USU Gymnastics: Ags respond ‘well’ in Spectrum Magic meet with BYU

LOGAN — After a tough meet last week at Southern Utah where Utah State Gymnastics finished with a 193.425, the Aggies rebounded and scored a 195.900 in their loss to Brigham Young, who scored a 196.650, on Friday night.

“We had a rough week last weekend and I think they responded really well,” head coach Kristin White said. 

In the first rotation, USU again struggled on vault totaling 48.625, their worst score of the meet. At the same time, BYU took an early lead with a 49.150 on bars.

When the teams switched events, the Aggies showed they were better on bars with a 49.200, including two scores of 9.875 by junior Brianna Brooks and sophomore Dani Kirstine, who scored a career-high. On vault, BYU picked up a 48.925 headlined by two 9.850 scores. 

In rotation three, Kirstine shined again with another career-high of 9.875 on beam, while senior Sofi Sullivan totaled a 9.925 to lead the Aggies to a 49.000. 

“Beam queen,” White said of Sullivan. “I think our crowd understands why she’s so good at what she does. When she gets up there, she’s confident. There’s no stress when Sofi’s on the beam. We know she’s going to rock a good set.” 

Kirstine’s consistent performance earned her the honor of most outstanding gymnast of the night. 

“Dani was a rockstar,” White said. “To come out here and rock these two events… absolutely incredible. I’m proud of how hard she’s been working.”

Kirstine said it felt “super good to be back” competing after rehabbing an injury during the offseason.

“It feels great,” Kirstine said. “I had surgery this summer so it was really hard to come back, but put the days in the gym and now we’re good.”

On floor, the Cougars scored 49.225, led by senior Rebekah Bean Ripley’s “Barbie Girl” routine — a performance that had gone viral on social media after BYU’s last meet — scoring a 9.875.

To round things off, the Aggies totaled a score of 49.075 on floor with senior Ariel Toomey leading USU with a 9.875. BYU secured their victory behind scores of 9.925 and 9.900 to total 49.350 on beam, the Cougars’ best event. 

In her first meet as head coach, White was impressed with the crowd.

“I think the atmosphere was absolutely incredible tonight,” head coach Kristin White said. “To have all these fans come out and support us — it was amazing.” 

Kirstine agreed with White adding that the fans helped the Aggies have “tons of energy.”

The atmosphere was aided by the promotion of Spectrum Magic night. Thousands of fans filled the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum to watch the meet and they received t-shirts that said Spectrum Magic and featured the iconic seat colors, matching the leotards USU wore.

While the Aggies did not secure the win, White was proud of her team’s effort. 

“I think every single one of them know what they could’ve improved on and been just a half a tenth better on the event they competed on,” White said. “I know that they’re going to go the gym, they’re going to keep working hard and they’re going to keep improving meet after meet after meet.”

Next week the Aggies travel to Idaho to take on Boise State on Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. 

Featured image by Paige Johnson.