Before this season started, the Utah gymnastics team had pretty lofty ambitions for the 2025 season.
Sure, compete for and win a national championship was part of that — it always is — but the Red Rocks really wanted to start the season on fire.
They wanted to show from the get-go that they are one of the country’s best teams rather than wait until the postseason to prove their mettle like they had done in previous years.
That didn’t happen, though.
Too much pressure — much of it self-imposed — rattled Utah to start the year. There were glimpses of the potential that the Red Rocks had — the reason they had high hopes in the first place — but inconsistency and performances below their peak capabilities were the norm through the first month of the season.
Against Florida and West Virginia last week, Utah started to make good on its potential, though. The Red Rocks lost to Florida but were right with the Gators to the very end.
Friday night in the Huntsman Center against Arizona — the second-best team in the Big 12 this season — Utah took things a step further.
The Red Rocks had arguably their best overall meet of the year in their 197.675 to 196.125 victory over the Wildcats. Utah got better and better on each event, culminating in a season-high score on floor (49.575).
Some particular highlights:
It was one of those nights — on the same night the program recognized its alumni and 50 years of the Red Rocks.
“Extremely proud of the team tonight,” Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf said. “It was really fun to have the arena full of fans and our alumni. It was a really special night.
“I felt like our team really did elevate, across the board. Whether the scores reflected it or not, I thought we made some really important changes. People stepped up in areas that we needed to step up. Again (we hit) 24 of 24 (routines). It just keeps showing the consistency of this team and their confidence. We really went out there tonight and decided we were going to make it happen. We were going to put something on the floor that we hadn’t done yet and I really think they did that.”
Added McCallum: “I feel like as a team we are making really good progress — slow and steady progress, and that is going to get us to the finish line where we need to be. I think this is a really good place for us to be at and I think everybody on the team should be very proud of themselves for the little things they’ve been improving on.”
After the first rotation Friday, Arizona and Utah were actually fairly close, separated by a little over a tenth of a point (0.125).
Utah’s vault rotation had had its good moments — Smith and McCallum, especially — but overall Utah had underwhelmed to start the meet.
That continued, at first, to bars. The first three routines of the rotation topped out at 9.825, with a pair of scores landing in the 9.7-range.
That is when everything changed.
Starting with Amelie Morgan and then continuing with Zirbes and McCallum, Utah reeled off three consecutive routines that scored a 9.90 or better.
Morgan and McCallum’s performances were understandable. The pair of Tokyo Olympians have been stalwarts on bars throughout their Utah careers.
It was Zirbes, though, who was the best of the trio.
A second-team All-American on bars as a freshman last season, Zirbes has been battling performance anxiety this year, and her bars, while good plenty of times already this season, had never quite reached levels she had hit previously.
Until Friday.
Zirbes was as good as she had ever been on the event at Utah, recording a new career-high score of 9.950.
From start to finish, Zirbes was in her element.
“To see Ella hit that bar routine, that is what she does in practice every single day,” Dockendorf said.
After Zirbes’ bar routine, Utah recorded eight scores of 9.90 or better. Before it, there were only three, and once the bars rotation was over, the meet was no longer in doubt.
It was just a question of how much Utah was going to win by.
“It really took the entire team to do what we did tonight,” Dockendorf said. “Whether they were competing or their weren’t competing, everybody really brought their best.”
Zirbes, the MVP of the meet, especially
Utah is one of the best teams in the country on balance beam again, and on Friday the lowest score — the one dropped — was a 9.800 from lead off Ana Padurariu.
The Red Rocks had struggled with floor to start the season, but against Arizona the team posted its best score of the year, buoyed by 9.90-plus performances from Smith, McCallum, Ashley Glynn and Jaylene Gilstrap.
The lowest counted score on that event? A 9.875.
Bars, as previously mentioned, had its low points — landings were a big issue — but plenty of high points, too, and ended up being pretty normal for Utah when things were finished.
Vault, though, was the big area of worry.
Utah posted a 49.275, and that was with a 9.975 from Smith and a 9.90 from McCallum. Multiple vaults fell in the 9.7 and 9.8 range, far below the hopes for a Utah team that has six 10.0-valued vaults in the lineup.
On Friday night it was landings that proved the biggest challenge, as only Smith stuck her effort. McCallum took a slight step and the rest of the gymnasts in the lineup took major steps or multiple steps.
Glynn has probably the best distance and amplitude on her vault of any current Red Rock but landings have been a struggle for her for a couple of weeks now.
Morgan, thrust into the lineup with Neff’s injury, has dealt with under or over rotation time and again. It was over rotation that plagued her against Arizona.
Zirbes and Winger had good overall efforts until it came to the landing, as both took major steps when they hit the mat.
