The Utah Utes women's gymnastics team, also known as the Red Rocks, represents the University of Utah and competes at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the Big 12 Conference. Home meets are held in the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. As of the end of the 2024 season, the Red Rocks have won 10 national championships, including nine NCAA Gymnastics championships, and been runner-up nine times. Until 2026, the Red Rocks were the only team to have qualified for every NCAA Championships and had never finished lower than 10th. The team was coached from its inception by Greg Marsden until his retirement after the 2015 season. Carly Dockendorf is the current head coach, after the release of Tom Farden in 2023.
History The Utah Utes gymnastics team first competed in 1976. The team first appeared on television in 1978 and has appeared every year since then. The NCAA first sponsored women's gymnastics national championships in 1982. Utah was the only team to qualify for every national championship until their loss in the 2026 Sweet-16, ending their 49-year streak.
Pac-12 Conference The University of Utah became a member of the newly expanded Pac-12 Conference in 2011, and the Red Rocks became one of eight teams in the conference to compete in women's gymnastics. Utah has taken the Pac-12 Championships seven times since joining the conference, winning in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The Red Rocks have won or shared a portion of the Regular Season Pac-12 Championship since its inauguration - the 2020 season is the first time each of the eight Pac-12 teams competed against every other team in the conference.; The Red Rocks won outright in 2020 and 2021, and shared the title in a four-way tie in both 2022 and 2023.;
Utah gymnasts have won the individual all-around title at the Pac-12 Championship five times:
Year Gymnast Score 2012 Corrie Lothrop 39.625 2014 Tory Wilson 39.450 2015 Georgia Dabritz 39.775 2016 Breanna Hughes 39.550 2021 Maile O'Keefe 39.700
Big 12 Conference In 2024, the University of Utah was one of ten members of the Pac-12 who announced they would be moving to a different conference. Utah, alongside the University of Arizona and Arizona State University, moved to the Big 12 Conference. They officially started competition in the Big 12 Conference in the 2024–2025 season.
Since moving to the Big 12, Utah has won the conference championship and had the individual champion every year. Utah has had two individual All-Around conference champions: Year Gymnast Score 2025 Grace McCallum 39.550 2026 Avery Neff 39.700
Nickname The nickname "Red Rocks" has its origins in the Utah Gymnastics 1992 media guide cover photo.1992 Utah gymnastics media guide. University of Utah, Athletics Department 1992 Miller, Ryan - Gymnastics notes: the origin of the nickname “Red Rocks”. The Daily Utah Chronicle, Feb 23, 2015, Notes: The article incorrectly states 1993. At the time, all Utah women's sports teams used the moniker "Lady Utes". The name is a combination of "how rock solid they are, but also the red rock of southern Utah.” The 1992 team won the NCAA championship, with the name sticking.Hamilton, Linda - ROCKS' HELD TOGETHER LIKE GRANITE DURING TOUGH SEASON. Deseret News, May 1, 1992
Traditions
Rock The House Before the final home rotation to floor, the Red Rocks stand together in a circle in the center of the floor, put their arms around each other, and chant in unison "Who rocks the house? We say the Utes rock the house! And when the Utes rock the house we rock it all the way down!" This is done three times. During the chant, the Red Rocks will sway back and forth, then jump and strike their feet on the floor at the end of each verse. The words are not displayed in the arena but fans are welcome to learn the words and join in on the chant.
"Red Rocks" Call and Response Beginning in the 2024 season, Red Rock gymnasts will approach the student section before the first rotation and shout "Red!" in unison. The student section responds with "Rocks!" This is done three times.
Stick'd Board During the 2025 Utah Gymnastics season, Trevor Coyle, Mitch Brown, and Kai Cruz––student leaders of the Mighty Utah Student Section, the University of Utah's official student section organization––came up with a new idea for a Utah Red Rocks student tradition. The idea was to celebrate every time a Red Rock stuck a landing by writing their name on a sticky note and slapping it onto a board in front of the student section. They took an old sandwich board and wrote "STICK'D" on the blank side in large black letters, then collected pink sticky notes and a black marker to write down the names. The idea was first implemented at the concluding home meet of the 2025 season when #2 UCLA visited #4 Utah on March 15th, 2025. The Stick'd Board was met with praises from fans, Utah Red Rock Gymnasts, and the Utah Gymnastics Event Coordinator, who said that the board would become a permanent fixture in front of the student section for gymnastics meets.
