Division II schools don’t raise problems
It wasn’t the Division II schools, the University of California Davis or Alaska-Anchorage, which gave the Utah State University Aggies problems Saturday in California. San Jose State was just too much, finishing with a 192.425 score in the Spartan-hosted four-team gymnastics meet.
“We went there [San Jose State] after a two-week break to pick up our competitive edge not only where we left off but to improve our performance level from Arizona. We only had one mistake in the whole meet,” Utah State Head Coach Ray Corn said.
The Aggies finished with a 191.475, followed by UC Davis with a 190.875 and Alaska-Anchorage with a 184.30.
“Cal Davis is the real deal,” Corn said. “They are a really good team and faltered in the end.”
UC Davis was leading the four-team meet after three events.
Corn said his team was near-perfect on the beam, hitting five-of-six routines, but only received a 46.30 score.
“We suffered severely low scores on the beam hitting five out of six routines. They were crisp clear routines,” Corn said. “The beam team cannot feel badly for what they scored because they hit very nice routines.”
The Aggies were forced to count a fall on the floor exercise, one Corn said was not severe, but received solid 48.375 and 48.975 marks on the vault and uneven bars, respectively.
Corn said his team put on a clinic on the vault and bars but it was not enough to overtake San Jose State.
Although Utah State did not win the event, Spartan Dani Albright won with a 9.800, USU had the next three top finishers with Kyla Mattioli (9.725), Jessenia Abrego (9.700) and Nicole Kilpatrick (9.700).
Kilpatrick strained her shoulder during practice coming off the bars.
USU senior Kim Scharman led the Aggies on bars, receiving a 9.900 to tie for the eighth-best bar score in Utah State history. The 48.975 team total was a season-high on the bars.
Previously, Scharman held a 9.800 career high on the event which she recorded at last year’s Big West Championships.
Scharman is tied with teammates Brittnee Penman and Abrego. Penman received her 9.900 mark against Boise State last season, and Abrego saw her near-perfect score in the 1999 Big West Championship meet.
Abrego competed in the all-around for the first time in her career recording a 37.90. Seeing her first action on the beam, Abrego scored a 9.05 on the event.
“She handled the all-around brilliantly,” Corn said.
Mika Love Houston led the Aggies in the all-around, finishing third overall with a 38.150, including a 9.800 behind Scharman on the bars.
Corn said he felt Mika had a great meet.
San Jose’s Albright (38.650) and Kimmy Cianci (38.400) led the way in the all-around.
Going into the San Jose State meet, the Aggies were ranked No. 32 in the nation. This does not concern Corn though, because he said he feels the true rankings come out in March.
The Aggies will head to Boise State, where Corn said he feels competition really begins, Thursday prior to returning home on Feb. 6 for the Olympic torch ceremony and to take on BYU.