Gymnasts fall to BYU

Despite leading for most of the night, the Utah State women’s gymnastics squad fell to BYU by one-tenth of a point Friday night in the Spectrum.

BYU won the meet with a score of 193.375 over the Aggies’ 193.275

“This is our best team score so far, so we can’t be too disappointed,” senior Jessica Parenti said. “But it would have been nice to beat BYU, especially when we were so close.”

USU had a six-tenths of a point lead over BYU after the first two rotations on the vault and uneven bars. A lead that looked like USU would continue to build on until Aggie Sarah Johnson fell off the balance beam.

Falling off the beam cost Johnson an automatic five-tenths of a point. However, USU would still have been OK until Parenti fell off as well in the final routine on the balance beam.

“I knew when we had to count a fall on beam that we might be in trouble,” Utah State Head Coach Ray Corn said. “Because they’ve got such a great beam team and they certainly stepped forward.”

Despite the falls on the beam, the Aggies recorded a season-best beam score of 47.850. But BYU cut USU’s lead down to 144.800-144.625 going into the final rotation.

Sophomore Katie Omann said going into the final rotation, the Aggies knew they had to give it their all in the routines on the floor.

“Coming to floor, we knew that if we did our job, we had a really good chance to win,” she said.

However, the Aggies couldn’t pull a win out on the floor. With lower starting values and three routines scoring below a 9.7, there wasn’t much the Aggies could do.

“We’re getting tougher, we’re getting better, but what can I say? It’s a disappointing loss,” Corn said. “Being six-tenths of a point ahead then watching it whittle away.”

USU’s Omann won the all-around while Parenti finished second.

Utah State will head to Utah next Friday facing both Utah and Southern Utah.

Omann said she is excited for the chance to compete at Utah because the Aggies will be going in as the underdogs.

“It’s going to be very exciting,” she said. “That’s when we kind of do our best, going in as underdogs.”

-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu

Aggie Katie Omann performs on the balance beam Friday night against BYU in the Spectrum. Omann won the all-around with a score of 38.850