Gymnastics senior night end with a close defeat to No. 22 Boise State, six seniors honored
Utah State gymnastics seniors Autumn DeHarde, Taylor Dittmar, Mikaela Meyer, Logan Varnadore, Leighton Varnadore and Madison Tueller were all honored for their graduation Saturday night in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The Utah State seniors had a great night as the Aggies hosted the Boise State Broncos on senior night in a Mountain Rim Gymnastic Conference dual meet. After a hard fought battle between two of the country’s top teams, No. 22 Boise State got the better of No. 21 Utah State 196.400 to 195.325.
Utah State, led by Meyer and DeHarde, ran away with the vault and floor exercises. Meyer scored an impressive 9.85 on the vault while DeHarde matched her score with a 9.85 on the floor. DeHarde also tied for second place on the balance beam with a 9.85. Other seniors, twin sisters Logan and Leighton Varnadore, also had a great night with Leighton scoring the highest all around score of the meet at 39.200.
The USU Athletics Department took a moment to honor Boise State’s graduating seniors, then turned the time over to their own graduates, who had pre-recorded messages for the fans, friends, and family. Each of them took a moment to sincerely thank the fans and staff as well as friends and family for supporting them. Leighton even mentioned her favorite moment as an Aggie — having the opportunity to defeat in-conference rival, BYU.
Autumn DeHarde — from Sussex, Wisconsin and a marketing major — ranks first all-time in school history with 12 beam titles and is tied for 10th all-time with eight floor titles. She also ranks first all-time in school history with a single-season beam average of 9.889.
Taylor Dittmar — from Lebanon, Illinois, and a chemistry major — is a Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Scholastic All-American, Academic All-Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference and a USU Whitesides Scholar-Athlete.
Mikaela Meyer — from Myersville, Maryland and a kinesiology major with an exercise science emphasis — has been First-Team All-Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference for Vault, MRGC Vault Specialist of the Week along with being a Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Scholastic All-American, Academic All-MRGC and a USU Whitesides Scholar-Athlete.
Leighton Varnadore — from Aiken, South Carolina and is graduating in health education and promotion with a health science emphasis — is working on a master’s in sports management. She ranks fourth all-time in school history with a single-season vault average of 9.809.
Logan Varnadore — from Aiken, South Carolina — is majoring in marketing. She was a Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Scholastic All-American, Academic All-Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference and a USU Whitesides Scholar-Athlete.
Madison Tueller, a Cache Valley native, was forced to stop competing after injuries sustained in 2015; she came back to her hometown and has been operating at the team trainer for the past two seasons.
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