- Avery Neff scored a perfect 10.0 as Utah's Red Rocks defeated BYU.
- The Red Rocks achieved a season-high score of 198.025 in the rivalry win.
- Coach Dockendorf praised the team's effort, noting room for further improvement.
SALT LAKE CITY — The vibes for the Red Rocks were back Friday night.
And it all resulted in the Red Rocks crossing the 198 barrier for the first time this season in what has been an unpredictable year for the powerhouse program. The return to form — and an energetic Huntsman Center crowd — helped lift Utah to a season-best 198.025 score in its rivalry win over BYU (196.025).
Even with the team's season high, there was a feeling from the Red Rocks that they left more points on the floor and that their best gymnastics is still to come this season.
"I don't think we are at 100," said Avery Neff in a callback to a previous comment on the team not going from zero to 100 overnight amid the team's early struggles.
"I think that we are a team that kind of fights to the end. ... I think that really showed today, like we're putting more pieces back together, and we got a 198 with not even our most extravagant gymnastics," Neff said. "So I think that's a really huge testament of the fight of this team."
Red Rocks head coach Carly Dockendorf echoed the sentiments of Neff, who fought her way to a career-high all-around score of 39.700 Friday night. Dockendorf said she still believes her team can start a bit better in the opening rotation, while picking up extra points on floor.
"I'm so glad that they got the reward for the work that they've been putting in, and I know that this is just the start of what we're capable of doing," she said. "We definitely left room out there to improve, but we're going to just keep building off our momentum and just keep working hard in the gym and embracing the work that we need to put in."
But Dockendorf was most impressed that her beam team had six sticks and the bars lineup had five.
"That's where you can get a lot of tenths is being able to focus in on that," Dockendorf said.
That bars team was the highlight of the night as the Red Rocks set a nation-best 49.750 team score behind five counted scores over 9.90 or higher. Neff capped off the event in the anchor spot with her first-ever 10.0 on bars.
It was one of those routines where the second she stuck the landing, everyone in the Huntsman Center knew before the judges officially revealed the perfect score. The crowd immediately gave Neff a standing ovation after her stick and stayed standing in anticipation of the score that confirmed the consensus feeling in the arena.
"I felt like that was my best routine, but it's really in the judge's hands. ... I think after, there's just like this little feeling that you feel inside and kind of a boost of energy, like, I just started screaming at the top of my lungs," Neff said. "I was like, even if it's not exactly a 10, I'm so proud of what I did and proud of what the team did."
Dockendorf said her favorite part of the perfect score, though, was "to see her smile out there and the enjoyment that she's having."
"I mean, that is where she does her best gymnastics," she said. "And I think she's just starting right now. I know that there's so much more in there, but so deserving of a 10. She worked so hard. That's a big routine, that's a hard dismount to stick and she did it."
Neff got the top highlight, but the entire bars team delivered Friday night, with Makenna Smith setting the early tone with a 9.90 in the leadoff spot. Following the team's non-counted score of 9.875 by Clara Raposo, freshman Abbi Ryssman tied a career high with a 9.925, and the scores improved from there.
Ella Zirbes followed up Ryssman with a nearly perfect routine that earned her a 9.975 (and a perfect score from one judge), and then Ana Padurariu added another stuck landing and a 9.950 score before Neff closed out the event with a perfect score.
"I think we were a lot more aggressive going for our handstands and some of the little details," Smith said. "I think that we've just built the confidence up in the gym that we can go for it, that there isn't, like, the doubt that it's not gonna work."
"We have proven before that we are such a good bar team," Zirbes added. "And Grace (McCallum) came up to us before we started and was like 'What's holding you back? Like, you guys are the best bar team in the country, so why don't you show it?' And I think we kind of took that and ran."
The Red Rocks started a bit slow with a 49.225 on vault, but carried the bars event momentum through the meet into the final two rotations, where there have been some inconsistencies this season.
The beam team had two gymnasts, Neff and Camie Winger, earn back-to-back 9.950 scores, while recording no score lower than a 9.850 — including its dropped score and an exhibition of a 9.850 from freshman Bailey Stroud.
All that was needed in the final rotation was a 49.525 on floor for the Red Rocks to earn a coveted 198 score. It was certainly a number within reach for the Red Rocks, but the team had scored no higher than a 49.300 on floor this season.
After a leadoff 9.80 by Ashley Glynn, Neff reeled off the first of three 9.950 scores, including ones from Zirbes and Smith, before freshman Sage Curtis had the tall task of needing a 9.875 or higher to eclipse 198 for the team in the anchor spot.
And the freshman delivered in a big way.
The hometown gymnast stuck her double layout on her first pass, setting up for what turned out to be a career-high 9.90 score in the anchor spot. And it seemed everyone in the Huntsman Center knew the importance of the moment, too, as they gave the freshman a standing ovation as the 198 score was realized.
Team scores
No. 12 Utah
- Vault: 49.225
- Bars: 98.975 (49.750)
- Beam: 148.475 (49.500)
- Floor: 198.025 (49.550)
No. 23 BYU
- Bars: 48.975
- Vault: 98.000 (49.025)
- Floor: 147.200 (49.200)
- Beam: 196.025 (48.825)
Red Rocks scores
1st Rotation: Vault (49.225)
- Clara Raposo: 9.800 (career high)
- Ella Zirbes: 9.825
- Zoe Johnson: 9.275
- Makenna Smith: 9.900
- Ashley Glynn: 9.900
- Avery Neff: 9.800
2nd Rotation: Bars (49.750) — Nation's high score
- Makenna Smith: 9.900
- Clara Raposo: 9.875 (career high)
- Abbi Ryssman: 9.925 (career high)
- Ella Zirbes: 9.975 (career high)
- Ana Padurariu: 9.950
- Avery Neff: 10.0 (career high)
3rd Rotation: Beam (49.500)
- Elizabeth Gantner: 9.875
- Makenna Smith: 9.850
- Abbi Ryssman: 9.850
- Ana Padurariu: 9.875
- Avery Neff: 9.950
- Camie Winger: 9.950
4th Rotation: Floor (49.550)
- Ashley Glynn: 9.800
- Avery Neff: 9.950 (career high)
- Zoe Johnson: 9.750
- Ella Zirbes: 9.950
- Makenna Smith: 9.950
- Sage Curtis: 9.900 (career high)
BYU scores
1st Rotation: Bars (48.975)
- Mya Kirkham: 9.800
- Addilyn Glazier: 9.775
- Deb Silva: 8.975
- Kylie Eaquinto: 9.825
- Alilah Alvarado: 9.800
- Ava Jorgensen: 9.775
2nd Rotation: Vault (49.025)
- Daisy Stephenson: 9.750
- Mya Kirkham: 9.775
- Scarlett Sonnenberg: 9.825
- Deb Silva: 9.850
- Ava Jorgensen: 9.775
- Kylie Eaquinto: 9.800
3rd Rotation: Floor (49.200)
- Scarlett Sonnenberg: 9.825
- Chloee Hoke: 9.625
- Daisy Stephenson: 9.875
- Brynlee Andersen-Broekman: 9.850
- Deb Silva: 9.825
- Kylie Eaquinto: 9.825
4th Rotation: Beam (48.825)
- Scarlett Sonnenberg: 9.800
- Ava Jorgensen: 9.750
- Alilah Alvarado: 9.750
- Chloee Hoke: 9.500
- Brynlee Andersen-Broekman: 9.700
- Kylie Eaquinto: 9.825
