The Red Rocks did not just beat BYU on Friday night. They broke through.
No. 12 Utah posted its first 198 of the season, defeating No. 23 BYU 198.025 to 196.025 at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in front of an electric crowd. At the center of the breakthrough were Makenna Smith, Ella Zirbes and Avery Neff.
Meet recap
For Neff, who scored a perfect 10 on bars and captured her third straight all-around title with a career-best 39.700, the 198 felt less like a finished product and more like a glimpse of what this team can become.
Utah opened with a solid 49.225 on vault, but the gymnasts know there is more there. “We know that we can do a lot better vaults,” Neff said. “I think we’re just trying to get our groove on everything, and I think that’s really shown today. We’re putting more pieces back together, and we got a 198 with not even our most extravagant gymnastics. So I think that’s a really huge testament to the fight of this team.”
That fight showed up immediately in rotation two.
After vault, the Red Rocks exploded for a 49.750 on bars, their highest score of the season and just shy of the program record. Smith set the tone in the leadoff spot with a 9.900. Zirbes followed with a career-high 9.975, earning a 10 from one judge. Then Neff brought the Huntsman Center to its feet, sticking her dismount for her second career perfect 10.
“When I got my first 10, I felt like it was my best routine, but you never know what the judges will do,” Neff said. “This time I just had that feeling inside, and honestly, even if it hadn’t been a 10, I would have been proud. Having the girls hit before me makes it easy to go out there and let it rip.”
Zirbes said the difference in bars came down to confidence. “We were more aggressive going for our handstands and the little details,” she said. “Grace [McCallum] came up to us and said, ‘You guys are the best bar team in the country. What’s holding you back?’ I think we took that and ran,” Zirbes said.
Utah carried that momentum through beam with a 49.500 and floor with a 49.550. Smith and Zirbes each posted 9.950s on floor, and Smith finished second in the all-around with a season-high 39.600. For Smith, Friday night felt like validation for weeks of work behind the scenes.
“I think it shows that all of our hard work that we’ve been putting in in the gym is really paying off,” Smith said. “And I think we all know that we have more in the tank and we have more that we can show. So this was just another great stepping stone to build our confidence, to build our gymnastics, and just go back in and find all the nitty-gritty things to work out.”
Team resilience
That confidence has also come from a shift in perspective. For Zirbes, whose career-high on bars helped ignite the breakout rotation, this season has been about rediscovering joy in the sport.
“After a rougher year last year, I just decided I’m so grateful to do this sport, especially on this team,” Zirbes said. “I’m just doing my normal gymnastics and not letting anything else affect me.”
The atmosphere played a role as well. The team spent the day before the meet handing out wristbands and encouraging students to pack the Huntsman. When the crowd roared after big routines, the gymnasts felt it. “When you hear the Huntsman pop, you know it was an amazing routine,” Zirbes said. “It’s magical.”
Head coach Carly Dockendorf said the score mattered, but the resilience behind it mattered more. “Through the adversity at the start of the season, it would have been easy to shut down and listen to the noise,” Dockendorf said. “But no one ever stopped believing in this team. They just kept showing up and making adjustments.”
Utah posted 19 season or career highs on the night, further proof that the Red Rocks are trending upward. Dockendorf believes there is still room to grow. “We definitely left room out there to improve,” she said. “But this is just the start of what we’re capable of.”
Friday was not about perfection. It was about progress. And for a team that believes its best gymnastics is still ahead, that may matter most.
