Aggie Gymnasts Prep for Home-Opener
Aggie gymnastics will host two-time defending Western Athletic Conference champion Sacramento State 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Spectrum.
Gymnastics head Coach Corn said the team’s performance at Boise State last week was not a testament of their character and believes the team will make some mistakes but signs of improvement will be present.
“The spirits came right back up again (after the meet against Boise),” Corn said. “We’re excited to come home and I believe this team is committed in proving their gymnastics and working towards greater success,” Corn said.
In order to succeed in gymnastics, Corn said 90 percent is sustaining power, control and grace and 10 percent is between the ears.
“What happened at Boise helped us prepare mentally for what college gymnastics is all about,” he said.
Sacramento State is also 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the WAC after losing in their home opener Saturday to Cal State Fullerton, 189.525-189.000.
“With (Sac. State) being two-time defending WAC champions, they have something to prove,” Corn said. “I hope we get a great crowd and our fans will be able to watch this young team get stronger and improve every week we compete.”
The Aggies have not changed any of their routines, but simply have added more difficulty to them, Corn said.
“We’ve stuck with the same routines and we are going to go after it because we believe they will work for us,” he said.
To build on the team’s progression, each week the team is increasing routine difficulty.
“We are on a timed schedule of difficulty,” Corn said. “We have to have our strongest and most difficult routine put together by the time we take on the University of Utah.”
Coach Corn said they are going in with the same line up but have put freshman Maegan Snodgrass in to “beef up” the vault line up.
With having half of the team competing in their first home meet, sophomore Heather Heinrich who took all-around honors posting a 36.875 in the all-around last meet, said she is excited for the meet.
“We are anxious to get in there and show Utah State what we are made of,” she said.
Aggie gymnasts have doubled the amount of routines this past week in preparation for not only Friday’s meet, but also for the intensity for the rest of the season.
“Coaches nag at us constantly (in practices), but it pays off in the long run because they fix our mistakes and we make our corrections,” Heinrich said. “We are going to try to match (Sacramento State) and hit 24 on 24 on everything.”
With a week of practice put in emphasized on conditioning, technique and strengthening, Corn said the team feels ready and prepared for Sacramento State.
Every gymnast threw six floor sets this week in order to prepare for Friday.
“I thought the work ethic was outstanding not only in the workouts we had planned out but how they put their routines in detail.”
Corn said he looks to having a better performance than they had at Boise State.
“First off, we had to work through our disappointment of our performance against Boise State,” he said. “I personally believe that we will see a great improvement (Friday) compared to what we had at Boise State.”
Utah State is 4-5 against Sacramento State all-time, including 1-2 at Logan.
Utah State gymnastics team is currently ranked 41st in the Troester’s Gymnastics Poll while Sacramento State is ranked 29th nationally.
Next Tuesday the Aggies host the Broncos at 6:30 p.m. in the Spectrum.
-candice.sandness@aggiemail.usu.edu