The University of Utahâs womenâs gymnastics team isnât all that used to losing. Especially not in Pac-12 Conference competition.
It happens, sure, but year after year the Red Rocks have been the class of the conference since joining in 2012, particularly the last few years.
Saturday afternoon in Berkeley, California, Utah may have been unseated as the preeminent Pac-12 power, though, in this the final year of the conference.
In a showdown between top 5 teams â No. 3 Cal and No. 4 Utah â the Red Rocks came up short, losing to the Bears 198.100 to 197.700. Cal was the better team on multiple events â uneven bars and vault â while proving equal to Utah on floor exercise.
Cal sophomore eMjae Frazier was the best gymnast in the meet, winning the all-around title plus three other events titles â bars, floor and balance beam.
Only two Red Rocks â Ashley Glynn and Jaedyn Rucker â came away with some hardware, tying for the event title on vault with a pair of Cal gymnasts (Mya Lauzon and Kyen Mayhew).
With the loss, Utah now trails Cal in the race for the Pac-12 regular season title, a prize the Utes have claimed the last four years. And with only one more conference meet to go (at Arizona on Friday) Utah will need Cal to lose to Stanford on March 10 in order to get a share of the title.
As such, it was a disappointing outing for the Red Rocks, who expect to win conference championships â regular season and postseason â year after year.
âNot the total outcome we were hoping for today,â Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf said.
Wins and losses donât tell the whole story in gymnastics, however, and though the Red Rocks lost, they left California in better position than when they arrived.
With the score of 197.700, Utah improved its national qualifying score (NQS) which determines rankings during the regular season and postseason seeding.
Moreover, Utah withstood the absence of two notable gymnasts â Amelie Morgan and Makenna Smith â for most of the meet and still managed to compete at or near the same level of the Bears, who are a genuine national title threat this year.
âA pretty decent road score for us,â Dockendorf said. âI love that the team fought to the very end. We didnât give up. We definitely gave some tenths (of a point) away on our bars and our landings, and also on vault. … We made a lot of lineup changes as the meet was unfolding. We made a lineup change on three events. A lot of adjusting had to happen today and I was just proud that our team stayed focused throughout the meet.â
Utah lost the meet early.
As mentioned by Dockendorf, the Red Rocks left something to be desired on both bars and vault. Landings in particular were less than Utah wanted, with hops and steps the norm.
In the meantime, Cal had a standout performance on bars with three gymnasts â Frazier, Gabby Perea and Madelyn Williams â closing out the rotation with consecutive 9.975s.
It was that rotation that won the meet for the Bears. Utah outperformed Cal the second half of the competition, but the Bearsâ prowess on bars, coupled with Utahâs early mistakes, proved too much for the Red Rocks to overcome.
âWe definitely need to be more disciplined with our execution,â Dockendorf said.
Even with those miscues, Utah was in the competition late. That was in no small part to the teamâs floor lineup.
Across the board â save for a notable poor outing from Grace McCallum â Utah was excellent on floor, counting a low score of 9.875 from Abby Paulson.
Maile OâKeefe, Ella Zirbes, Jaylene Gilstrap and Jaedyn Rucker all competed well as Utah made clear again that it is a floor team this season.
âFloor is the one event where we had the least amount of lineup changes from last year,â Dockendorf said. âI think there is a lot of confidence and experience coming into that lineup and I think our performance quality is elevated this year and it is reflecting in our scores for sure.â
Utahâs effort on floor didnât prove enough to overcome Cal, but it put the Red Rocks in a position to win if the Bears had made mistakes and it gave Utah the boost it needed to come away with a notable road score.
Makenna Smith had been one of Utahâs most consistent competitors this season, but after stumbling on her vault landing, the sophomore was pulled from the lineup the rest of the night (she was slated to compete in the all-around).
It wasnât anything too serious, Dockendorf noted. Smithâs back flared up during the week and after her struggles on vault Utahâs coaching staff decided to play things safe after it flared up again.
As a result, Camie Winger and Jaedyn Rucker both had to serve as emergency replacements and both did exceptionally well.
Rucker scored a 9.90 on floor in place of Smith, a step in the right direction for the fifth-year senior.
âI was extremely proud of Jaedyn,â Dockendorf said. âShe wasnât scheduled to be in the lineup today, but with Makennaâs back flaring up it was a last-minute change. Jaedyn has been working so hard in practice and for her to go out there and do a normal Jaedyn routine was huge tonight.â
Winger, meanwhile, was no less impressive filling in on beam.
She led off the rotation â one she has not regularly competed in â and earned a 9.850, setting the stage for a strong outing by Utah.
All as a true freshman.
âCamie loves to compete,â Dockendorf said. âThat is where she thrives. … The more pressure the more she loves it. She is really a utility gymnast and what I mean by that is she can kind of go anywhere in any lineup in any space and still be able to go and perform.â
In order to capitalize on Wingerâs innate traits, Dockendorf didnât tell her sheâd be competing in place of Smith until the very last moment.
