Gymnasts drop first meet of year
The disgruntled Aggie gymnasts left Taco Bell Arena with a season-opening loss to Boise State, 192.625-187.925.
With more than half of the team’s performances coming from first-year competitors in front of a crowd of approximately 1,000 people, USU head coach Ray Corn said the team was routine ready, but not arena ready at Friday’s meet.
The Broncos accomplished a win over the Aggies with a 4.700 margin, the biggest margin in Boise State’s history.
BSU finished the meet strong, pulling away with a win finishing with their floor routine, tallying a 48.700 to wrap up the meet.
Although the Aggies were let down with the loss, Corn looks to build on progression and improvements for the young team.
“The sign of character, no matter how low we feel right now out of a dismal performance, is how we rise and make the necessary changes and be competitive,” he said.
Freshman Chelsea Marquardt led the Aggies in vault with a 9.700 and on the uneven parallel bars with a 9.550. Freshman Nicole Simoneau dominated the uneven parallel bars with a 9.800, which Corn said was one of the “stellar” performances of the meet.
Six of the top 10 gymnasts on bars were tallied by Boise State. On the floor exercise, the Broncos again dominated the event to lead with the first four finishers with Bronco freshman Kelsey Lang and freshman Hannah Redmon tying for the win with a 9.800.
On the floor routine senior Megan Tschida led USU with a 9.725, followed by freshman Lyndsie Boone with a 9.400. In addition, freshman Jasmine Minion placed second on the team on vault with a 9.675 and on the beam with a 9.450.
There were only two gymnasts in the meet to place in the all-around, which were Aggie sophomore Heather Heinrich and junior Nicki Felley, who totaled 36.875 and 36.775, respectively.
Throughout the meet, both the Aggies and Broncos struggled to follow through with their routines, resulting in falls in several events. Utah State fought to finish with strong dismounts, but suffered three falls on the floor and beam and two dismounts on the uneven parallel bars.
“If we would have negotiated those skills (in our events) the score would have been different and we could have made a horse race out it,” Corn said.
The team did not throw in their full difficulty of vaults because Corn said the team isn’t ready to do all the hard landings.
Despite a Bronco win, Corn said Boise State was also not ready for their full difficulty on the vault, which is why the teams scored close on that particular event.
“I really believe we are as good a team as Boise State and we’ll have an opportunity to prove it in 10 days,” he said.
Corn said Friday’s performance against Boise State was not what he expected because too many mistakes put off a real flow into the competition.
With receiving scores that reflected what the Aggies deserved, Corn looks to have his team stay and remain extremely focused in the next week for preparation against two-time defending Western Athletic Conference Champions Sacramento State.
“We need to continue working on routine development, our conditioning, and more than ever, we need to continue working on our confidence level,” Corn said.
Despite a win, the Broncos lacked a fall-free meet, where they suffered a fall on vault and beam.
“They’ve made enough mistakes tonight where they could have been beaten,” Corn said, “So they did leave the door open and we just didn’t capitalize on it.”
Eight of the 15 Aggie gymnasts are competing in their first collegiate year, which means it may take a while for them to mature into experienced high-scoring gymnasts.
“I believe there is a great deal of character on this team,” Corn said. “As I told the team with the dismal performance we had (Friday), there is no way but up.”
The Aggies face-off against the Sacramento State Hornets in the Spectrum Friday at 6:30 p.m.
-candice.sandness@aggiemail.usu.edu