The University of Utah women’s gymnastics team, ranked 12th nationally, concluded its final home meet of the season with a victory over No. 24 BYU and West Virginia at the Huntsman Center. The Red Rocks posted a score of 197.650, outpacing BYU’s 196.550 and West Virginia’s 195.300.
This event also marked Senior Day for four Utah gymnasts: Sarah Krump, Ashley Glynn, Ana Padurariu, and Makenna Smith. Head coach Carly Dockendorf commented on the significance of the night for her athletes: “That is exactly what I would’ve wanted them to do tonight, just to enjoy their last night in the Huntsman and just compete with such confidence and celebrate all the work that they’ve done,” said Dockendorf. “Sometimes it’s easy on Senior Night to try to be perfect, so you see some uncharacteristic things. For the most part, I really just saw them perform their gymnastics that we’ve all grown to love.”
Utah began strongly on vault with a team total of 49.500 points. Camie Winger led off with a score of 9.875; Ella Zirbes followed with a 9.925; Zoe Johnson, Glynn, and Avery Neff each scored 9.90; while Smith contributed a 9.850.
Reflecting on the atmosphere during Senior Day, Glynn said: “You could feel it a lot from the team tonight, just genuine joy that we talked about a lot this week because senior week is sad and very emotional,” she said. “So, going out there and enjoying this last home meet for the team, and I think you could genuinely feel it. There weren’t many waterworks tonight because we were just overwhelmed with joy and gratitude.”
On bars, Utah matched its vault performance with another 49.500 score in the second rotation for an overall lead after two events (99.000). Smith started strong again with a 9.925; Glynn earned a 9.90; Abbi Ryssman and Zirbes both scored 9.85s; Padurariu achieved a career-high mark of 9.975; Neff finished with a 9.800.
Padurariu spoke about her mindset leading up to her record-setting routine: “We’ve been talking a lot this week about training like we want to compete and then competing like we train… My mindset going into starting to compete was to compete freely without any weight on my shoulders… I’m very grateful that I was able to hit such a great routine and celebrate with all my teammates afterwards.”
The Red Rocks continued their consistency on beam (49.150), maintaining their lead through three rotations (148.150). Ryssman and Neff tied for top scores at 9.875 apiece.
Krump described her approach before performing on beam: “Carly told me before my beam routine to just enjoy it,” she said.”I think what we all tried to emulate is that it may be our last routine here but it’s definitely not our last routine… I was really trying to focus on enjoying the moment… regardless of what it was.”
In their final event—the floor exercise—Utah posted another strong result (49.500). Krump matched her career high at 9.85 in her closing home performance; Neff equaled this mark mid-lineup; Zirbes recorded a score of 9.925; Sage Curtis added a solid performance at 9.90; Smith closed out her home career matching her own best-ever floor score at 9.975.
Smith reflected after completing her final floor exercise at home: “I was feeling a little nervous before my floor routine knowing it was gonna be my last one… Then when I landed my last pass I could feel that it was one of the best routines I’ve done…”
Zirbes secured first place in all-around competition with an overall score of 39.450 points while Neff finished closely behind at second place (39.425).
Utah will next travel to Los Angeles for its regular-season finale against No 5 UCLA scheduled for Saturday March 14.