âI didnât want her thinking about it the entire meet,â Dockendorf said. âI knew that Cam would be able to handle it.â
As noted, Utah was not perfect in the meet. Bars and vault â thought solid rotations â were not up to the standard that Utah needs them to be in order to compete with the best teams in the country, which Cal is.
On bars, the miscues were primarily landing related. Gymnasts showed a lack of patience when holding landings, which led to steps forward and back. There were also rushed handstands and leg separation on transitions between the high and low bars, mistakes that can be found in any NCAA meet week after week, only Utah had too many of them.
It was a similar story on vault, with steps taken as gymnasts tried a little too hard to stick their landings. Or in the case of Smith, were hampered by injury.
Utah wasnât perfect on floor or beam, either, with notable mistakes from McCallum and Elizabeth Ganter on floor and beam, respectively.
But it was bars and vault where the Red Rocks lost the meet and where they will need to be better going forward, particularly come the postseason.
âOn bars, we left some points out there,â Dockendorf said. âSame as on vault. Absolutely if we want to contend for the national title and Pac-12 title, we are going to have to clean up some details still.
âI mentioned earlier this week that that was going to be important for us to focus on and some of the mistakes we saw tonight are mistakes we havenât been seeing.â
Utah lost. Cal was the better team. But the Red Rocks were competitive on the road against a team they will likely see again a couple more times this year.
Utah improved its NQS, all while handling unexpected changes in lineups and the absence of Morgan, who remains in England for the time being while she vies for a spot on Team Great Britain for the Paris Olympics this summer.
Really, Utah proved capable of competing with an elite team while not at its best, which can only bode well for the future.
âIt is going to fire them up,â Dockendorf said. âThey know that we left a lot out there. Multiple lineup changes today with Amelie out and Makenna didnât do all her events and Grace didnât do her normal stuff today.
âThose are all excuses, which I am not going to use for our performance today, but (today) definitely is something we can think about for our potential come postseason.â
The weeks following the college football regular season provide players plenty of time to weigh their NFL draft options against their desire to compete in a bowl game.
In Utah’s case, offensive tackles Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, as well as defensive end Logan Fano, decided it was in their best interests to forego the Utes’ Las Vegas Bowl matchup against Nebraska and declare for the 2026 NFL Draft instead.
Utah quarterback Devon Dampier, meanwhile, was looking forward to one last ride with his 2025 teammates before calling it a season.
“I chose to finish out this season with my team,” Dampier said during a media availability session Thursday. “I’m gonna play in the game. But some people, it’s a lot higher stakes; got a couple first rounders and things like that.”
‘We know those guys love us. They let it be known every day since they’ve been here, so we still support those guys and they support us.”
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham presumed Thursday that the Fano brothers and Lomu would be the only bowl game opt-outs on Utah’s side, along with a few walk-ons. Some Utes who announced their transfer portal intentions continued to practice with the team as well.
Dampier confirmed his availability for the Las Vegas Bowl after a historic regular season under center, becoming the first Utes signal-caller to throw for over 2,000 yards and rush for over 600 yards in a single season since Alex Smith accomplished the feat in 2004. Dampier had 2,180 passing yards, a career-high 22 passing touchdowns and only five interceptions after throwing 12 picks last season. He also had 687 rushing yards and seven touchdowns going into Utah’s postseason game.
While his intentions for Dec. 31 were made clear, Dampier’s status for next season remained somewhat cloudy. He did hint at making an announcement alongside fellow quarterback Byrd Ficklin, though it was postponed after Ficklin’s return to the Utes was leaked Dec. 11.
“Y’all going to see,” Dampier said when asked if he was coming back for the 2026 campaign. “It’s great. I’m very happy to be here.”
“[Ficklin and I] were trying to do something special, but his [return] got a little leaked out before we could get to it. But it’s coming.”
Dampier said during a radio show appearance earlier in December that he was “big on staying” and had “no intentions to leave” the Utes. He also said over the airwaves that he anticipates being named a captain for the 2026 squad, and that he does play a role in recruiting.
Dampier discussed Kyle Whittingham’s impending departure from the program and the future outlook with Morgan Scalley set to take over during his media availability session.
“That’s a legend. I got a lot of respect for him. I think he’s transformed this program. He’s made it perfect for [Morgan] Scalley to step in. I’m still excited to still be at Ute.”
“I’m very confident in Scalley. When I came here on my visit, that was someone I talked to. He let me know the rundown for when his time comes. He had his full belief in me and in my talent, so I’m perfectly fine where I’m at.”
“It means a lot to me. I could try to speak for everybody on the team, but for me, especially, that’s a coach that believed in me to come in here after being at New Mexico, and just had a full trust in me, in the offense, to do what we do. And that’s just huge respect from him, and just what he’s done for this program. This is one only programs in college football where you know what Utes do, you know how they play and you know the mentality. So for him to leave that up, I got to finish well for him.”
“Most definitely. I think just what’s already set here, what’s known here; Scalley has been under Whitt. I think Whitt’s done a great job of allowing him to demonstrate what a good head coach looks like and I know Scalley is gonna step into it and do what he does.”
DETROIT — Just as the Detroit Red Wings looked like they were getting into a groove, they hit a stumbling block Wednesday in a 4-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth.
It’s only one game for a team that still sits atop the Atlantic Division, and none of the Red Wings players or coaches were going to panic in the aftermath. But a night after head coach Todd McLellan cautioned, “You can’t give it back,” after a strong run of recent play, a three-goal loss on home ice wasn’t the follow-up anyone was looking for.
Here’s what went wrong and some other thoughts from Wednesday night.
1. There was no doubt what McLellan thought the biggest issue was against the Mammoth.
“For me, the difference was obvious,” he said. “It was play around our net.”
And that was a theme on all four goals Detroit allowed. On the first, Simon Edvinsson drifted just off of Clayton Keller in the slot, giving him enough room to put home a big rebound off Cam Talbot. On the second, Ben Chiarot didn’t tie up Jack McBain on the back post. The third was a bit different, as no one really lost their man, but when Moritz Seider went to clear a trickling puck headed for a goal line, he ended up bouncing it off Talbot’s pad and right to Dylan Guenther for an easy goal. And on the fourth, Nate Danielson was a step or two off his check in the slot for a one-timer.
“It’s like sitting at your desk at school,” McLellan said. “You’re sitting there, but big deal. Are you doing any work? We’re in position. Do the work. Do the job. Get it done.”
McLellan also noted that Edvinsson and Danielson threw their heads back after the first and fourth goals, indicating they knew immediately what had gone wrong.
2. Though those goals against were ultimately the difference in the final score, Detroit also created far too little danger of its own against the Mammoth, especially at five-on-five.
Detroit’s top players, in particular, had uncharacteristic nights, with their first line (Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Emmitt Finnie) and the top defense pair (Seider and Edvinsson) all ending the night at minus-2, and with five-on-five expected goals shares below 25 percent, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Finnie got the Red Wings’ lone goal on a third-period power-play blast that briefly gave Detroit life, but there just weren’t enough serious chances in the second or third periods to really threaten Utah.
Although Detroit’s power play eventually scored in the third, a pair of second-period opportunities on the man advantage went by uneventfully when the score was still 1-0. The Red Wings didn’t record a shot on goal in the first of those two chances, and the top unit managed just one shot on goal in the second as well.
“We had looks, we had zone time, we just didn’t get it done,” Larkin said. “Didn’t get pucks through. Credit to them, they had a tight diamond, and I’m sure Todd will tell you both on their penalty kill and five-on-five, they probably won the net play tonight, and that was probably the story of the game.”
Certainly, the lack of any five-on-five offense is a more damning proposition than a 1-for-4 night on the power play. But situationally, in a one-goal game, those were big missed chances to swing momentum. Utah scored just 22 seconds after killing off the second penalty to make it 2-0, and that ultimately proved to be the game-winning goal.
Still, with just one even-strength goal in the last two games, the Red Wings are going to need more there, and that includes their top players, who have really carried them offensively to this point.
3. Wednesday’s loss dropped the Red Wings to 1-5 in the second half of back-to-backs this season.
It’s a small sample, but that stands out, even with the inherent challenge of playing on consecutive nights. It didn’t seem to slow Utah too much Wednesday, for example.
Larkin acknowledged the Red Wings will have to be better in those situations, particularly with more on the horizon. Detroit will play three more sets of back-to-backs in the next two weeks, with a home-and-home against the Washington Capitals this weekend, tilts against the Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs the following weekend, and then the Winnipeg Jets and Pittsburgh Penguins at New Year’s.
I asked McLellan if there was anything he could put his finger on with the back-to-backs, and he pointed out that Detroit hadn’t scored first in any of those losses. That is true, and it’s probably a symptom and a cause.
Not scoring early has been a theme all season, though. Detroit has just 19 first-period goals in 35 games, which ranks 30th in the league, while giving up 28. The goals against number isn’t so bad — it’s still roughly league average — but it still translates to coming out of the first in a hole too often.
Cam Talbot hasn’t quite hit the same highs as earlier this season in recent games. (Rick Osentoski / Imagn Images)
4. Just as John Gibson seems to have found a bit of a rhythm for the Red Wings, Cam Talbot — who was Detroit’s rock in net early this season — has slipped into a bit of a funk. Not many of Wednesday’s goals were on him, but the rebound he gave up on the first goal (stemming from a low-percentage shot from along the boards) and then the trickling puck that led the third are atypical of where he was to start the season.
McLellan said he thinks the Red Wings have played better in front of Gibson of late, a reversal from early in the season, but that he’d “have a conversation (with Talbot) real quick, just let him know that we believe in him, because we do.”
5. After Tuesday night’s game, I noted Detroit had a tougher portion of the schedule coming up, with the back-to-back games against Washington and hosting a good Dallas Stars team to lead into Christmas.
Co-worker Dom Luszczyszyn pointed out to me that it’s actually more dramatic in the big picture. His model projects the Red Wings with the league’s toughest remaining schedule coming into Wednesday, and Detroit’s remaining opponents also have the second-highest collective win percentage.
That’s just one more reason that banking every point possible matters right now, especially from Eastern Conference foes they’ll be competing with for a playoff spot.
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