Arizona’s Elena Deets (co-event specialist), Utah’s Grace McCallum (gymnast) and Avery Neff (newcomer) along with West Virginia’s Anna Leigh (co-event specialist) earned weekly accolades during the second week of the gymnastics season.
Deets placed first on beam scoring 9.900 as Arizona competed against Michigan, NC State and Clemson during one of the three Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad meets held last week. The score matched her career best and was her first event win of the season. The fifth year from Maple Grove, Minnesota also tallied a season-high 9.875 on bars as the team finished second with a score of 195.825. Deets is the first GymCat to claim a Big 12 gymnastics weekly award.
McCallum anchored the Red Rocks during its bars, beam and floor rotations against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU and No. 6 California during the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad second session in Oklahoma City. The 2025 Big 12 All-Around team selection tied for first on bars with a score of 9.975, the nation’s highest tally on the event. The senior earned her first Big 12 award after posting a 9.800 on beam and a 9.825 on floor.
In the second competition of her collegiate career, Neff scored 39.600 in all four apparatuses. She earned a 9.900 or better in three events (vault, beam, and floor) and posted a 9.9875 on bars. Her 9.925 on vault landed her tied for second on podium while her score was the highest posted by any Big 12 gymnast on the event during Week 2. The South Jordan, Utah native also tied for third on beam. Neff, the No. 1 recruit of the 2024 class, currently holds the Conference’s highest all-around score.
Leigh exhibited a career-high performance on floor, earning a 9.950 as WVU visited Central Michigan. The score was the highest tallied by any Mountaineer in any event since 2023 while it surpassed last season’s event-high score of 9.925. It was the senior’s first win on floor and became her third career overall event win. Leigh garners his first career Big 12 gymnastics weekly award.
Conference duals begin this week as Utah hosts Iowa State on Friday, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. CT/7 p.m. MT on ESPN+.