Aggies compete for a cause and beat Spartans

With 1,243 spectators in attendance, the Utah State University women’s gymnastics team beat
San Jose State University with a score of 195.925 on Friday.
Utah State scored 48.850 on the vault, 49.025 on the uneven parallel bars, 48.900 on the
balance beam and 49.150 on the floor exercise. They won the bars, beam and floor overall.
Head coach Kristin White said she was very proud of the work the team put in.
“Yeah, I’m really excited,” White said. “Our athletes are super excited to be able to put together
tonight, and you know, they’re happy with the score and, obviously, the win and lighting up the
A. We’re just really excited.”
For individual wins, Aggie Alivia Ostendorf tied with San Jose’s Madison Kirsch and Jaudai
Lopes with a score of 9.825. Ostendorf also won the floor with 9.875.
“She’s a tremendous leader for our team,” White said. “She’s a veteran. She’s been doing
college gym for five years now, so Alivia knows what to do, especially when the pressure’s on,
and she knows the moment needs to count. So, [I’m] just excited for her to have a great meet
tonight.”
Dani Kirstine tied with Spartan Lauren Macpherson for first on the bars with a score of 9.850,
and Lexi Aragon got a 9.850 and won the beam, along with Pepsi’s Rock Star of the Meet
award.
“Tonight was really important for her because her cause is very special to her,” White said. “I
knew the night was going to mean a lot to her, and so for her to put up a phenomenal
performance on both of her events is just really exciting. I’m really proud of her.”
This meet, promoted as the “My Cause Meet,” allowed each athlete and staff member to bring
awareness to different causes near to their hearts. They also encouraged fans to wear colors
representing the different causes they are passionate about.
“You can’t have change unless you have awareness, and I feel like they did that tonight and
they competed for something bigger than themselves,” White said.
The Utah State gymnastics website listed the causes as follows: Gun violence prevention, Black
Lives Matter, breast cancer, sexual assault awareness, Duchenne muscular dystrophy,
leukemia, LGBTQ+ Pride & suicide prevention, lymphoma, kidney cancer, animal abuse
awareness, Alzheimer’s, prostate cancer, Support Our Troops, civic engagement, cancer awareness, mental health awareness, cancer screening, depression awareness, animal rescue
and colon cancer.
“Our staff and student-athletes have put in a lot of time and effort to bring awareness to the
causes that are most important to all of us,” White said on the website. “We encourage Aggie
Nation to show their support by wearing colors that support their causes as well.”
White shared how previously, only one cause was selected for the whole team. However, this
time, she wanted the girls to feel an individual connection with each cause.
“I really thought it was a good idea for athletes to be able to express for them individually,”
White said. “We sat down, we talked about what cause was really meaningful to them. And they
took the time to make a poster board of it and create awareness, and I was just really proud of
the effort that they put into the night.”
The Aggies compete next on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. against Boise State