Another loss to DU for gymnastics
In the Aggie gymnasts’ ninth meet of the season, USU accomplished two season personal team bests on bars and on floor, but lost to Denver University’s higher scores, 195.250-192.300 Friday night in the Spectrum in front of 788 onlookers.
The big trouble for the Aggies Friday was their beam performance, where they tallied a 46.325 compared to DU’s 48.250.
The Pioneers went to the beam with a determination and no reluctance whatsoever, which USU has worked on to improve all season.
Sophomore Heather Heinrich said it’s frustrating to be scoring 46s, as the team’s highest beam score was last recorded Jan. 18 against Sacramento State.
“I don’t want to say we are, but I’m afraid we might sort of be in a habit at this point (on performing badly on beam),” she said. “Although we hit the first three routines, that was a big jump for us. It’s so frustrating.”
Although Aggie gymnasts saw a dismal performance on beam, they were able bounce back onto the floor exercise to capture a season high, 48.900, but DU won the floor event with a 49.150.
“We learned how to (bounce back) at this point, but we go into with an attitude, ‘You know what? It’s our strongest event,'” she said. “Then we throw beam away because we’ll hit it next time and let’s just get out there and leave this crowd with something.”
For the first time this season, four 9.800s were tallied out of the five floor routines thrown, which is a huge improvement for the team, Heinrich said.
“Four 9.8s on floor is huge (for us),” she said. “We’re pulling it together little by little.”
Senior Megan Tschida was the last Aggie to throw the floor routine, where she scored a 9.600, as she stepped out of bounds on her first pass and .10 points were deducted.
“It’s a shame (what happened tonight with Tschida),” USU head coach Ray Corn said. “She’s arguably our No. 1 floor exer and when those score got posted, I think she saw 9.9s and 10s in her mind. She was simply just too juiced up. Then we negotiated the rest of our routines.”
Heinrich posted a career best on floor with a 9.825, tying for third with junior Nicki Felley as teammates Lyndsie Boone and Jackie Dillon tied for fifth with season bests of 9.800.
Freshman Boone, who won the all-around Friday in just her second all-around outing this season for USU with a 38.250, said floor is one of the team’s best events and beam needs to be taken with the same attitude they have on floor exercise.
“We’re working on (beam). It’s going to get better I swear,” she said. “Beam is the most nerve-wrecking event. Floor is easy, and we need to make beam that way – easy and fun.”
Corn said the team goes into beam with a very tentative composure and the problem with staying on the beam is “four inches between the ears.”
“We’re going there being very tentative and not wanting to make a mistake, and if there’s any piece of equipment, we’ve just got to attack and be aggressive. That’s it,” he said.
Corn said he has been pleased with Boone’s consistent performances as she is handling the all-around performance as well.
“I’m extremely proud of Lyndsie Boone for stepping it up,” Corn said. “She’s learning every time how to handle this all-around performance. There were a lot of bright spots tonight and now we just have to fix our ills on the balance beam.”
Utah State opened the meet up with vault, where two DU gymnasts came in place before one Aggie gymnast scored, freshman Jasmine Minion, with a 9.800.
Dillon tied her season record on vault with a 9.650, the second time in action on vault this season.
USU saw one fall on vault from Felley, where she stumbled on her landing.
“Even though we had one fall we had to overcome on vault, we looked very comfortable and relaxed and the same thing with bars – we looked comfortable and relaxed,” Corn said.
The team looks to improve on their landings on vault and their dismounts on bars, Corn said.
“Those are a couple of our mistakes (we need to correct),” Corn said.
On the Aggie’s second rotation, the uneven parallel bars, freshman Nicole Simoneau captured first place with a 9.850, tying her season best for the third time this season.
This is the sixth time this year that she has won or tied that event on the apparatus, also recording the eighth time in the total nine meets in the season where she has accomplished a 9.800 or higher.
Freshman Chelsea Marquardt came in third, tying her personal record of a 9.800, and in addition, senior Katie Omann tied her personal record of a 9.750.
The loss against the Pioneers has the Aggies at 3-10 overall this season, while DU improved to a 11-3 record.
Although beam trouble is evident for the Aggies, Corn said the other three events are improving rapidly.
“Right now I think all the coaching in the world cannot, right now, overcome this situation (on beam),” he said. “I think (the team has) proven they’re certainly are a team that could be competitive with any team in the country. They’ve got to show some grit and some toughness and desire to excel and compete on beam on their level of potential.”
-candice.sandness@aggiemail.usu.edu