Boise State bests USU Gymnastics for second week in a row
LOGAN — Utah State Gymnastics hosted Boise State this Friday at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum for a Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference dual meet. The two teams competed last week in Boise, Idaho where the Broncos came out victorious winning 196.325 to 195.675. Boise State won again this week beating the Aggies 196.075-193.425, also winning all of the events for the competition. USU’s Brianna Brooks won the all-around title scoring a 39.075.
The Aggies started off on vault, where senior Alivia Ostendorf clinched fourth place overall with the score of 9.800. Boise’s Courtney Blackson got first place, scoring a 9.875. Boise beat USU overall 49.025-48.625 on the vault.
Ostendorf competed in three events for the Aggies tonight and placed top five in two of those events. Ostendorf also won the Pepsi Rockstar Athlete for the competition. She’s a senior transfer from Ball State and has been an integral part of the Aggies’ squad this season. She’s confident that her team can do better than what was displayed tonight, and said they just need to perform with the confidence they have in practice.
“I think we just need to learn how to put everything together. We have the talent, the confidence and everything in the gym,” Ostendorf said. “We are just having some trouble putting it all together.”
On the bars, graduate Grace Rojas from USU scored a 9.875 getting third place overall. On the bars, the Aggies looked shaky with two different athletes falling off during their routine. This was uncharacteristic, as they usually average 49.100. USU lost in the event with Boise winning 48.925-47.375.
The Aggies’ “beam queen,” Sofi Sullivan, was missing from the beam lineup. Head coach Kristin White said the Aggies are hopeful to have her back in time for their upcoming meet. Brooks and junior Jenna Eagles both scored the highest for USU, achieving third with scores of 9.825. Boise State won in the event 48.950-48.925.
To finish on the floor, the Aggies were missing sophomore Amari Evans. Evans was set to perform but suffered a lower-body injury during warmups. Senior Ariel Toomey and Ostendorf both tied for third for the Aggies, scoring a 9.825. Boise won the floor event 49.175-48.500.
Although the Aggies fell to Boise in every category, White says she is confident they will bounce back next week against Southern Utah.
“It is tough to overcome,” White said about the mistakes made by her athletes tonight. “Those were uncharacteristic mistakes, so we just have to learn how to be a little bit more mentally tough when those things happen. It’s something that we will continue to train in the gym.”
White said she is proud of her girls on how they handled adversity tonight, especially Eagles and freshman Avery Bibbey, who both were not set to compete. White said Bibbey stepped up big for her team, replacing Evans after her injury.
USU Gymnastics stays home next week to face Southern Utah on February 17 at 7:00 pm. During this meet, Aggie fans are going to try to break the world record for the most people dunking cookies at one time.
Featured image by Heidi Bingham from the Best of Utah meet.