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.
It started ugly.
An uncharacteristic mistake by Madison Curry, and then an uncharacteristic mistake by Phoebe McClernon, and then an uncharacteristic mistake by Claudia Dickey – all within the opening 50 seconds of play, all culminating in a Paige Cronin goal off a patient cutback assist by Mina Tanaka.
1-0, not even 1 minute in.
The Reign continued to struggle with the combination of Lumen’s new-look grass and Utah’s relentless press, and conceded again all too quickly. Recycling after a corner, the ball popped out of the area to Narumi Miura, who struck it well with her laces. Dickey stretched for it, but the ball took a vicious deflection and she had no chance.
2-0 in the 7th minute, practically over before it even really began.
The Reign started finding their feet after the 15th minute. Brittany Ratcliffe found a chance on the break in the 19th minute, but ultimately couldn’t challenge Royals goalkeeper Mia Justus enough to pull one back. Jess Fishlock started one of the best attacking moves of the game in the 30th minute, looping a ball over the top to Nérilia Mondésir and continuing her run, crashing in late for a shot from the top of the six yard box – only to rattle the crossbar, missing cutting the Reign’s deficit in half again by an inch. The Reign kept possession, and Fishlock had another chance for an emphatic goal, but was unable to connect with the bicycle on Mondésir’s cross. Maddie Mercado got in behind on a ball over the top in the 36th, and Justus took her down in the area for what would’ve been a stone-cold, no doubt about it penalty, but the whole play was ruled dead on a somewhat questionable passive offside on Ratcliffe.
And all that promising play was undone in a split second on the other end again, as Ana Tejada found the seam to put Cloé Lacasse into the penalty area. Despite Dickey reading the play well, Lacasse finished neatly, delivering one last sucker punch to the Reign in first-half stoppage time.
3-0 at the halftime whistle, and too much wondering what might have been.
Though the scoring was done by halftime, there were more ill tidings for the Reign on a night where everything went wrong, both self-inflicted and otherwise.
The worst of it came in the 64th minute: Maddie Dahlien found Maddie Mercado at the top of the area, and Mercado delivered a stinging shot that looked destined for the back of the net, perhaps only a consolation, but what would’ve been a deserved finish and a lifeline in the final half hour of the match.
Except it didn’t go that way.
The timing was just wrong. The ball struck a leaping Jess Fishlock’s ankle, she came down hard, and her ankle rolled beneath her. She left the pitch on a stretcher with her ankle in an air cast. We can only hope the injury is less serious than it looked.
After that, the Reign kept pushing, finding moments here and there, but the energy was gone from the match, the captain was gone from the match, and a bad day at the office seemed determined only to get worse.
The Reign hit the woodwork again, rattling the frame of the goal but failing to ripple the net.
Emeri Adames got taken out – and may have picked up an injury of her own, though she tried to run it off for the last few minutes – at the top of the area, to a disinterested “play on” from the ref.
Nine minutes of stoppage time melted away in an inconclusive series of fouls, counter-fouls, shoves, and pulls in the middle third of the pitch, and Matthew Thompson blew his whistle for full time.
3-0, and in so many ways, a much worse outcome than the scoreline.
Nervy and wrong-footed out the gate, the Reign struggled to adapt to the playing surface early on, making a number of poor passes on the World Cup grass that Utah was only too happy to pounce on. Finding their footing as the half went on, the Reign couldn’t make anything count, instead conceding again late despite multiple chances to change the scoreline.
Searching for anything to build off of in the second half, the Reign instead lost their captain, talisman, and legend, potentially for the long term – a strike that seemed destined for goal instead the catalyst for a potentially devastating injury.
All throughout the match, the Reign’s mistakes were punished ruthlessly, their spells of good play fizzled to nothing, and they couldn’t find either the moment of skill or the moment of fair fortune to change the narrative.
Though the Reign were certainly co-architects of their own downfall, veteran players making mistakes in defense and possession that one seldom sees them make, Utah’s aggressive, high-energy press forced the issue, giving the Reign fits and demanding they play cleanly to break the danger.
