Gymnasts in WAC tourney, but can’t make regionals
This meet could be the final meet for the Aggie gymnastics team, and for some seniors, it could be the last meet of their gymnastics careers.
Mathematically, the team is not capable of making the top 36 teams in the nation, which is the requirement for the regional meet, said gymnastics coach Ray Corn.
“By having a great meet, the highest we can even finish is 37th, which isn’t good enough. Mathematically we are completely out of the regional tournament,” he said. “For the rest of the Aggie squad, except for those individuals that are going to qualify to the regional meet, this is the last and final meet of the year.”
This will mark only the sixth time in USU gymnastics history that USU gymnastics have not qualified for regionals.
“It’s only happened 5 out of the 31 years, but we are going to have to suck it up and figure out what happened this year,” Corn said.
The Western Athletic Championships consist of six teams: Boise State University, Southern Utah University, San Jose State University, Sacramento State University, Cal State Fullerton and Utah State.
USU is ranked the fifth seed out of the six, with Cal State Fullerton in last, BSU first, SUU second, SJSU third and Sac State fourth.
USU gymnasts who have a good chance of making it to the regional meet are sophomore Heather Heinrich and junior Nicki Felley in the all-around, freshman Jasmine Minion in vault, freshman Nicole Simoneau on bars and senior Katie Omann on beam, Corn said.
On floor exercise, the real battle to the regional meet will be between Minion and senior Megan Tschida, Corn said.
Minion said this meet is a time for the team to not hold back.
“It’s time for us to go big and go hard with no holding back,” she said. “We are going in there to have fun, and we’re not holding back, because if we hold back and worry about staying on the beam or bars or sticking our vault, that’s when normally things start messing up.”
Corn said there is no pressure on the team for being the fifth seed because no one is expecting them to do anything.
“Only one team has seen us at our best, which is San Jose State,” Corn said. “If we can have a meet like that, with the type of scoring that we’ve been used to the last four meets, then this team can surpass the 195 mark and at least challenge the championships.”
Aggie fans can watch the WAC Tournament on www.WAC.tv.
The streams will be available for all events for a subscription price of $10.95. A cheaper alternative is to view live stats online, available through www.broncosports.com, free of charge.
-candice.sandness@aggiemail.usu.edu