Gymnastics squad takes on SUU in Spectrum
The Utah State gymnastics team will round up its two-meet home stand Friday at 7 p.m. in the Spectrum against in-state rival Southern Utah University.
“I always worry about the first home meet of the year. We just get too pumped up,” said head coach Ray Corn. “If we make the same kind of adjustment that we did from Boise to Cal-Berkley in our first home meet to our second home meet, I’m expecting big things.”
SUU is currently 3-4 on the season, recently finishing fourth in a quad meet at UCLA over the weekend. At the meet, the Thunderbirds tied their season-high score of 191.525. They were led by all-arounder Suzi Clark, who posted a 38.450.
The Aggies hold a 29-4 record over SUU, including a 15-1 home advantage. The last time the teams met was at the 2000 NCAA Regionals, where the Aggies outscored the Thunderbirds 192.950-191.800.
Coming out against the Thunderbirds, the Aggies will post a lineup similar to that in the previous home match against Boise State University, with two exceptions. Kristin Bloom will be out and Mika Houston will probably be out of the vault lineup due to an ankle injury, Corn said.
“We need to make sure that Kristin Bloom is absolutely healthy because she is far too important for us at the end, not only as an all-around but where she has been contributing so much for us on floor and balance beam,” Corn said.
Utah State plans to let its vault routine go loose this week, as the team has been preparing four 10.0 vaults, two others with 9.9 and 9.8 start values.
“If we can begin negotiating that,” Corn said, “it will take our vault squad right to the very top because there are very few teams in the country that can boast that they have that type of difficulty in vaulting, and we have more.”
Following the match against SUU, Utah State will travel to Salt Lake City to take on No. 4 University of Utah at the Huntsman Center Tuesday.