Utah State Gymnastics Announces 2012 Schedule
Utah State head gymnastics coach Jeff Richards released the Aggies’ 2012 schedule, which consists of 12 regular-season meets with half of them in the friendly home confines of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
USU, which is entering its seventh season in the Western Athletic Conference, will only be one of four teams in the conference in 2012, as Boise State departed for the Mountain West and Cal State Fullerton discontinued gymnastics. The Aggies will face former WAC foe Boise State and future WAC opponent Denver, who joins the conference in the 2013 season. Utah State will also be the host institution for the 2012 WAC Championships.
“Hosting the conference meet is exciting for our program, our University and our community,” Richards said. “This year will be a little bit different without Boise State and Cal State Fullerton, but at the same time it is really, really nice to be able to host it and be in front of our home crowd. If you look back at our scores historically, we tend to do better at home, which is a good thing to be in front of your home crowd. It is a good, comfortable setting and a nice place to compete for the conference championship.”
USU’s farthest road trip will be to Denton, Texas for a tri-meet hosted by Texas Woman’s, along with NCAA Super Six finalist Oklahoma. In all, USU will face three teams that finished in the top 25 of last season’s final Troester/Women’s Gymnastics National Poll, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 5 Utah and No. 13 Boise State, which are three of the seven teams that qualified for the Regional Championships.
“I feel like we have a good schedule for the 2012 season,” Richards said. “I like the fact that we are at Utah. It’s always a fun meet there and exciting to compete in front of a big crowd, that gets you ready for the atmosphere of a conference and regional meet would be.”
USU opens the season on Monday, Jan. 9, hosting Wisconsin-Eau Claire, marking the second-straight season the Aggies have faced the Blugolds, meeting them at the San Jose State tri-meet last season. Utah State has a total of three back-to-back road meets, with the first coming on Friday, Jan. 13 at Salt Lake City against Utah and then on Saturday, Jan. 21, traveling to Denton, Texas for the Texas Woman’s tri-meet with Oklahoma.
The road trip to Texas will be USU’s longest of the season, and only one of three road trips out of the state of Utah as well as the only one in a different time zone.
“Having short road trips will be nice for our young team, not like having to travel out east like a couple years ago, across all the different time zones. I think it keeps them in a same routine. The more of a routine you can keep a young team; the better off they’ll be and the better they’ll compete,” Richards said.
The Aggies then return home for a four-meet homestand, opening on Friday, Jan. 27 against Southern Utah in USU’s WAC opener. Utah State then hosts Wisconsin-Whitewater on Friday, Feb. 3 in the first-ever meeting between the Aggies and Warhawks. After hosting San Jose State on Friday, Feb. 10 in a WAC dual, USU will wrap up its four-meet homestand against Sacramento State on Friday, Feb. 17 in another conference meet.
“Hopefully having a four-meet stretch at home this year will provide different results than our four-meet stretch on the road last year. We faultered a little bit on the road for so long, so hopefully having a stretch of four meets in a row at home and in front of our home crowd will help our team settle down and feel comfortable and gain some more confidence quicker,” Richards said.
USU will take on BYU in Provo, Utah on Friday, Feb. 24, before opening the month of March by heading to Boise, Idaho to tangle with Boise State on Friday, March 2.
The Aggies’ regular-season home finale is against the Cougars of BYU on Monday, March 5. That is the only Friday-Monday meet pairing of the season.
USU concludes regular-season action with a pair of road meets, first at Cedar City, Utah against Southern Utah on Friday, March 9 and then at Denver, Colo., for a quad meet hosted by Denver.
“One of our other big meets of the season is a quad meet at Denver, that should be another good meet for us. It will be a great preparation for us for the conference meet with multiple teams and a big crowd,” Richards said.
Utah State is the host institution for the 2012 WAC Championships on Saturday, March 24. It will be the first time since 2006, USU’s first in the conference, that the Aggies will host the WAC Championships. Overall, it will be the seventh time that Utah State has hosted its conference meet. USU previously hosted the WAC Championships in 2006, the Western Gymnastics Conference Championships in 2002, the Big West Conference Championships in 1992, 1996 and 2000, as well as the High Country Athletic Conference Championships in 1988.
If it qualifies, Utah State will compete in the NCAA North Central Regional Championships, hosted by Utah at Salt Lake City on Saturday, April 7. The 2012 NCAA National Championships are Friday-Sunday, April 20-22, at Duluth, Ga.
Utah State gymnastics finished the 2011 season with a 3-18 overall and 1-4 Western Athletic Conference record. The Aggies finished fifth at the 2011 WAC Championships at San Jose, Calif.,
For the complete 2012 Aggie Gymnastics schedule, fans can log onto www.UtahStateAggies.com.
For USU gymnastics ticket information, contact the USU Ticket Office at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, by phone by calling 1-888-USTATE-1 or (435) 797-0305, or online 24 hours a day at www.UtahStateAggies.com and clicking on the “buy/renew tickets” under the “tickets” drop down menu.
Fans can follow the Aggie gymnastics program at twitter.com/USUGymnastics or on facebook at UtahStategymnastics Aggies. Fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on facebook at Utah State University Athletics.