At this point in her career, Jaylene Gilstrap is recognizable to thousands. If not more.
The fifth year senior at the University of Utah has wowed Red Rocks fans — and others across the sport of women’s college gymnastics — for years now. Known especially for her work on floor exercise, an event on which she is consistently praised for her elegance, Gilstrap routinely quiets packed arenas. Fans can’t help it. When Gilstrap is on the floor, a hush falls over crowds and most collectively shift to the edge of their seats in the hope that an extra inch or two will help them better take in Gilstrap’s performance.
Ashley Glynn is no less recognizable at this point, even though she is only in her second season at Utah. The junior — a transfer from Temple — has been a regular in multiple lineups this season for the Red Rocks. She’s been, at times, one of Utah’s best gymnasts on uneven bars, floor and vault. Glynn’s explosiveness on vault (the distance and height she gets) is second to none on the team.
A sophomore this season, Elizabeth Gantner has been a part of the best lineup that Utah has had to offer, two years in a row now. As a freshman last season, Gantner competed regularly on balance beam alongside the likes of Maile O’Keefe, Abby Paulson, Grace McCallum, Amelie Morgan and Makenna Smith. And this season, Gantner has managed to carve out a continued spot in Utah’s beam lineup — a lineup currently ranked No. 4 in the country.
For hundreds of young gymnasts in Utah and elsewhere, Gilstrap, Glynn and Ganter are idols, even exemplars. Gymnasts to look up to and aspire to being.
For children at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, though, the three Red Rocks are simply their friends. Friends who’ve come to spend time with and play with them. Give them hope or at the very least a distraction while they’ve battled life-threatening illness.
Volunteering at Primary Children’s Hospital
It all started with the Who Rocks the House NIL collective. The Utah gymnastics-specific collective has — since its inception — tried to coordinate opportunities for Utah gymnasts to get into the community. The idea being that having the Red Rocks out-and-about serving and volunteering locally would engender more support for the program, support that could come in the way of money donations for the gymnasts.
One such opportunity arose last season, the chance to volunteer for a day at Primary Children’s Hospital. It was only for a couple of hours, the team were “special guests” that day, but it left a lasting impression.
“In that moment, I asked the child life specialist (at the hospital), ‘How do I become a part of this?’” Gilstrap said. “Because I saw people volunteering. I saw different students in the room who we were there volunteering. And I wanted to be part of it.”
So too did Gantner and Glynn.
The gymnasts quickly learned that volunteering during the 2024 season would be quite difficult. The hospital requires six-month commitments from volunteers, and even though volunteers give only three hours of their time a week, during the gymnastics season even that amount of commitment was pretty untenable.
“It is a pretty full time commitment for volunteering, because of how much they need volunteers,” Gilstrap said.
Once the season was over, though, Gilstrap and Gantner both applied for volunteer positions almost immediately and started their six-month commitments in June. Glynn had to wait a little longer to get started, she went home to Hockessin, Delaware, at the end of the winter semester and started her six month stint this past September.
Why volunteer at Primary Children’s Hospital?
Each of the gymnasts had their own motivations for volunteering at the children’s hospital. Reasons for why the opportunity appealed so much, even as they balanced being a gymnast at a high demand program like Utah, in addition to the requirements of being a high achieving college student.
For Gilstrap, it all goes back to a love of children, which she has had since she was a young child herself.
“At five years old, I’d tell people when they’d ask, ‘What do you want to do to grow up?’ that I want to be a mom,” she said. “That was always something. I’ve just always loved being around children and being a mom figure.”
It really crystalized for her a couple of years ago, though. On a trip to Ecuador in 2022, Gilstrap “was drawn to every single child there and made friends with them, even though I didn’t speak their language.”
Those with her on that trip noted that Gilstrap just had a way with the kids. A gift for it even. Something Gilstrap didn’t realize until that time.
“I just knew I loved children,” she said.
After that experience, Gilstrap had been looking for a way to impact the lives of children, a difficult endeavor at times as a college gymnast, and the children’s hospital provided a perfect opportunity.
“It gives me gratitude,” she said. “I feel like they’re helping me more than I’m helping them. Just grounding me. They’ve helped me realize what I’m truly grateful for, especially since my identity has always been gymnastics.”
Gantner’s interest in volunteering was more pragmatic at the start.
Gantner hopes to enter the medical field when her collegiate career is over, so initially the chance to volunteer at the children’s hospital was an avenue to getting exposure to a hospital setting.
“I wanted to start off small and progress from there,” she said.
She quickly learned, though, that the children’s hospital was an entirely unique hospital experience. One that has truly affected her, even shifting what she wants from her career, post-gymnastics.
“It is just it has a whole different feel than any ordinary hospital.” Gantner said. “It’s full of children who are full of hope and joy. There are so many smiles and every worker there truly loves their job and wants to be there. It is a very inspiring thing to be around. And it’s somewhere where I would want to dedicate my career to.
“I think getting exposed to that early on, being able to impact in little ways right now is something has brought a lot of purpose and a lot of joy to my life. And hopefully I can bring some joy into theirs when they’re going through some difficult times.”
Similar to Gantner, Glynn has an interest in the medical profession post-gymnastics career. And like Gilstrap, she’s always had a soft spot for children.
