Utah State Gymnastics ends championship season, prepares for NCAA tournament

Utah State University Gymnastics had a record-breaking season with six consecutive meet scores of 196 or higher, an undefeated record at home, and by winning back-to-back Mountain West Conference championships.  

Utah State has now won nine conference championships in its program’s history. The team scored 196.400 at the conference championships and was followed by Boise State University with a score of 196.200. 

Avery Bibbey, a senior on the team, said she’s especially proud of the consistency of the team’s scores near the end of the season.  

“Having scores of 196 for six weeks now is crazy. It’s something we haven’t been able to do at all my four years here. So, I’m just proud of that, and then making it past round one of regionals — that has been a big success,” Bibbey said.  

Avery Bibbey lands after performing on the bars during a meet at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Feb. 9.

Kristin White, gymnastics head coach, said the goals for the season included winning the championship and qualifying for the NCAA tournament.  

“They were actually able to exceed those goals by winning the regular season, which was really exciting,” White said. “Instead of being in round one of the NCAA tournament this year, we’ve qualified for round two.” 

White said the team is now aiming to qualify for round three. 

“Round three would deem that we’re in the top 16 teams in the country left in the tournament, which would be really exciting,” White said.  

Olivia Orengo, a sophomore on the team, said she is grateful the team has made it so far.  

“In preseason, we had a lot of injuries, so it was a little scary because we didn’t know who was going to be in lineups,” Orengo said. “But as soon as the season started, everyone stepped up, and we just began building from each meet. From there, we kept breaking records and kept winning.” 

Orengo said she has been able to improve individually this year and hopes to continue advancing her skills in future seasons.  

“I feel like I gained a lot more confidence in my gymnastics compared to last year, and I knew that every routine I did counted,” Orengo said.  

Olivia Orengo performs her routine on the beam in USU’s meet with Oregon State at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on March 6.

Orengo tied her career high on beam and floor at the conference championship with a score of 9.785 on beam and 9.850 on floor. She also earned All-Mountain West honors on bars. 

“Bars was not always my strongest event growing up, so it’s kind of a full circle moment that I was able to earn this honor this year,” Orengo said.  

Five other Utah State gymnasts also earned honors, including Sydney Jelen, Nyla Morabito, Isabella Vater, Mya Witte and Lundyn VanderToolen. 

White said the team’s bond has helped them to get this far.  

“They’re a group of phenomenal women. You can see the friendships flourishing. You can see that they’re believing and trusting one another,” White said. “I think that’s created a lot of great success, you know, not only on the competition floor but in our team culture as well.” 

This season, White received a contract extension through 2030. 

“I’m really excited to see where the program can be in the next four years because the past four years have been absolutely amazing to see the growth of this team,” White said. 

The Aggies will compete in the Baton Rouge Regional on April 2 at 12 p.m., facing Stanford University, University of Michigan and University of North Carolina. To advance to round three, the team will need to place in the top two.