Dockendorf has said that she doesn’t expect consistent sticks at this point in the season, and that she believes the quality of Utah’s vaults will show come the postseason, when it really matters.
But for now, Utah isn’t consistently performing on vault to the level that it needs to, and it didn’t against Arizona.
There were numerous individual performances of note for Utah for one reason or another, but Neff’s return to action was chief among them.
Only a couple weeks ago Neff doubted whether or not she’d compete again this season, but there she was Friday night competing on bars.
She was, understandably, thrilled after.
“It was awesome,” Neff said. “Definitely beforehand I thought that my season was over, but I progressed fast and it was the best feeling to get out there and do what I love.”
Neff’s journey with rehab is an interesting one. She made quick progress immediately after the injury, but then she “kind of got stuck for a couple of days.”
As she put it, at that point she lost hope.
“Nothing felt better,” Neff said. “… and Carly could see me in the gym and my mannerisms were kind of taking down the team, too, so that was a switch where I thought, “If I really want to get back, I have to change my mindset.’ The mind is such a powerful tool.”
Dockendorf noted that in talking with Neff, the freshman set a goal of wanting to come back in time for the Arizona meet.
“I could see she was struggling mentally a little bit,” Dockendorf said. “…and for someone who hasn’t really had to sit out due to injury, it is a really new space to be in.
“We just had a really great conversation and I asked ‘What is your goal?’ and she said ‘I want to compete on alumni night’ and I said, ‘Alright let’s do it.‘ It really was her desire and her motivation to be back out here.”
Whether or not Neff makes it back on any other events this season is still a question, but she is back.
It wasn’t just Neff who stood out Friday though.
Smith continues to star on vault for Utah, and everywhere really. Her emergence this season has been especially vital for the Red Rocks’ success.
“She comes in every day and gives 100% in practice,” Dockendorf said. “She loves coming out here and is just her authentic self and I think that is one of the greatest things about her.”
Elizabeth Gantner is one of the gymnasts who stepped up in Neff’s absence, her role coming on beam, and she has only gotten better and better since she’s been in the lineup, culminating in a career-best 9.90 Friday night.
“I think confidence is a part of it,” Dockendorf said. “I think she is believing in herself a lot more. She is putting in extra work on beam, on her dismount.
“That is kind of the one area that she still needs to improve her consistency on, her landing, but I think she is honestly enjoying being out there, too.”
After Friday night’s performance, it is probably safe to say that all the Red Rocks are feeling that way right now, and it has Utah looking more and more like the team that was anticipated before the season began.
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Patti Wheeler was curious what her son Wyatt, a business student, was using when she found a “supplement” container on a family trip.
A short time later, he was dead.
”My son Wyatt passed away from Kratom,” said Wheeler, who flew into Salt Lake from Florida and arrived at the state Capitol on Thursday.
“There’s no doubt in your mind that Kratom was the cause of Wyatt’s death?” 2News asked.
“A hundred percent,” she replied, adding the coroner confirmed it, calling some forms of Kratom as addictive as heroin or morphine.
2026 Legislative Session (Graphic: KUTV)
Wheeler is the executive producer of a new documentary, “Kratom, Side Effects May Include,” and Drug Free Utah invited lawmakers — in the middle of the Kratom debate — for dinner and screening Thursday night at the Gateway theater.
Walter Plumb, Drug Free Utah leader, said his daughter would drink Kratom as a tea and that it spiked her blood pressure.
“She eventually had a stroke,” Plumb said, followed by months of rehab.
The American Kratom Association said the substance, derived from leaves of tropical trees in Southeast Asia, is safe if used properly.
Though legal in most states, the FDA has urged people not to consume it, citing adverse side effects, including seizures.
“I’m a success story,” said Lora Romney, a “nine-year” Kratom user, who testified before a legislative committee last month. “I have incredible health.”
Romney said Kratom dramatically improved a nerve condition.
“If this were to be banned,” she said, “I literally will not be able to get out of bed.”
Measures at the Capitol could severely restrict Kratom, which is widely available at stores all over the state, but banning it outright seems off the table with just a couple of weeks to go this legislative session.
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(Haiyun Jiang | The New York Times) The U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, July 2, 2025.
On Jan. 24, a group of neighbors in Holladay found ourselves talking about troubling national news — another fatal encounter involving federal law enforcement in Minneapolis.
At first, we spoke cautiously, unsure whether we shared the same political views. But restraint soon gave way as people voiced what they were feeling.
“I’ve been crying all day.”
“I’m questioning what it means to be an American.”
“I no longer recognize the party I belong to.”
“This is wrong, and I feel powerless to stop it.”
