The Red Rocks’ chase for an 11th national championship continues.
(Tony Gutierrez) | AP) Utah team and staff celebrate after learning the team’s score in the semifinal of the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, April 17, 2025.
A fifth straight NCAA finals appearance was on the line.
Utah was in third place, trailing UCLA and defending national champion LSU by less than a tenth of a point.
With one rotation remaining, the No. 4 Red Rocks needed a strong performance on uneven bars to advance to the final round of the NCAA championships.
And they delivered.
“I just think it takes a lot to be here and to be a part of this program,” Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf said after the meet. “To stand in front of 15,000 fans week after week and carry on the tradition of qualifying to every single national championship, they have embraced it and have done it with such pride and bravery.”
Utah finished with a 49.650 score in its final rotation, headlined by senior Grace McCallum’s 9.965, sophomore Ella Zirbes’ 9.9375 and star freshman Avery Neff’s 9.925.
The event was enough for the Red Rocks to clinch a first-place finish in the semifinals with a 197.7625 score. The Bruins, a former Pac-12 rival, followed close behind in second.
“I kind of knew throughout the whole meet; I’m a score watcher,” McCallum said of Utah’s comeback. “I like to know what’s happening, but I didn’t let that affect my gymnastics in any way. I just knew I needed to go out there and deliver.”
The win advances Utah to another Final Four, pitting the Red Rocks against No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 5 UCLA and No. 7 Missouri.
Dockendorf, even through all the ups and downs, said she knew that her team would advance.
“We’ve been in that position before,” Utah’s coach said. “These women have worked so hard on bars this year and have been so consistent over there.
“I didn’t have any doubt that they were just going to go do what they’ve been practicing.”
(Tony Gutierrez) | AP) Utah’s Grace McCallum celebrates after competing on the floor excercise during the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, April 17, 2025.
Grace McCallum takes 2nd in all-around
When the Red Rocks have needed an answer this season, Grace McCallum has taken their call.
The 2020 Olympic silver medalist finished second in the all-around on Thursday night with a 39.675 individual performance behind Oklahoma’s Jordan Bowers.
McCallum topped former Olympic teammates and all-arounders Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles, who finished third and fourth, respectively.
Meets like this have become the usual for McCallum. The only surprise, for her, was that she stuck her vault landing.
“It felt pretty electric,” McCallum said of her vault. “It felt like all my hard work kind of paid off in that moment right there.
“I was just very, very happy.”
McCallum opened the meet with a sluggish performance on balance beam. Several balance checks lowered the Red Rock senior’s score to a 9.8125.
She later responded with a 9.95 on floor, 9.95 on vault and a meet- and team-high 9.9625 on uneven bars. After the meet, McCallum said the Red Rocks’ mentality was to “fight” all the way to the end on Thursday.
“From the very first routine, till the very end. I feel like that’s really what we did today,” McCallum said. “No matter what happened … we just went up did what our coaches asked and fought for every landing.”
From worst to first
(Tony Gutierrez) | AP) Utah’s Makenna Smith competes on the balance beam during the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, April 17, 2025.
Utah came down with another case of the balance beam blues in the NCAA semis.
The Red Rocks finished the first rotation with a 49.2125 score – the second-lowest team score of a routine in the second session — which put them in last place.
Camie Winger took a fall, causing her to have a team-low 8.975 score.
McCallum had several balance checks.
Neff was the only Red Rock to deliver with 9.9125 for the beam team.
“Scoring has been all over the place this year, so I don’t know if an exact score needs to happen [to win the national championship],” Dockendorf said. “But we need to be less intense out there.
“We definitely have some room [in some events] where we can score a little bit higher on.”
Lucky for Utah, it responded with another red-hot floor rotation, scoring a 49.5625 in its second event. Then the Red Rocks continued with a 49.3375 on vault and a 49.65 on uneven bars, which ultimately clinched them the meet.
With its semifinals win, the Red Rocks’ chase for an 11th national championship — potentially their first since 1995 — will continue in the final at 2:30 p.m. MT on Saturday.
And, if the Red Rocks can correct their beam mistakes, they could be the next national champion.
“I think we know that we just need to come out big again,” Dockendorf said. “There’s small margin for error. Everyone’s going to come out and bring their best on Saturday.”