Following the 2025 season the original Stick'd Board was replaced with a professionally made version. The original is displayed in the boardroom of the Mighty Utah Student Section in the Alumni House at the University of Utah.
Roster + 2026–27 Roster Name Height Year Hometown Club Norah Christian 5-3 SO Bremerton, WA Cascade Elite Gymnastics West Sage Curtis 4-11 SO Riverton, UT Olympus Gymnastics Elizabeth Gantner 4-11 SR Indianapolis, IN Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center Léonie Gervais 5-3 FR Trois-Rivières, QC Gym TRM Zoe Johnson 5-1 JR Durham, NC Sonshine Gymnastics Ayla Miller 5-2 FR Big Lake, MN Twin City Twisters Avery Neff 5-4 JR South Jordan, UT Olympus Gymnastics Clara Raposo 5-1 JR Toronto, ON East York Gymnastics Abbi Ryssman 5-1 SO Rochester, MN Flips Gymnastics Poppy-Grace Stickler 5-3 JR Cardiff, Wales Cymru Caerdydd Bailey Stroud 5-4 SO New Palestine, IN Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center Lilly Tubbs 5-8 GR Pflugerville, TX AcroTex Gymnastics Arielle Ward 5-8 GR Frisco, TX Metroplex Camie Winger 5-3 SR Orem, UT Bold Gymnastics Ella Zirbes 5-3 SR Stillwater, MN Flips Gymnastics
National records
Utah has won a record 10 national championships (tied with Georgia). Nine of them were NCAA Women's Gymnastics championships and one was an AIAW Women's Gymnastics championship in 1981 before the NCAA adopted women's gymnastics. Utah ties with Georgia for the record of the most consecutive NCAA national championships with 5 (1982–1986). Utah qualified for every AIAW championship between the team's creation 1976 and 1981. After gymnastics was adopted by the NCAA in 1982, until 2025, Utah was the only team to have qualified for every NCAA national championship. Utah set the record with a 49-year streak of attending the national championship. Utah has the most All-American gymnast awards of any school with 398. Utah gymnastics set the longest regular season home win streak of any NCAA sport at 23 years (1979–2002) and 170 meets. Utah has led the nation in gymnastics attendance 37 times and has won eleven all-women's sports attendance titles. On March 6, 2015, Utah had an overflow crowd of 16,019 on hand for its win over Michigan, setting the NCAA gymnastics record for largest crowd in a single meet. In the 2020 season, Utah averaged a record 15,273 fans per meet. Between 2010 and 2020, Utah averaged more than 14,500 fans a meet.
Coaches
Head coaches Name Years Record Greg Marsden 1976 - 2015 1048-208-8 Megan Marsden 2000–2019 151-54-3 Tom Farden 2016–2023 101-33-1 Carly Dockendorf 2024–present
Greg Marsden was hired in 1976 to begin the gymnastics program. Marsden coached Utah for 40 straight years. He is the only collegiate gymnastics coach to amass 1,000 wins and earn Coach of the Year honors seven times. He has never had a team finish worse than tenth place overall.
In July 2009 Megan Marsden was named co-head coach of the Red Rocks. Megan, in addition to being Greg's wife, is a former member of the squad and has been an assistant coach since 1985.
After the 2015 season, Greg retired and his wife Megan and assistant coach Tom Farden were named co-head coaches. On 22 April 2019, Megan Marsden announced her retirement, and it was confirmed that current co-head coach Tom Farden would continue as the sole head coach. Farden left his position in November 2023 after numerous people came forward with allegations of abuse.
In November 2023, associate head coach Carly Dockendorf agreed to serve as the Interim Head Coach.
