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- Avery Neff led the Red Rocks to regional finals with a 39.650 score.
- Neff's consistent performance included a 9.950 on vault, impressing coach Dockendorf.
- Utah tied Denver with 197.650, advancing to face UCLA and Minnesota Saturday.
SALT LAKE CITY — When the bright lights shine, Avery Neff delivers.
That was true Thursday night for the freshman in the women's gymnastic regional semifinals at the Huntsman Center.
The young star didn't let missteps from her teammates or the general chaos and stress from a regional quad meet get to her. On each event, Neff was the one consistent gymnast for the Red Rocks of the night en route to an all-around competition win, scoring a 39.650.
The rising star scored no lower than a 9.90 on the night, while topping her scores with a 9.950 on vault with a stick.
"This has been a goal of mine all season, and so for it to finally come true at regionals, I think, is the biggest thing of its own," Neff said. "It was such a great feeling."
Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf said she admires the freshman's ability to drown out everything around her to just focus on her own gymnastics.
"I think she really does a good job of just focusing on her," Dockendorf said. "She said it before, and that's someone else's routine doesn't impact her ability to do her routine, and I think that's such a strong mindset to have. So whatever happens in front of her, it doesn't mean that she doesn't know how to do her skills.
"I think she really does believe that, and it just allows her to go up and just do her job regardless of what's happened before."
Neff was a key figure in the fourth-ranked Red Rocks securing a spot in Saturday night's regional final with a 197.650 score. Utah advances with fellow Big 12 member Denver, who pulled out their best performance of the season to tie the Red Rocks with a 197.650.
No. 13 Stanford, the ACC champion, finished in third with a 196.500 score, while BYU rounded out the scores with a 196.000. The Cougars had pulled into third going into the final rotation but had two falls in the final rotation to drop back to fourth.
Utah and Denver will compete with No. 5 UCLA and No. 12 Minnesota in the regional final on Saturday (5 p.m. MDT) at the Huntsman Center.
And though the Red Rocks advanced to the regional final, it was a meet where the team knew it could be better, especially on beam, where the team had some missteps — including balance checks and missed sticks — to limit the team's score.
"I think tonight was a really great competition," Grace McCallum said. "We had some really, really good things, and we have lots of areas to improve, which is great — just seeing the score and knowing that we can do so much better than that. So I think it will help build our confidence going into Saturday, which is what we need."
Added Dockendorf: "I mean, our goal today was to qualify to Saturday, and we did that. So that was our mission, and that's what we need to do to continue on and make our way to nationals."
The Red Rocks started out the night on floor, bringing the early energy inside their home venue that propelled the team to an early lead that grew as the night continued.
Ashley Glynn started out the night with a 9.850 before Ella Zirbes upped the score with a 9.875 routine. Neff continued to add to the scores with the team's first 9.90 of the night, followed by a 9.90 by Jaylene Gilstrap.
Veteran gymnasts Makenna Smith and McCallum each closed out the event with back-to-back 9.950 scores.
That early momentum helped propel the team throughout the night, but none more than on vault in the second rotation. In the third spot, Neff topped the scores with a 9.950 on a perfect stick and then freshman Zoe Johnson closed out the event with a career-high 9.925.
"The highlight for me on the vault rotation was Zoe," Dockendorf said. "She's been working so hard, and her numbers for stick percentage in practice has been going up, and I knew she was going to be fired up after falling at Big 12's the other weekend.
"But that's the kind of caliber vault we need in postseason to separate ourselves from the other teams," she added. "So I'm really proud of her and just all the work that she's been putting for that."
Utah added to its lead in the third rotation on bars, where Neff and Amelie Morgan scored back-to-back 9.90 scores, though fans wanted a higher score for Neff in what appeared to be close to a flawless routine (she had some bend in her arms during the routine which led to some deductions).
But the highlight of the night was when McCallum hit a flawless routine and the judges returned a 10.0 score in return — her first on bars at the Huntsman Center.
"All I know is this was my first one on bars in the Huntsman, which I've been waiting for for years," McCallum said. "So it was pretty exciting."
Team scores
No. 4 Utah
- Floor: 49.575
- Vault: 98.975 (49.400)
- Bars: 148.475 (49.500)
- Beam: 197.650 (49.175)
No. 13 Stanford
- Vault: 49.250
- Bars: 98.550 (49.300)
- Beam: 147.150 (48.600)
- Floor: 196.500 (49.350)
Denver
- Bars: 49.400
- Beam: 98.800 (49.400)
- Floor: 148.125 (49.350)
- Vault: 197.650 (49.500)
BYU
- Beam: 49.150
- Floor: 98.325 (49.175)
- Vault: 147.450 (49.125)
- Bars: 196.000 (48.550)
Red Rocks scores
1st Rotation: Floor (49.575)
- Ashley Glynn: 9.850
- Ella Zirbes: 9.875
- Avery Neff: 9.900
- Jaylene Gilstrap: 9.900
- Makenna Smith: 9.950
- Grace McCallum: 9.950
2nd Rotation: Vault (49.400)
- Ella Zirbes: 9.850
- Grace McCallum: 9.800
- Avery Neff: 9.950
- Ashley Glynn: 9.825
- Makenna Smith: 9.850
- Zoe Johnson: 9.925
3rd Rotation: Bars (49.500)
- Makenna Smith: 9.850
- Ashley Glynn: 9.850
- Avery Neff: 9.900
- Amelie Morgan: 9.900
- Ella Zirbes: 9.850
- Grace McCallum: 10.0
4th Rotation: Beam (49.175)
- Amelie Morgan: 9.900
- Camie Winger: 9.700
- Makenna Smith: 9.825
- Grace McCallum: 9.750
- Avery Neff: 9.900
- Ana Padurariu: 9.800
Other notable scores
Vault
- Rosie Casali, Denver (9.950)
- Madison Ulrich, Denver (9.925)
- Bella Mabanta, Denver (9.900)
- Maddison Reidenbach, Denver (9.900)
- Anna Roberts, Stanford (9.900)
Bars
- Madison Ulrich, Denver (9.900)
- Kiley Rorich, Denver (9.900)
- Rylie Mundell, Denver (9.900)
- Sienna Robinson, Stanford (9.900)
- Ui Soma, Stanford (9.900)
- Brianna Brooks, Utah State (9.900)
Beam
- Brynlee Andersen, BYU (9.900)
- Cecilia Cooley, Denver (9.900)
- Bella Mabanta, Denver (9.900)
- Abbie Thompson, Denver (9.900)
Floor
- Madison Ulrich, Denver (9.900)
- Taralyn Nguyen, Stanford (9.900)
- Anna Roberts, Stanford (9.900)
- Alana Walker, Stanford (9.900)
Photos
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