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The Utah women’s gymnastics team listens as the National Anthem is sung before the NCAA regional semifinals for gymnastics at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, April 3, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
Though the NCAA women’s gymnastics season only just ended this past Saturday, according to College Gym News 24 gymnasts have already entered their names in into the transfer portal and are looking for a new school, the headliner being now former Cal great eMjae Frazier. An additional three gymnasts who were in the portal have already found their landing spot:
- Northern Illinois’ Aliyah Kelly — transferring to Western Michigan.
- Ohio State’s Kate Parks — transferring to Western Michigan.
- West Virginia’s Emma Wehry — transferring to Auburn.
Utah gymnastics has made considerable use (for gymnastics) of the transfer portal in recent years, adding gymnasts like Macey Roberts, Emilie LeBlanc, Abby Brenner, Ashley Glynn and Ana Padurariu, though the Red Rocks have also had their fair share of defections like Kara Eaker, Cammy Hall, Jillian Hoffman, Lucy Stanhope and Sage Thompson.
With 16 gymnasts currently slated to be on the team in 2026 — barring any forthcoming transfers or medical retirements — will Utah add talent out of the portal again? After all, Brenner, Glynn and Padurariu all came aboard in successive seasons and those additions paid off. Utah has gotten into the habit of adding talent through the portal.
Per head coach Carly Dockendorf, Utah will look to see what potential addition(s) are out there. She and her staff would be negligent not to. Whether or not the Red Rocks add anyone, though, will come down to a variety of factors.
“We’ll see,” Dockendorf said. “Every year we just kind of look to see who’s going in there. I feel like we’re pretty even across our events next year so I wouldn’t say there’s like a specific event (we are looking to bolster).”
Dockedorf noted in March that many of the transfers Utah has added in the past have had previous ties to the program, whether it be they attended camps at the University of Utah previously or were recruited at one time by Utah.
“Ashley (Glynn) came to camp and (Emilie) LeBlanc was familiar with our program,” Dockendorf said. “A lot of the times the transfers that we’ve had come in were people that we already had established a relationship with.”
Because Utah is pretty well set with its 2026 roster — the Red Rocks have four gymnasts in each class and have to replace only eight routines competed in the national championship — Dockendorf noted that any addition(s) would have to bring considerable value. And perhaps more importantly, fit what she believes is a “unique” program.
“I think the biggest thing is the culture fit into Utah gymnastics,” Dockendorf said. “Looking for someone that can perform at this level, a championship level, who will thrive in front of 15,000 people. And be willing to give everything to be their best to this program and to their team, and be excited about that. I think (Utah) is definitely a unique program to be at.”
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Utah fans cheer after Zoe Johnson finishes her performance on vault during the NCAA gymnastics regionals at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Saturday, April 5, 2025. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News
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