17th-ranked T-Birds up next for USU
Though the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds are the 17th-ranked gymnastics team in the nation, USU’s Megan Tschida doesn’t expect Utah State to be intimidated. “Knowing that we’re going to Southern Utah, the week before we work as hard as we can at the gym,” Tschida said. The Aggies will face off with the T-Birds at 7 p.m. Monday in the SUU Centrum Arena, marking the Aggies’ fifth match-up of the season, going in with a 1-3 record in the Western Athletic Conference. SUU gymnastics coach Scott Bauman, who was an assistant coach for Utah State gymnastics with coach Ray Corn for seven years, has been in leadership of the SUU gymnastics program for 16 years and counting. “(Bauman) is an outstanding coach, and he’s running an outstanding program,” Corn said. “He will certainly throw out the strongest possible team out against us, and we are going to be in for a battle.” Utah State just came off a slim win against Cal State Fullerton, where the team pulled together in its final event on the beam, as they captured all second to fifth finishes. “Certainly that fight to hold off Cal State Fullerton by one-tenth of a point will create a toughness that will allow us to be competitive,” Corn said. “This is probably the best team that Southern Utah has ever had.” USU junior Nicki Felley said with SUU being a big in-state foe, Aggie gymnasts tend to “pull it all a little bit harder and do better” in competition, which is evident in the team’s previous year’s scores against Southern Utah, where Utah State recorded its season-high team total and posted season bests on the uneven parallel bars and on the beam. “Southern Utah has always been a big rival for us,” Felley said. “They always have a bunch of fans, and they heckle on us a little bit and we just have to block it out.” The T-Birds started the season with a clean slate, as they hammered Seattle Pacific in their first meet of the year, recording a 194.175-187.300. It was the highest season-opening score in SUU gymnastics history. Their score marked the second year in a row that the team has bested its season-opening score. Southern Utah possesses three great all-arounders: sophomore Elise Wheeler, junior Katie Hicks and junior Kellie Dangerfield, who all posted new career highs last meet against Seattle Pacific. “For them it’s kind of like a Super Bowl to win the in-state rivalry, and when you have that rivalry, it just takes you to a different competitive level,” Corn added. Last year, Felley and senior Megan Tschida achieved individual season highs against Southern Utah, where Felley scored a career high of 9.875 on vault and Tschida marked a whooping 9.900 on the floor exercise. “I feel that (when our team competes against SUU), I always go 110 percent against them because we want to win, and it feels good to win against them,” Tschida said. Corn said USU has been working to minimize falls and correcting that weakness. “We’re letting falls affect us,” he said. “One person will fall and the rest of us kind of follow, and it’s one thing we’ve had a hard time doing.” Corn said he doesn’t expect the strongest possible line-up because freshman Chelsea Marquardt is out due to a knee injury. He said he wants his team to score a 194 to beat its season score of 192.400. “I firmly believe that we should be at that 194 mark and if we can do that, we’ll give Southern Utah all they want,” he said. Utah State has lost its last three meets at Southern Utah, last winning in 2004, and USU is 36-19 all-time against SUU. -candice.sandness@aggiemail.usu.edu