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- Avery Neff excelled with an all-around score of 39.600 in the meet.
- Despite Neff's performance, the Red Rocks finished last with a score of 196.800.
- Head coach Carly Dockendorf noted improvement but questioned the judging criteria.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Freshman Avery Neff delivered on the national stage.
Unfortunately for the rest of the team, it was a collective disappointment, with several uncharacteristic mistakes and low scores after misstep after misstep in Saturday afternoon's Sprouts Farmers Market College Quad meet at the Paycom Center.
The freshman was the team's most consistent gymnast, finishing with an all-around score of 39.600, recording a 9.90 or higher on all events except bars, where she scored a 9.875. She finished the day with a personal high of 9.925 on vault as the No. 4 Red Rocks closed out the quad meet in last place with a 196.
Oklahoma won the meet with a 197.950 score, followed closely by LSU's 197.650 and then California's 197.275.
"She definitely did show up. She was just exceptional," head coach Carly Dockendorf said of Neff. "Practice day yesterday and today, she was definitely determined and focused in. ... You can tell she truly enjoys what she's doing. She loves competing, she loves going out there and being the best she can be, but there's a lot of enjoyment in it."
Outside of Neff, Dockendorf elected to use a veteran lineup in the quad meet, but that veteran lineup had uncharacteristic mistakes and ultimately low scores. Grace McCallum, however, scored a team-high 9.975 on bars.
Dockendorf called the scoring for the meet "interesting," saying it was tough to gain understanding on what some judges were seeing that led to such low scores. She said the team requested six scoring summaries — the most allowed — to learn from the scores.
It's a situation, she said, she's never had to do with so many scoring inquisitions.
"The scoring was interesting today; welcome to college gymnastics. ... But overall, definitely would have liked a different outcome in terms of our placing, but we made improvements, so there's definitely some good in that.
"There were some routines that we were just kind of shaking our head a little, but, again, it's up to us to not focus on that and not focus on the scores. We really can't control what the judges are going to give us, so just gonna have to keep — get back in the gym and keep working."
The final score was not what Utah hoped for, but Dockendorf said she saw improvement from meet to meet, which is what mattered more than an arbitrary score from college judges.
"I reminded the team at the end that it's OK to feel frustrated, because we all wanted something different," Dockendorf said. "But this isn't the national championship; we've got months before we need to be ready for that, and our whole goal was to continue to inch away and keep improving week after week, and not make the same mistakes. And I really do feel, overall, that we definitely made some good improvements.
The Red Rocks opened up the afternoon meet on floor, where Makenna Smith and Ashley Glynn recorded competitive 9.825 and 9.850 scores as the team looked to build from there. But in the third spot, Ella Zirbes suddenly stopped mid routine to gather her breath, Dockendorf said, in an unusual moment.
Zirbes ended up being OK, and competed on vault (9.875) and beam (9.650).
Following Zirbes on floor, Neff recorded her first 9.90 of the meet in the fourth spot, followed by Jaylene Gilstrap's 9.850 and Grace McCallum's 9.825.
From there, Utah could never really get going and was forced to count lower than desired scores, including a 9.725 on vault and a 9.750 on beam.
Team scores
No. 1 Oklahoma
- Beam: 49.525
- Floor: 99.050 (49.525)
- Vault: 148.250 (49.200)
- Bars: 197.950 (49.700)
No. 2 LSU
- Vault: 49.450
- Bars: 98.875 (49.425)
- Beam: 148.125 (49.250)
- Floor: 197.650 (49.525)
No. 6 Cal
- Bars: 49.325
- Beam: 98.650 (49.325)
- Floor: 148.000 (49.325)
- Vault: 197.275 (49.275)
No. 4 Utah
- Floor: 49.250
- Vault: 98.450 (49,200)
- Bars: 147.725 (49.275)
- Beam: 196.800 (49.075)
Red Rocks scores
1st Rotation: Floor (49.250)
- Makenna Smith: 9.825
- Ashley Glynn: 9.850
- Ella Zirbes: 9.725
- Avery Neff: 9.900
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.850
- Grace McCallum: 9.825
2nd Rotation: Vault (49.200)
- Ella Zirbes: 9.875
- Camie Winger: 9.725
- Avery Neff: 9.925
- Makenna Smith: 9.850
- Ashley Glynn: 9.725
- Amelie Morgan: 9.825
3rd Rotation: Bars (49.275)
- Makenna Smith: 9.850
- Ana Padurariu: 9.800
- Avery Neff: 9.875
- Amelie Morgan: 9.775
- Ella Zirbes: 9.650
- Grace McCallum: 9.975
4th Rotation: Beam (49.075)
- Ana Padurariu: 9.750
- Camie Winger: 9.825
- Makenna Smith: 9.600
- Avery Neff: 9.900
- Amelie Morgan: 9.800
- Grace McCallum: 9.800