That sense of powerlessness, it became clear, was because we do not see our values being reflected in congressional action. Utah voters entrust our representatives with real authority — with our voice. This includes the duty to speak when constitutional norms, the rule of law and basic human dignity are under strain. When that voice is absent, silence itself becomes a message.
Writing a letter to a member of Congress can feel like a small thing, but we had to begin somewhere. So one was written that we all could sign, directed to Utah’s delegation. At its core, the letter asked a simple question: Is loyalty to a political movement taking precedence over loyalty to constituents’ values?
The values we had in mind are not radical, but moderate. We believe them to be widely shared across Utah.
We believe Utahns want law and order, but we reject brutality, abuse of power and enforcement stripped of humanity. Justice works best when it is firm, lawful and tempered with mercy. Congressional oversight of the executive branch is not optional; it is a constitutional responsibility, especially when violations occur.
Utahns have learned over time to navigate disagreement through listening, good-faith negotiation and respect for democratic outcomes. Strategies of domination and marginalization — whether aimed at individuals, cities, states or nations — undermine democratic legitimacy and weaken the country. We want representatives who are committed to bipartisan problem-solving, not partisan entrenchment.
Utahns are deeply concerned about unsustainable debt and widening economic inequality. Prosperity carries responsibility for the common good. Those entrusted with public resources must act with integrity, address poverty and corruption, and resist oppression wherever it appears — at home or abroad.
The letter noted the low profile that Utah’s congressional delegation has maintained despite a series of concerning executive actions over the past year.
“We feel you can and must do more,” it stated. “With narrow margins in Congress, if you act together as Utahns — prioritizing principles over partisanship — our state can have an outsized influence in defending constitutional norms, insisting on accountability and restoring trust in government.”
We closed by asking our leaders to put Utah values first, to speak clearly when the rule of law is threatened and to use the power we entrusted to them with courage and independence.
Before delivering it, we thought to invite others to sign with us — friends, family members, others who might share our concerns but lacked a constructive way to act. We hoped for a few dozen signatories from across the state.
We began circulating it on the morning of Jan. 27. The response exceeded our expectations. By noon, dozens had signed. By evening, hundreds. The next day, Utahns were signing it by the hundred per hour.
Messages expressing relief and resolve also poured in.
“Thank you for putting my feelings into words.”
“I haven’t been this relieved to sign something in a long time.”
“I hope this letter becomes impossible to ignore.”
After two days, we delivered it to the offices of each senator and member of Congress with more than 1,700 signatures from across the state. And they were still coming — within three more days the total was more than 2,400.
This effort was not a scientific poll. But it confirmed something important: Politically moderate Utahns may not dominate headlines, but we are engaged, and there is pent-up desire for our voice to be acknowledged.
We are ready to support leaders — of any party — who will speak up for our values, act in defense of constitutional norms and the rule of law, and lead with integrity, dignity and courage.
(Cynthia Collier) Cynthia Collier is a Salt Lake Valley native.
(Dave Young) Dave Young lives in the Salt Lake valley.
(Ken Lisonbee) Ken Lisonbeelives in the Salt Lake valley.
Cynthia Collier, Dave Young and Ken Lisonbee are Holladay neighbors, Salt Lake valley natives and concerned citizens.
The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. We rely on your insight to do this. Find out how to share your opinion here, and email us at voices@sltrib.com.
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Before the last Utah Olympics in 2002, there was a push for TRAX and a massive expansion of I-15.
This time, a state lawmaker envisions self-driving taxis and buses — hundreds or even thousands of them on Utah roads — by the 2034 games.
Rep. Matt MacPherson, R-Salt Lake County, is asking for $10 million in state money for a pilot project for UDOT to begin leasing robotaxis.
2026 Legislative Session (Graphic: KUTV)
“I think if we can show a track record of safety … we can show our industry partners are meeting the requirements of the demands of our regulatory framework,” MacPherson said. “I would expect we would see this grow dramatically.”
He said Utah launched cutting-edge legislation on self-driving cars in 2018, but not much has happened since.
So, he’s coupling the $10 million budget request, which has not been prioritized, with a yet-to-be-released measure to better govern when someone is not behind the wheel.
Another plan at the Capitol would limit liability for self-driving car manufacturers.
MacPherson acknowledged that people are hesitant about robocars.
”Yes, absolutely,” he said. “I think it’s more hesitancy among those who have not had a chance to experience it or utilize it. I think most of the data that we’ve seen is that these autonomous systems are incredibly safer than human drivers.”
2News has covered demonstrations of self-driving vehicles, including an instance seven years ago where an older man was thrown from his seat and was hurt when the vehicle stopped.
McPherson said technology has advanced since then and is continuing to advance.
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