Gymanstics falls to No. 1 Utah
A season opener against the No. 1 ranked team is no walk through the park, as the Utah State gymnastics team found out on Friday in a loss against Utah, 195.675- 193.850.
“I am extremely pleased with the performances,” USU Head Coach Ray Corn said.
The night started strong on the vault for Utah State. Freshman Jackie Fogli led the way with a 9.85.
Fogli was followed by a fellow freshman, new all-arounder Megan Tschida, and two veterans, team co-captain Rachel Ropelato and Rachael Mandy, all with 9.75.
For only having an exhibition game under her belt, Tschida came out strong in every event. She managed to tie for the meet high on the floor and scored a 39.100 in the all-around.
“I was shaking inside but I didn’t want to show it,” she said. “I just wanted to go out there and do my personal best and I think I did that.”
The team then moved on to the bars where they received a 48.275. Meagan Nelson, who is back from an injury last season, came out strong with a 9.65.
But once again, Tschida led the way along with co-captain Alex Martin, scoring matching 9.725.
Martin is coming off of a sprained calf, which she said is feeling a lot better. She also said that she still had a couple areas to work on in her uneven bars routine but that the routine felt great.
Martin also said that it was great to have so many people in the Spectrum supporting the team. The people in attendance were 4,123, which is the highest in at least a year.
“I was so excited to see that many people come out [because] it makes us feel so much better,” Martin said. “I hope every time there is that many people.”
The next event for the team was the beam. The beam is 16 feet long, 4 feet high and 4 inches wide.
Tschida pulled it off again as she got the highest team score on the vault along with season veteran Liesel Kohler with a 9.775. Fogli followed behind with a 9.750.
The beam was the dent in Martin’s night as what she said was a loss of concentration led to her losing her balance and almost falling.
“It was a mistake,” she said.
Martin came back on track with the floor event.
Although toward the end of her routine her music was suddenly stopped, she kept going and managed the second best score on the team with a 9.75.
The best score in that event belonged to Tschida, who pulled out all the stops on her routine to tie for the meet high at a 9.850.
Even with Martin and Tschida, a couple of mistakes cost the team some needed points.
Kohler, who usually does well with her personality and technique, fell toward the end of her routine, while Fogli stepped out of bounds. Ashley Barr also came out of her tumbling pass too soon.
The meet ended with USU losing 195.675-193.850.
On Sunday the team was in Central Michigan for its second meet in three days. USU lost to Central Michigan 194.050-191.850.
The team will now rest until they host BYU on Feb. 1.
-vramirez@cc.usu.edu