gymnastics meet against Sac State
Despite leading through three events, the Utah State gymnastics team couldn’t hold the edge in the fourth, falling to Sacramento State 192.575-191.050 in the meet Friday in the Spectrum.
“We knew (what our score was) before we went into floor,” USU junior Nicki Felley said. “But we just kind of blew it.”
Sacramento State coach Kim Hughes said the meet was “neck-on-neck” on every rotation, with Utah State leading until the third event with a two-tenth advantage, but the Hornets finished stronger and pulled for a win.
Three of the four top all around finishers were captured by Sacramento State, with Hornet junior Marina Borisova taking top honors with a 39.150. Felley took third at 38.025. Utah State introduced Aggie fans with its best performance of the night on the vault event, scoring 48.425-47.825. Freshmen Chelsea Marquardt and Jasmine Minion led top scores for the vault, both tying a 9.800, marking the highest vault score this season for USU. “We vaulted extremely well,” USU head coach Ray Corn said.
The Hornets swept a win on the beam, where they pushed to a .900 advantage on the Aggies, marking a season high for them on vault after breaking the beam WAC record in 2007.
“(Sacramento State) has a superior beam team,” Corn said. “But I felt our team came roaring back on the balance beam and had a great performance.”
Sacramento State led in the top four finishes, who all scored in the 9.8 range. Felley placed fifth in the event with a 9.675 while Marquardt and sophomore Heather Heinrich followed just behind with a 9.625 and 9.600, respectively.
Utah State committed three falls on floor, where the Hornets stepped a .500 advantage on the Aggies. “The fear of falling is making us fall,” Corn said.
USU senior Megan Tschida won the floor exercise with a 9.850, followed by Minion in third, with a 9.625 and freshman Lyndsie Boone in fifth, marking a 9.550. “I think the nerves got to us,” Marquardt said.
Felley said the team was not conditionally ready to perform well for the floor routine. “We have new choreography and so our endurance isn’t as high as it should be,” she said. “With more numbers and routines I think we should be fine in a couple of weeks.”
Friday night was the first time Aggie gymnasts competed on the Spectrum floor, which means it will taking some floor adjusting. “This is a very quick, hard and fast floor. If you soften up on it, it will eat you up,” Corn said.
On the uneven parallel bars, freshman Nicole Simoneau claimed the win and topped her previous mark at Boise with a 9.825. Borisova came in second with a 9.750 while Marquardt followed in third with a personal best of 9.700. On bars, Sacramento State marked the win, 48.150-47.325.
“(We) fell three times on bars, which is what really got us in this meet,” Corn said. “We need to work our gymnastics exactly how we did on the balance beam (Friday) by coming in and attacking it.”
Corn said he wants to keep the momentum going in meets, where he said it is difficult to keep because of back-to-back hitting routines and making mistakes.
“We are going to fix it and demand it,” Corn said. “This (meet) is another one that we let get away from us.”
Coming into the second meet of the season, Corn said he cannot blame the loss on youth and inexperience.
“If we landed on our feet, we’d win the meet,” he said. Because gymnasts are vulnerable to injuries, Corn said the team has some “delicate bodies” they have to take extreme care and precaution at all times. “We just have to keep plugging away and this team has to believe in themselves so that they can get the job done,” Corn said. -candice.sandness@aggiemail.usu.edu