They proved, for the first 10 minutes, largely incapable, and coughed up two goals in the first seven minutes, and had many more hiccups and near-disasters as the match progressed. While Utah ultimately didn’t create very much, the Reign gave them far too many opportunities to steal dangerous chances, and the Royals were happy to oblige. And unfortunately for the Reign, panicked and self-inflicted goals against count just the same as beautiful and creative ones.
For all the disasters of the match, the Reign had opportunities to change the narrative. After going down 2-0, they took four shots from high-leverage spots, hitting the crossbar, missing inches wide, and forcing a save out of Mia Justus along the way. Maddie Mercado got in behind, and, notwithstanding the perplexing offside decision, could very easily have had a penalty kick awarded for her trouble.
They created enough danger to get something out of the first half. Unfortunately, they couldn’t make that count, and rather than pulling back into the match, they conceded again to end the half after controlling play for almost 30 minutes.
With a two-week break for the international window, the Reign looked to get the team healthy and get more of their ideal lineup back together again. The match saw the welcome return of Maddie Dahlien and Mia Fishel, and another appearance for Ryanne Brown as she continues working her way back from her own long-term injury.
Sometimes, the soccer gods just take and take and take, though. Jess Fishlock left with an ankle injury, one that looked potentially severe. Emeri Adames looked shaken up and limped badly through the end of the match after absorbing an ugly challenge in the late stages. Jordyn Bugg still hasn’t made it back to the pitch after suffering another injury in camp with the U20 national team. While they’ve navigated it reasonably well to this point, the Reign have been short multiple important starters every single match of the season, and in the midst of a demoralizing home loss, it may have just gotten worse, rather than better.
Sofia Huerta made no excuses and minced no words about the disastrous opening for the Reign as she offered her breakdown of the match.
“I think how it felt being out there was – we were not ready when the whistle blew. Like the moment the game started, I think Utah was on their front foot and we were a little slow to start. Hence the goal that happened so quickly, and the second one that followed. […] They had three shots on goal and scored three really good goals. We had a few opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on. And when you don’t do that, and then they capitalize on their opportunities, that’s when things go downhill.”
Brittany Ratcliffe agreed, adding that the Reign responded well after a disastrous opening 15 minutes, but wound up with nothing to show for their better stretches of play.
“I think for for me and for our team – I think we take accountability for everything that happened today and going forward. We were the ones out there. We have control in what we do. I think to Sofia’s point, I don’t think we were ready and then it’s always – and credit to Utah, they finished their chances – it’s always hard to be down 2-0, and feel like oh, now you have to make up for it. […] I think to Sofia’s point, I’m thinking after the game, like, ‘dang, that’s really terrible, 3-0’, like, you don’t ever want to see that. But I think it’s an opportunity to grow. Like you said, we were off by just a hair. In the next game, those go in, you know?”
“So, I think for us, we have to be hard on ourselves and take today and be like, ‘okay, that’s not acceptable, we are better than that.’ And then tomorrow, okay, how can we improve?”
Laura Harvey’s diagnosis was simple: Utah’s pressure and out-of-possession play is excellent, and you have to do your best to keep the ball where they can’t hurt you with it. The Reign were unable to do so, and were also unable to take back the momentum with a goal when they had the upper hand.
“We’d spoke for the last two weeks about how Utah are very aggressive in their pressure. They’re going to come on the front foot and we need to make sure that we put the ball in areas where they can’t hurt you. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that well enough at times today, and got really punished for it. […] I said that to the group at the end. I think in those moments when you have a momentum and you’re getting you’re really pushing to get back into the game, you ideally want to score in those moments, but you definitely don’t want to give up a goal. And that third goal was like a sucker punch.”
She added that the Reign tried to adjust at the half to play a more direct game, after Utah victimized the Reign in their buildout too many times early.
