Aggie gymnastics records best score of year in loss to SUU

The Utah State gymnastics team recorded its best score of the year so far with a season-high 194.900 on Friday night. USU lost to host Southern Utah University, which recorded its own season-high score of 195.500.

Once again, Utah State senior Madison Ward-Sessions snatched a pair of individual titles, winning the vault and the all-around events, bringing her career-total to 30 wins.

“Madi put together another solid all-around performance,” said USU head coach Amy Smith. “It was great seeing her edge out her previous personal best with a 9.825 on beam and anchor our beam lineup. It’s been really great seeing her deliver in the all-around for us this season.”

USU junior MaKayla Bullitt placed second on the bars with 9.850, with freshman Grace Rojas following closely behind with her career-high of 9.825. Sophomore Leighton Varnadore recorded a 9.700, and Ward-Sessions scored a 9.750 for fifth.

A mountain of pressure was placed on freshman Maya Perez-Lugones during her beam routine after Utah State suffered a fall in their second routine. The freshman executed a career-high 9.725 as she completed her routine, before crumbling to the ground due to a leg injury.

On the vault, Ward-Sessions served as the anchor, and with a score of 9.800 she was able to earn one of her two individual titles. This was Ward-Sessions first vault title of the season, and the fifth of her career. Varnadore followed with a 9.775, while her twin sister Logan Varnadore came close with a 9.725. Rojas secured a 9.700, and junior Elle Golison and sophomore Autumn DeHarde both tied with 9.650.

USU was able to secure a season-high team score on the beam with a 48.725. Ward-Sessions matched her season high 9.825 score along with DeHarde, and the duo was followed by another Aggie tie of 9.700 from sophomore Taylor Dittmar and senior Emily Briones. The 9.700 beam score also served as a season-high for Briones. Rojas competed in her first official beam routine and earned a score of 9.675.

“Something we can take away from this meet is we can still battle through some adversity. Maya getting hurt on the first rotation kind of shook us up a little bit,” Ward-Sessions said. “But, we were able to go and hit vault and finish all the other events. I was proud of the team for not letting anything really shake us.”

To finish the meet against the Thunderbirds, Ward-Sessions was awarded the individual all-around title with a score of 39.175, along with SUU gymnast Karley McClain. This secured Ward-Sessions’ 30th career individual title.

“At the end of the day, we battled through and came out with another season-high score,” said USU head coach Amy Smith. “The resilience of the team was great to see tonight because it was not an easy meet. We just kept fighting to the very end. I’m really proud of the team.”

Utah State will next play host to Boise State on Feb. 8 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The meet will begin at 7 p.m.