendorf had a moment to reflect on McCallum’s perfect score.
“I think she is just so dynamic and explosive in her elements. She just had this kind of fluid movement throughout the whole routine,” Dockendorf said. “It’s so satisfying to watch. It’s a big dismount, and she just sticks it so consistently.”
The Red Rocks opened the second rotation with a 49.275 on the vault, slightly above their season average of 49.214. The Red Rocks struggled slightly with the landings and had minor deductions throughout the rotation. Zirbes scored a 9.875 to start the scoring for Utah, followed by a McCallum 9.800. Camie Winger scored a 9.800, then Smith scored a 9.850. Glynn won the event for the Red Rocks scoring a 9.950. The Red Rocks led Arizona St, 98.875 to 98.200 after two rotations.
Utah matched their season high with a score of 49.525 on the floor. A small step out of bounds cost Glynn a few points, scoring a 9.725. After that the Red Rocks picked their teammate up, and scored 9.9+ in 4 out of the 5 remaining spots. Zirbes tied with teammate Smith for the event win with a 9.925. Jaylene Gilstrap continued her floor excellence with a 9.900. Anchor freshman Zoe Johnson got her first start of the season, and with pressure to remove the lowest score, rose to the challenge and scored a 9.900. After the third rotation Utah led Arizona St, 148.400 to 147.425.
“Zoe is such a talented gymnast and we just felt we should just simplify her tumbling for right now, get her out there, get her confidence so she knows she could hit her routine,” Dockendorf said. “She’s been working really hard and I know that she wants to be out there competing and so that was a huge step for her tonight.”
Utah scored a season low 48.200 on the beam in the fourth rotation. The Red Rocks made uncharacteristic mistakes on the beam, with a pair of falls and a major balance check. Morgan and Smith tied for the event win for the Red Rocks with a 9.850.
“I reminded them that this doesn’t change how good we are on beam, and that this is a valuable lesson and it could happen on any event,” Dockendorf said. “I know we’re still incredible on that event, and moving forward we’re gonna have to handle it better. Someone has a wobbler or a fall, we’re gonna have to be a lot stronger mentally to be able to keep going and doing our routines we know how to do.”
Smith took first in the all-around with a score of 39.500.
Next up, the Red Rocks will host No. 21 Denver on Friday night at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