Neither of those things have changed since she started volunteering at the children’s hospital. The experience has only strengthened her interest in medicine and her love of kids.
“I just love to see the kids happy,” Glynn said. “We get to see them not as patients, but as a kids. We’re kind of just the happy people that they get to see. We’re there to see them happy and bring smiles to their faces. So for me, wanting to work in that field, it has been amazing, because I love to just make children happy, and I just love children like my whole life.”
What impact has volunteering had on the Red Rocks?
Each of Gilstrap, Glynn and Ganter is quick to note that volunteering at Primary Children’s has had a real impact on them in many ways. Perhaps most notably, though, is they get to be Jaylene, Ashley and Liz and not Red Rocks. Not even gymnasts. Most of the children they’ve worked with have no idea what Utah gymnastics is or that their friends are high level college gymnasts.
Since gymnastics has been such a big part of Gilstrap, Glynn and Gantner’s identities throughout their lives, it is a nice change of pace.
“(When I’m volunteering), I’m the girl in the green shirt that brings toys or makes slime with the kids. I’m the one who puts a smile on their faces,” Gilstrap said. “So my identity is not gymnastics. It’s a very refreshing atmosphere to be in, and it’s just nice to know that even though I’m not super scientific and couldn’t necessarily go into the medical field, I’m making an impact in some way.”
None of the gymnasts have favorites among the many children who they’ve worked with, per se, but each noted that there have been children who’ve had a special impact on them. With whom they’ve shared experiences that they aren’t soon to forget.
“I always just kind of remember this one little girl,” Gantner said. “She was probably five. She was the only one in the play room and there was probably four or five volunteers So there were a ton of us and we all sat in the little kitchen area and she had the best time ever.
“She was whipping up some, I don’t know a smoothie or an ice cream. Imaginary. And she passed it around a circle to all of us. She’d say things, like, ‘Oh my gosh, you have to try my ice cream.’ And we went on and on for probably an hour playing in the kitchen with her.
“Her parents had told us that she wouldn’t have that long of an attention span, but she was just having the best time with us and wanted to stay and play all night.”
For Glynn, it was a teen who left an indelible impression on her. This patient, who was dealing with her own chronic illness, spent a day making shirts. Not to have and wear herself, but for others in the hospital, workers and patients alike.
“She went out of her way to decorate them,” Glynn said. “She put quotes on them, inspirational quotes.”
All in an effort to inspire others struggling with chronic illness.
“Her outlook on life was just so inspiring,” Glynn said. “Even though she was going through this illness (the gymnasts could not ask what illnesses children had, although that didn’t prevent some from telling them), she still had such an amazing outlook on life and brought so much joy to others. It was amazing to see her.”
Gilstrap couldn’t single out one specific child that had impacted her. Though she did get it down to two.
The first was a young girl, Gilstrap thought she was about four years old. She didn’t speak English, had all the energy in the world and could not find a single activity that appealed to her.
Seeing her struggle, Gilstrap approached her and took her to do a craft, after which the pair were inseparable.
“She was following me through every aspect of the day,” Gilstrap said.
Afterward, the girl’s father told Gilstrap that he’d never seen his daughter trust someone so easily before in the hospital. They’d been there six months and during that time his daugther had never glommed on to anyone like she did Gilstrap. He insisted on getting Gilstrap’s name, figuring out who she was, so he could reunite his daughter with Gilstrap when an opportunity arose.
“That moment helped me realize that I was making a difference,” she said. “Something so small as a craft made the biggest difference in the world to her.”
In another instance, Gilstrap spent the day with two girls. The children insisted on playing “Doctor” with Gilstrap standing in as the patient.
“They were coming up with all these illnesses for me,” she said, “but then just paying attention to the way they were treating me, it was with so much care. They were constantly reassuring that everything was gonna be okay. They told me that they loved and supported me. That I was going to get all better. That they were doing their best work.”
For Gilstrap, the episode was representative of the type of care the children were receiving at the hospital. And that stuck with her.
“I think it was a reflection of the treatment they get in the hospital,” she said. “And I think that was so cool to see at such a young age, them expressing that. I used to do that when I was little. I used to play gymnastics with my friends and be the coach, and because those were my role models. Seeing how the doctors were these kids' role models, how much love and kind of the reassurance that they were giving, the hope they were bringing to these children, I think that was just an extremely inspiring moment.”
Before the season is done, Gilstrap, Glynn and Gantner have a chance to help Utah gymnastics make history.
The No. 5-ranked Red Rocks are once again in the hunt for a national title, with No. 4 UCLA coming to Salt Lake City this weekend for a top-five showdown that could definitively say what Utah’s potential this postseason is.
Gilstrap is coming off a meet at Washington where she competed — in her mind — the best floor routine of her life. Glynn has taken on a bigger role than ever before at Utah and as a result is one of the team’s most important gymnasts. And Gantner has settled into the role of anchor on beam, a pressure-packed position that requires she be at her best when Utah needs it the most.
The three are, along with their fellow Red Rocks, inspirations to countless young gymnasts, some of whom will go on to compete in college later in life.
For a select few children, though, Gilstrap, Glynn and Gantner are much more than that. They are their friends.