Current coaching staff +NamePosition Carly Dockendorf Head coach Steve Arkell Assistant coach Myia Hambrick Assistant coach Mike Hunger Assistant coach
Post-season history
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS Year Finish Score Coach 1976 Tenth Place 101.65 Greg Marsden 1977 Ninth Place 138.50 Greg Marsden 1978 Sixth Place 141.10 Greg Marsden 1979 Fourth Place 138.10 Greg Marsden 1980 Second Place 144.15 Greg Marsden 1981 Champions 145.65 Greg Marsden 1982 Champions 148.60 Greg Marsden 1983 Champions 184.65 Greg Marsden 1984 Champions 186.05 Greg Marsden 1985 Champions 188.35 Greg Marsden 1986 Champions 186.95 Greg Marsden 1987 Second Place 187.55 Greg Marsden 1988 Second Place 189.50 Greg Marsden 1989 Fifth Place 190.20 Greg Marsden 1990 Champions 194.900 Greg Marsden 1991 Second Place 194.375 Greg Marsden 1992 Champions 195.65 Greg Marsden 1993 Third Place 195.825 Greg Marsden 1994 Champions 196.400 Greg Marsden 1995 Champions 196.650 Greg Marsden 1996 T-Third Place 196.775 Greg Marsden 1997 Seventh Place 196.025 Greg Marsden 1998 Fourth Place 196.025 Greg Marsden 1999 Seventh Place 195.475 Greg Marsden 2000 Second Place 196.875 Greg Marsden 2001 T-Fifth Place 196.025 Greg Marsden 2002 Fourth Place 196.950 Greg Marsden 2003 Sixth Place 195.300 Greg Marsden 2004 Sixth Place 195.775 Greg Marsden 2005 Third Place 197.275 Greg Marsden 2006 Second Place 196.800 Greg Marsden 2007 Second Place 197.250 Greg Marsden2008 Second Place 197.125 Greg Marsden 2009 Third Place 197.425 Greg Marsden 2010 Sixth Place 196.225 Greg Marsden / Megan Marsden 2011 Fifth Place 196.500 Greg Marsden / Megan Marsden 2012 Fifth Place 197.375 Greg Marsden / Megan Marsden 2013 Ninth Place 196.200 Greg Marsden / Megan Marsden 2014 Seventh Place 197.025 Greg Marsden / Megan Marsden 2015 Second Place 197.800 Greg Marsden / Megan Marsden 2016 Ninth Place 195.762 Megan Marsden / Tom Farden 2017 Fifth Place 196.5875 Megan Marsden / Tom Farden 2018 Fifth Place 196.900 Megan Marsden / Tom Farden 2019 Seventh Place 196.725 Megan Marsden / Tom Farden 2020 Post-season canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Third Place 197.9875 Tom Farden 2022 Third Place 197.7500 Tom Farden 2023 Third Place 197.9375 Tom Farden 2024 Third Place 197.8000 Carly Dockendorf 2025 Fourth Place 197.2375 Carly Dockendorf 2026 Did not qualify
NCAA Champions As of the end of the 2024 season, 16 different Utah gymnasts have won a total of 32 individual event championships.
Event Winner/Year Team 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995 All Around Sue Stednitz 1982Megan Marsden 1983, 1984Melissa Marlowe 1992 Theresa Kulikowski 1999Maile O'Keefe 2023 Vault Elaine Alfano 1982, 1983, 1985Megan Marsden 1984Kristen Kenoyer 1992MyKayla Skinner 2018Jaedyn Rucker 2022 Uneven Bars Melissa Marlowe 1992Sandy Woolsey 1992Angie Leonard 1999Kristina Baskett 2006Georgia Dabritz 2015Maile O'Keefe 2021 Balance Beam Sue Stednitz 1982Melissa Marlowe 1991, 1992Summer Reid 1996, 1997Theresa Kulikowski 1999, 2001Ashley Postell 2007Maile O'Keefe 2023 Floor Exercise Lisa Mitzel 1985Melissa Marlowe 1992MyKayla Skinner 2017Maile O'Keefe 2021
Team records
Top team total