“I think we did them in the second half. We pressed them better. We forced them to give us the ball back more. We passed forward more. When you play against a team like Utah, if you want to play backwards and square, they want that – they desperately want that – and we fell into that trap. We’d spoken all week about not doing that. I thought in the second half we did a better job of it, which meant we got a bit more momentum.”
The Reign won’t have much time to dwell on this loss, as they return to action Friday, May 1st at 5:00 PM PT when they visit the Houston Dash. The match will stream on Victory+.
A few Utah stars took one step closer to living out their dreams of playing professional football as the 2026 NFL Draft played out in Pittsburgh over the weekend.
Three Utes were phoned by NFL teams over the past three days, including two in the first round for the first time in school history.
Here’s what Utah’s 2026 draft class looked like following the seventh round on Saturday:
It was the fourth time since 2020 that multiple Utah players were selected in the same draft. Fano became the third-highest drafted player in program history, behind only Alex Smith (No. 1 overall in 2005) and Jordan Gross (No. 8 overall in 2003).
As historic as the 2026 draft was for the Utes, how does their latest draft class compare to some of the previous classes they’ve produced? Let’s take a look at some of Utah’s other notable draft classes and figure out how the next batch of pro Utes fits into the equation.
Average career length: 4.6 years (four active in 2025)
Accolades: 1x Super Bowl champion (Burgess), 2x Pro Bowls (Johnson)
Average career length: 4 years (two active in 2025)
Accolades: 1x All-Pro, 1x Pro Bowl (Bolles)
Average career length: 6 years (three active in 2025)
Accolades: 1x Super Bowl champion, 1x Pro Bowl (Gay)
Average career length: 4.7 years
Accolades: 1x Super Bowl champion (Reed), 1x Pro Bowl (Beadles)
Average career length: 7 years
Accolades: 1x Super Bowl champion (Kemoeatu), 3x Pro Bowl, Comeback Player of the Year (Smith)
Obviously, only time will tell just how many combined years and accolades the Utes’ 2026 class racks up at the pro level. If Fano and Lomu each play 10-plus seasons and collect a Pro Bowl nod or two along the way, the 2026 class could rival the 2005 and 2010 classes.
Due to the volume of the 2017 and 2020 classes, respectively, it’s hard to compare the 2026 group to those classes — at least, right now it is. If either (or both) of Utah’s first-round tackles goes on to become one of the best at their position and Dallen Bentley develops into a bonafide starter who contributes on good teams, then we’d have to revisit the conversation.
For now, we’re not going to place that kind of pressure on the 2026 class.
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SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Utah Republicans are heading toward several competitive June primaries following the state party convention.
Rep. Blake Moore will advance to a Republican primary after falling short of the threshold needed to secure the nomination.
“I have always been a convention-supported candidate, but today I’m asking you to make me the outright winner so that I will go spend the next six months making sure every American knows the difference between common sense and crazy,” Moore said, pointing to tax cuts and endorsements.
Delegates instead backed challenger Karianne Lisonbee, who won more than 60% of the vote, sending Moore into a primary despite his signature-gathering effort to also secure a place on the ballot.
“There are always going to be results that you don’t anticipate,” Utah Republican Party Chair Rob Axson said.
In Utah’s 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Celeste Maloy and challenger Phil Lyman also advanced to a June primary after a tightly contested convention vote. Maloy received 51% support, while Lyman received 49%.
Maloy emphasized her legislative experience and accomplishments in office.
“Experience and know-how really matter in this job,” Maloy said. “I’ve been doing the job for just a little more than two years. I’m passing bills that fix problems in Utah.”
“The stakes are high,” Lyman said. “I’m telling you, there is a game that’s being played, and we need to understand that the stakes are very high for our children.”
Axson said the close results are likely to energize voters ahead of the primary.
“I think it will keep people engaged,” Axson said. “We’re going to have a lot of people who are interested, and they’ll be leaning into these races and their preferred candidates.”
The Republican primaries are scheduled for June, when voters across Utah will make the final decision on the party’s nominees.
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