USU gymnastics finishes third in MRGC championships, advances to regionals

The road to nationals continues for Utah State gymnastics. After falling just short to No. 5 Utah Friday in a dual-meet to close out the season, the 3-12 Aggies entered Monday ranked No. 22 in the nation and were selected to the Salt Lake City Regional, a part of the NCAA Regionals. 

The Aggies came into Friday’s meet on a roll, finishing their regular season scoring 49 or higher on every event over each of their last three meets. Ultimately, the Aggies came in third at the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Championship meet which was hosted by the campus of Utah State University in Logan, UT. The event was held in the Spectrum and included four nationally ranked teams: No. 21 Utah State Aggies, as well as MRGC members, No. 19 Boise State Broncos, No. 12 BYU Cougars and No. 20 Southern Utah Thunderbirds. 

With four of the nations premier gymnastics teams competing for the championship, this meet promised to be a tough battle. Rising to the occasion, the Aggies posted their best-ever score for a conference championship, scoring 196.250. Throughout the night, the Aggies continued their season-long dominance on the vault and particularly the beam, scoring 49 or higher for the fifth meet in a row on the vault and setting a school record scoring 49 or higher for the ninth meet in a row on the beam. 

The Aggies got off to a great start to take an early lead. At the end of the first rotation, thanks to an outstanding floor performance, the Aggies lead the meet with 49.2 points. This score was fueled by a fourth place 9.875 from Autumn DeHarde, as well as 9.85 coming from Ariel Toomey, which tied her personal best.

Led by Leighton Varnadore with 9.825, her twin sister Logan Varnadore, as well as Mikaela Meyer, Grace Rojas and Rebecca Wells with 9.8 each, the momentum carried into the vault where the Aggies, yet again, broke 49 points. The 49.05 point performance on the vault wasn’t quite enough to maintain the lead for the Aggies as they fell to second place. Utah State’s dominance on the vault did not go unrecognized as after the meet, USU’s Mikaela Meyer was named the MRGC Vault Specialist of the Year. 

Despite Grace Rojas matching her career high and coming in fifth place with a score of 9.85, Utah State’s lowest scoring event was the bars. With a team score of 48.9, the Aggies slid to third place at the end of the third rotation. Although they narrowly missed, the 48.9 score marked the first time in four meets that the Aggies posted a score under 49 in any event. 

Looking to recover from an uncharacteristically low score in the third rotation, the Aggies went into the fourth event doing everything they could to regain the lead. Utah State had another great performance on the beam. DeHarde came in second in the event scoring a team-high of 9.725. She was followed by Taylor Dittmar, Leighton Varnadore and Wells each with 9.85 apiece. Although the 49.1 team score wasn’t quite enough to take the lead, it was enough to secure the spot for highest scoring team on beam for the Aggies. 

Senior Leighton Varnadore, the sole all-arounder of the entire championship, achieved a score of 39.075. She started with a 9.75 on the floor, scored 9.825 on the vault, then a 9.65 on the bars and ended with her high of the night 9.85 on the beam.

For the Aggies, the highest score was a two-way tie at 9.875 with both performances belonging to the senior DeHarde. She did so in two of the three events she competed in, beam and floor. After the meet, she was awarded with the MRGC Beam Specialist of the Year. DeHarde also completed the season ranked No. 1 in the conference and tied for No. 21 nationally on the beam. 

The Championship meet ended with SUU coming in fourth with a team score 196.225. The Utah State Aggies coming in third 196.250 Boise State coming in second 196.726 and BYU coming in first with a score of 196.925.

@pshark14

—sports@usustatesman.com