Avery Neff suffered severe sprains to both of her ankles, she announced on Monday morning. Utah’s star freshman was injured during the final tumbling pass of her floor routine against Iowa State on Friday night. Immediately, she fell to the mat and grabbed her left ankle before being carried out by the Red Rock’s medical personnel.

According to Harvard Health, a Grade 3 sprain, which involves a full tear or rupture of ligaments, brings with it “severe pain, swelling, tenderness, and bruising. Considerable instability, loss of function and range of motion. Unable to bear weight or walk.” Recovery time for a Grade 3 sprain can be several months.

The #4 Utah gymnastics team came away with an easy victory over Iowa State in its Big 12 Conference opener Friday night, but it came at a price. Freshman Avery Neff, the #1 recruit in the country, suffered what looked like a devastating injury on her floor routine,

Neff’s injury is a big blow to Utah’s lineup moving forward. The star freshman took first on vault and beam against the Cyclones, scoring 9.9 and a career-high 9.925, respectively. Dockendorf was impressed with her team’s composure to finish the final floor routines of the meet.

Utah’s success Friday was overshadowed by a devastating injury to star freshman Avery Neff. Neff, the highest rated recruit ever (since College Gym News started ranking gymnastics recruits starting with the 2021 class), collapsed on the floor at the tail end of her floor routine.

The night was a mixture of triumph and tragedy for the Utah Red Rocks gymnastics team, as their victory over Iowa State was overshadowed by the devastating injury to freshman Avery Neff. While the team delivered a season-high score of 197.