Ag gymnasts buck Broncos in home opener
A simple home opening meet against a conference opponent turned into a career night for the Utah State gymnastics team.
Season-high scores in three events and 16 individual career highs led the Aggies over Western Gymnastics Conference foe Boise State University, 195.350-193.675, Friday in the Spectrum.
The meet was the third of the season for USU and the second time the Aggies have faced BSU.
“I don’t know exactly where that sits, but that 195.350 probably is one of the highest posted scores in the third meeting outing we’ve ever had,” said Aggie Head Coach Ray Corn.
Trailing by less than a point after the first two rotations, the Aggies took over on the beam.
Kicked off by freshman Ashley Barr’s career-high 9.800, the Aggies started running off new individual highs.
“It’s always nice to start out with a great hit because pressure is just lifted off your shoulders,” said USU freshman all-arounder Meagan Nelson. “Coming out with [Barr’s] score was just awesome and everyone just followed right behind her.”
Ashley Young, Liesel Kohler and Allison Rosenthal all set career marks on the beam before it was senior Nicole Kilpatrick’s turn.
Performing a nearly flawless routine, Kilpatrick was awarded a 9.950 by the judges, tying the best beam mark in school history.
“I didn’t know I was going to get that when I got off, but you just hope for the best and try to have as solid of a performance as you can,” Kilpatrick said.
Although Kilpatrick’s score would be hard to match, Nelson nearly did it, tying the eighth best score in school history with a 9.900.
As a team, the Aggies finished with a 49.250, the third best team beam score ever, to BSU’s 48.475.
Having built nearly a one-point lead, Utah State continued to shine, closing out the meet on the floor with four career highs and the ninth best team score in the program’s history.
Much like the beam, Kilpatrick and Nelson capped off the floor rotation with career highs. Kilpatrick scored a 9.925 to tie the fifth best ever score and Nelson turned in a 9.950, matching the second best Aggie score ever.
Utah State finished with a 49.200 on the floor while the Broncos had a 48.150.
To start the meet, the Aggies set a season high 48.625 on the vault and Rachel Ropelato, Katie Rutherford and Nelson all set career highs.
Boise State picked up a 48.150 on the vault.
The vault was the one event Kilpatrick had difficulty in, though. After stumbling on her approach, Kilpatrick completed the vault, stumbling on her landing.
Corn said Kilpatrick could have stopped her approach and taken a balk, getting the opportunity to try again.
“It’s a shame really that Nicole [Kilpatrick] missed her vault but she tripped down the runway and she felt like she couldn’t stop or run by the horse,” he said.
Moving onto the bars, the Aggies suffered two falls through the first five competitors, but Ropelato came through in the end, setting a career-high 9.800.
“Rachel Ropelato pretty much saved our bacon hitting that last routine. That kind of kept us in it,” Corn said.
The bars were the only event the Broncos outscored USU in, 48.9-48.275.
For the third straight meet, Nelson led the Aggies in the all-around competition, winning it by posting a 39.500, the third best all-around score in school history.
Overall, Corn said he was happy with the team’s performance, especially considering the number of freshmen competing.
“It’s always a bit of struggle with freshmen when they first come on board and getting used to what college gymnastics is all about, but I thought it was just a sensational night,” he said. “I think that every event came through.”
Having the meet at home also helped the Aggies.
The 1,457 fans in attendance were more than at the other meets the Aggies have competed in and seemed to have a bigger influence, Ropelato said.
Nelson said after the meet, “It’s just so much more fun here. The crowd is so behind us. You just want to do well to keep them going. You get the biggest adrenaline rush — I’m still shaking from it.”
With such a strong performance so early in the season, the Aggies are looking to keep building.
“We can improve a lot more, I believe,” Kilpatrick said. “We had a couple of mistakes on vault, a couple on bars. If we all hit what we did on beam and floor we’re going to be awesome. We just keep getting better.”
–slbk5@cc.usu.edu