Avery Neff wins all-around as Red Rocks claim back-to-back Big 12 gymnastics titles

WEST VALLEY CITY — It's been a season defined by adversity — including Saturday night during the Big 12 championship meet at the Maverik Center — but for the second consecutive season, the Red Rocks hoisted the trophy as champions again.

The Red Rocks used the final two events of the night to pull away for good as champions with a 197.675 score — its highest road score of the season — to top the Big 12 competition that included Denver (196.575), BYU (196.175) and Arizona (194.725) in the second session of the championship meet.

"Just super proud of this team tonight," Red Rocks head coach Carly Dockendorf said. "Winning the conference championships is not something you can take for granted, and this team fought the entire night to stay in the meet. And just really proud of their grit and resilience throughout the competition, some great individual performances."

At the midway point in the meet, though, Denver controlled a narrow lead (98.475-98.425) over the Red Rocks following a team-best 49.425 score on floor to overtake the regular season champions.

Utah found itself in a bit of a hole after a lower than usual uneven bars event in the second rotation (49.050), where the team had to count a 9.575 from Ashley Glynn after a near fall on dismount that forced her to lunge forward for a significant deduction.

Glynn's score had to be counted due to an Ana Padurariu fall to her back on the mat below after missing the high bar on the transfer. Padurariu considered finishing the routine, but took a minute with the training staff and decided it wasn't worth considering and went back to the locker room to be evaluated.

Padurariu returned just before the third event, but was a last-minute scratch from the beam lineup as a precaution. Dockendorf said Padurariu wasn't injured on the fall but was just "a little bit lightheaded, but she's fine."

On beam, the Red Rocks found its rhythm again and reeled off three consecutive 9.875 scores from Elizabeth Gantner, Ella Zirbes and Abbi Ryssman before Avery Neff increased the scores with a 9.925 on a beam routine that elicited a 10.0 from at least one of the four judges.

But it was Camie Winger who took it to another level and closed out the beam routine with a 9.975 and had two judges turn around a 10.0 score. It was exactly the moment the Red Rocks needed to make their move going into the final rotation with a 0.475 lead over Denver.

"I was so proud of her for doing that tonight," Dockendorf said. "It wasn't just tonight, she's really been putting in the work in the gym, and it shows up. That's what I said to her after she did her beam routine. I was like, you never know when it's going to show up, but it does, and it showed up in the moment where it really counted the most."

And considering the up-and-down nature of the beam team this season, it served as a pivotal moment for a team hoping to hit on every routine in postseason play.

"It was definitely an important event," Dockendorf said. "We could have gone there and gotten tense and tight, and we probably would have saw a lot of wobbles and steps. This team knows how to fight when we really need to."

Despite the strong third rotation, the Red Rocks has some immediate pressure thrust on them again when Glynn fell on her first tumbling pass in the leadoff spot and scored a 9.150. Any mistake for the remaining five gymnast could spell disaster for the Red Rocks in their hopes of a back-to-back title.

Sophomore gymnast Zoe Johnson, who went back to her 2025 floor routine, answered the call in one of her best floor performances of the season to tie a career-high of 9.90. From there, each Red Rocks gymnast continued to do their part.

In the third spot, Neff had as close to a flawless routine as possible and scored a meet-high 9.975, with two judges scoring it perfect, to keep the momentum flowing. In succession, Zirbes, Smith and freshman Sage Curtis each returned a 9.950 to lift the Red Rocks to a season-high 49.725.

It was a good enough return from the gymnasts that even had the Red Rocks needed to count Glynn's score they would have clinched the Big 12 title. But Curtis' career-high lifted the Red Rocks to a season-high on the road.

The Red Rocks will now turn its attention to regional play, where the team will have an uphill battle to return to nationals. But Dockendorf said she believes her team is peaking at the right time and can use the season-long adversity to return to nationals.

That case was made most obvious, she said, by the fact that her team scored a 197.675 while recording a 49.050 on one event.

The Red Rocks cleaned up the accolades at the Big 12 championship, with Neff being named the conference's gymnast of the year and Padurariu being named the specialist of the year. Additionally, a member of the Red Rocks won an individual title for each event:

• All-around: Avery Neff (39.700)
• Vault: Makenna Smith (9.950)
• Bars: Avery Neff (9.900)
• Beam: Camie Winger (9.975)
• Floor: Avery Neff (9.975)

Team scores

No. 12 Utah

• Vault: 49.375
• Bars: 98.425 (49.050)
• Beam: 147.950 (49.525)
• Floor: 197.675 (49.725)

No. 24 BYU

• Bars: 48.775
• Beam: 97.675 (48.900)
• Floor: 147.150 (49.475)
• Vault: 196.175 (49.025)

No. 23 Denver

• Beam: 49.050
• Floor: 98.475 (49.425)
• Vault: 147.475 (48.975)
• Bars: 196.575 (49.100)

Arizona

• Floor: 49.325
• Vault: 98.075 (48.750)
• Bars: 145.475 (47.400)
• Beam: 194.725 (49.250)

Red Rocks scores

1st Rotation: Vault (49.375)

• Camie Winger: 9.800
• Ella Zirbes: 9.850
• Zoe Johnson: 9.800
• Makenna Smith: 9.950
• Ashley Glynn: 9.875
• Avery Neff: 9.900

2nd Rotation: Bars (49.050)

• Makenna Smith: 9.875
• Ashley Glynn: 9.575
• Abbi Ryssman: 9.850
• Ella Zirbes: 9.850
• Ana Padurariu: 4.950
• Avery Neff: 9.900

3rd Rotation: Beam (49.525)

• Elizabeth Gantner: 9.875
• Ella Zirbes: 9.875
• Abbi Ryssman: 9.875
• Makenna Smith: 9.825
• Avery Neff: 9.925
• Camie Winger: 9.975

4th Rotation: Floor (49.725)

• Ashley Glynn: 9.150
• Zoe Johnson: 9.900
• Avery Neff: 9.975
• Ella Zirbes: 9.950
• Makenna Smith: 9.950
• Sage Curtis: 9.950

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