Gymnastics places No. 4 at first meet

The Utah State gymnastics squad competed in its season opener Sunday in California. The Aggie team finished fourth in the meet against North Carolina State, San Jose State and Cal State Fullerton.

“It was a very close-contested meet,” head coach Ray Corn said. “We certainly made enough mistakes. We should have won, obviously we are very disappointed. It will get better from here.”

Part of the reason the Aggies struggled in the season opener is a new judging system. Corn said every four to eight years, the scoring changes to make the sport more difficult.

“A lot of the skills have been devalued as far as score potential,” Corn said. “It was a very low-scoring meet.”

However, the Aggies’ score of 187.95 was enough to move USU up in rankings. Before the season started, Utah State was ranked No. 34.

After the meet this weekend, the squad moved up to No. 27.

“It’s not an issue of winning and losing. What you score is what gets you to the next level,” Corn said.

Senior Jessica Parenti, who Corn called “our No. 1 all-arounder and our quarterback of the team at this time,” won the all-around with a score of 38.175.

Along with Parenti’s performance, Corn said he said a lot of improvement from several different members of the team. Although Corn said the team has a lot of depth, it isn’t really able to show it right now.

With Alex Martin, Nicki Felley and Devin Markle out with minor injuries, Corn said he has three strong all-arounders out.

However, despite the injuries, Corn said the team’s goals for the season remain the same as they have always been.

He said the Aggies want to have a winning season, win the conference, win the regional meet and give the team a chance to compete at nationals.

The Aggies will next compete in Texas Sunday. The Aggies will face No. 8 LSU, Texas Woman’s and Centenary.

-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu