No. 4 UCLA gymnastics will close out its regular season at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Saturday, facing former Pac-12 rival No. 5 Utah. Ahead of the matchup, Sports contributor Ella Dunderdale breaks down both of the nation’s top-five teams.

Utah
Ranking: No. 5
Strength: Bars
Weakness: Vault
X-factor: Grace McCallum

Legacy.

It’s a word often tied to the Utah gymnastics program.

And its decades of consistency back it up.

The Red Rocks have qualified for every national championship since the tournament’s conception in 1982 and are the sole program to boast such an accolade. Although coach Carly Dockendorf took the reins of the program just last season, she continued the team’s streak by leading the squad to its fourth consecutive third-place finish at the national championships.

However, despite securing the No. 2 finish five times from 2000 onward, the Red Rocks have failed to capture a national title this century.

Led by Grace McCallum, this year’s squad has a solid shot to go the distance. Before joining the Red Rocks, McCallum earned a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games alongside Jordan Chiles. The senior is ranked No. 8 in the country in the all-around with an NQS of 39.565. She also owns team highs on beam, floor and bars with 9.975, 9.975 and 10, respectively.

McCallum is the nation’s No. 1 bar swinger, anchoring Utah’s lineup and scoring at least a 9.875 on the event at every meet this season. Senior Amelie Morgan is another staple in the Red Rocks’ No. 4-ranked bars squad. Another Olympic medalist in Tokyo, Morgan is tied for No. 31 in the country with a 9.890 NQS.

The graduation of former Ute Maile O’Keefe, a four-time NCAA champion, left a seemingly unfillable void in the beam lineup this season. O’Keefe notched a program-best 14 perfect scores on the event during her tenure in Salt Lake City and finished her career as a 19-time All-American.

Although the Red Rocks lost arguably the best beam worker in NCAA history, they also gained a familiar face in Ana Padurariu. The junior competed at UCLA for two seasons starting in 2022 before deferring her junior season to train for the Olympics, which she ultimately fell short of. With the Utes, Padurariu owns an NQS of 9.840 and a season high of 9.925 on beam.

Utah also added former five-star recruit Avery Neff to its arsenal this season. A seven-time Level 10 national champion and 19-time Utah state champion, Neff had a stellar start to her freshman campaign until she sprained both ankles while performing a floor routine Jan. 17 against Iowa State.

But less than a month later, Neff was already back in the Red Rocks’ bars lineup and made a remarkable return to the all-around March 8 – less than two months after the injury.

Makenna Smith is another of Utah’s consistent all-around competitors, ranked No. 9 in the nation with an NQS of 39.560. She provides consistency to the Red Rocks’ vault lineup, ranking No. 7 in the event, and notched a career-high 9.975 on Feb. 7 against Arizona.

Ashley Glynn has also stepped up on vault, competing on the apparatus in every meet since transferring from Temple before the 2024 season. However, her scores have fluctuated, ranging from 9.725 to 9.950 throughout 2025.

At the end of the 2024 season, floor was the Red Rocks’ highest-ranked event at No. 4. However, their floor scores this season have been up and down, averaging a 49.373. Although it is their lowest-ranked event at No. 8, the squad has recently improved on floor, making it its highest-scoring event in three of its last four competitions.

Jaylene Gilstrap has also helped boost recent Utah scores, posting at least a 9.900 on floor in the last four meets. The fifth-year has been a floor staple throughout her collegiate career, notching six consecutive 9.950 marks last season.

Ella Zirbes has shown recent improvement on floor, returning to the lineup Feb. 2 after a two-week hiatus and hitting a 9.900 or higher in the last three meets.

Spearheaded by an Olympian of its own and nationally ranked all-arounders, Utah has the potential to chase history once again.