Aggie gymnastics beats Boise State, lose to SUU
Utah State doesn’t beat a nationally ranked team very often, but when the No. 13 Boise State gymnastics team left the Spectrum, it left with a loss.
Freshman Sarah Landes was the gymnast of the meet to help the Aggies finish with a final score of 194.050 to beat out the Broncos’ 193.525 and nearly topple Southern Utah’s 194.525, placing USU second at the meet.
It was the first time since 2007 the Aggies beat Boise State — a losing streak spanning 13 meets.
“I think everybody went into this feeling like, ‘It’s at home,'” Landes said. “We’re excited. We know we can get the score. Everybody was just feeding off of everybody’s energy.”
Landes won the all-around competition with a personal best of 39.225, which included personal bests on the floor and beam.
“I still had a few mistakes that I can fix, but I hope to keep building on this and keep getting better,” Landes said. “You just go out there and do the best you can get, and the scores will come.”
Utah State head coach Jeff Richards said Landes continues to be solid on the all-around.
“She’s a great kid — a hard worker,” he said. “She struggled a little bit in the end of season, trying to change some things, fix her form a little bit. But, man, that kid is a competitor.”
Landes tied Boise State’s Amy Glass on the balance beam with a score of 9.875.
Glass finished third in the all-around with 38.725 and tied with Southern Utah’s Michaela Chernoch for the floor title with 9.900. Chernoch took second in the all-around with 39.050.
The floor event gave USU some trouble. Junior Amelia Montoya stepped outside the area and took a .10 point deduction for a final score of 9.100. Junior Amanda Watamaniuk fell after one of her runs for another deduction and posted a 9.050.
“Normally we’re pretty solid on floor,” Landes said. “It was just a couple mistakes that I’ve never seen those girls make. We’ll be back in practice on Sunday, so we’ll just get to work and fix it.”
The Aggies finished 3-7 on the uneven parallel bars behind Boise State’s Ciera Perkins and Kelsey Morris who marked 9.875 and 9.825 respectively.
“(It’s) our best score of the season again,” Richards said. “I was a little nervous, because we’ve had two great meets on bars. But it went great, and you could see them really excited.”
Utah State’s Paige Jones tied for second in the vault with a 9.875 behind Boise State’s Brittany Potvin-Green who won with a 9.900.
“Vault went well,” Richards said. “It was great to see them really fight on that event.”
The Aggies will compete in the second part of a four-meet home stand against Arizona State on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Spectrum.
“They’re starting to believe in themselves,” Richards said. “(This is) a great way to set the tone.”
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu