USU gymnastics picked to finish No. 1 in Western Gymnastics Conference
Prior to the Utah State gymnastics meet at Cal State Fullerton, Head Coach Ray Corn received an e-mail asking him to vote for who he thought would win the Western Gymnastics Conference.
Little did Corn know, his team would win the honor.
Coaches throughout the league cast their votes and points were totaled. Three points were given for each first-place vote, two for second and one for third.
USU received two No. 1 marks.
“I’m pleased the coaches in the conference have the confidence in USU’s roster to win the conference championship,” Corn said. “No matter who is picked to win, the strength of the conference makes winning the league title a toss-up.”
CS Fullerton finished second in the ballots with seven votes, while Boise State (five points) and Southern Utah (four points) came in third and fourth, respectively.
Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own school.
Last season Denver University won the WGC title and the Aggies came in third. The Pioneers are no longer participants in the conference.
With DU out of the competition, Corn is looking forward to the dogfight scheduled for March 29 in Cedar City to determine the conference champs.
Corn said besides the first place votes from the league coaches, he appreciated the post-meet notes from CSF saying that the Aggies are a dynamic program.
“We are [dynamic]. Hopefully we can prove it at Oklahoma and prove it very quickly so we can start posting high scores right away,” Corn said.
The Aggies head south Sunday to take on the Sooners as well as WGC foe Boise State.
The meet will give USU an opportunity to check out the Broncos before BSU visits the Spectrum Jan. 24.
Utah State will continue to look to senior Nicole Kilpatrick and freshman Megan Nelson in the all-around competition. Corn said he hopes to get freshman Jessica Parenti in the lineup as well.
Nelson was named the conference gymnast of the week. Following her performance, Corn said it was exactly what he expected out of Nelson.
Nelson is a prime example of the youthfulness of the team this season.
“Out of the 24 routines that we threw, we had 12 routines thrown by freshman,” Corn said.
There are six freshmen on the squad this season and only three seniors.
–juag@cc.usu.edu