Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Makenna Smith wasn't feeling well Sunday as the Red Rocks traveled two time zones east to compete in a tri meet at WVU Coliseum against Florida and West Virginia.
But that didn't stop the junior all-around gymnast from having a solid day for the fourth-ranked Red Rocks, who took second place in the meet with a 197.425 score for the highest road score of the season.
"For her to go out and do what she did — you guys have seen Makenna compete, and she is high energy and fun, and she definitely didn't have all of that today," Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf said. "So for her to go out and do what she did today, I thought that was really impressive."
The Red Rocks fell short to No. 2 Florida, who topped the competition with a 197.575 score, and West Virginia finished in third with a 195.475 score. But Dockendorf said she wasn't as concerned with the score as she was with how her team would do in an environment no one was familiar with on the roster or as a staff.
"Our goal today was really to continue to take what we've been doing the last few meets, and then put it in an uncomfortable environment and see if we can just continue to build from there," Dockendorf said. "And I really thought they did that today.
"I think it's really encouraging for our team to know that they're able to do that, to travel two time zones to come all the way — this is our biggest trip of the year — and to put up that mark is, it's really encouraging for our staff and for our team."
It was a meet that started out a bit slow and uncharacteristic on floor in what Dockendorf called "flat," but Smith helped turn the corner when she scored a team high 9.90 at the time in the fourth spot. Grace McCallum, who finished second in the all-around competition (39.575), then added a 9.925 two spots later to anchor floor.
But Florida did a bit better on bars to open up the meet, scoring a 49.450 behind 9.925 scores by Leanna Wong and Anya Pilgrim, and 9.90 scores by Riley McCusker and UCLA transfer Selena Harris-Miranda.
It was enough to keep the Gators ahead of the Red Rocks all afternoon. The Red Rocks had their chances to overtake the Gators, but continued to have subtle missteps that proved to be the difference.
"Overall, I was pleased with their performance tonight. To travel all the way over here and have our second highest score of the year on the road, I think that that was a real positive for us," Dockendorf said. "We were a little bit flat in some areas tonight. We gave some tenths away on our landing, but our team did a really good job of just staying focused on our team the whole night.
"I thought they did an excellent job of competing all the way to the very last routine. We didn't ever give up or just kind of start going through the motions. We really stayed focused all the way through the last routine."
Going into the final event of the afternoon, where Utah was on beam and Florida was on vault, the two teams competed at an even pace, with the Red Rocks having a chance to overtake Florida.
Ana Padurariu led things off for the Red Rocks and scored a season-high 9.925 after getting her first stick of the season that sent Dockendorf jumping up and down on the side of the beam after all her hard work to complete a full routine.
"I don't know if you saw, but I jumped up really high after she stuck that dismount, because I was so excited for her," Dockendorf said. "She's been working so hard on that dismount, and it's tough sometimes to stay patient in the process, and she really has had to work at that and not get frustrated with it not coming together sooner.
"So for her to put it together, I was just so excited for her to finally get to do that and put an entire team together."
Dockendorf said it was enough to jumpstart the team a bit in the final rotation, but it was a collective effort from a team that was "pretty motivated" after bars and "just went out and were aggressive."
That aggressiveness put the Red Rocks in a position to win as Camie Winger followed up Padurariu's score with a 9.90. Smith scored a 9.875 before Amelie Morgan (9.90) and McCallum (9.925) helped lift the scores to a meet-high 49.525.
But for as good as the Red Rocks were to closeout the meet, Florida did enough to maintain a win with Ly Bui and Wong earning a 9.925, and Harris-Miranda rounding out the meet with a perfect stick that gave her a 9.950.
Team scores
No. 4 Utah
- Floor: 49.375
- Vault: 98.600 (49.225)
- Bars: 147.900 (49.300)
- Beam: 197.425 (49.525)
No. 2 Florida
- Bars: 49.450
- Beam: 98.850 (49.325)
- Floor: 148.175 (49.300)
- Vault: 197.525 (49.350)
West Virginia
- Vault: 48.575
- Bars: 97.250 (48.675)
- Beam: 146.250 (49.000)
- Floor: 195.475 (49.225)
Red Rocks scores
1st Rotation: Floor (49.375)
- Ashley Glynn: 9.850
- Ella Zirbes: 9.825
- Camie Winger: 9.675
- Makenna Smith: 9.900
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.875
- Grace McCallum: 9.925
2nd Rotation: Vault (49.225)
- Ella Zirbes: 9.775
- Grace McCallum: 9.850
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.800
- Makenna Smith: 9.950
- Ashley Glynn: 9.800
- Amelie Morgan: 9.825
3rd Rotation: Bars (49.300)
- Makenna Smith: 9.750
- Ana Padurariu: 9.850
- Ashley Glynn: 9.825
- Amelie Morgan: 9.875
- Ella Zirbes: 9.875
- Grace McCallum: 9.875
4th Rotation: Beam (49.525)
- Ana Padurariu: 9.925
- Camie Winger: 9.900
- Makenna Smith: 9.875
- Amelie Morgan: 9.900
- Grace McCallum: 9.925
- Elizabeth Gantner: 9.850
