Gymnastics takes down No. 17 BYU in last home meet
Last Friday night the Utah State Gymnastics team closed out their home meets by beating No. 17 BYU 196.600-195.450 on Senior Night. This put the Aggies at a perfect 4-0 at home.
The team snapped a nine-meet losing streak to the Cougars dating back to 2017 and scored the second highest score of the season just after the 196.800 they received in February. This ranks fourth in all-time school history and second all-time for a home meet.
“I am honestly speechless,” said head coach Amy Smith. “They have done a great job all year long. We were making lineup changes all the way down to the very last second almost on every event tonight, but our team has been so good at being resilient and adaptable and rolling with what we’re doing, because they have been preparing so well and have invested so much this year.”
The team honored seniors Brittany Jeppesen and Elle Golison for their accomplishments. Jeppesen tied with freshman Sofi Sullivan for first on bars with a career-high 9.900 helping the team reach 49.275.
“Finally,” Jeppensen said, ““I’ve been waiting for that number for a long time. Tonight was the perfect time for me to hit that 9.900. It’s exciting to see my hard work pay off.”
Junior Autumn DeHarde won beam with a 9.875 and floor with a career-high 9.95 and is now tied for second all time in school history. DeHarde now has 12 career beam titles, ranking first all-time in program history. Following DeHarde, Sullivan had a career-high 9.850 to tie for fourth and freshman Rebecca Wells matched her career best with a 9.850.
“I love being a part of this team,” said Golison. “This team is going places; they are going to do a lot and break a lot of records. I have big expectations for them.”
Currently, Utah State is No. 1 in the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference and No. 19 in the nation in beam, led by DeHarde and freshman Sofi Sullivan who are tied for first in the conference in the event. Monday, DeHarde was named as the co-beam specialist and floor specialist of the week in the MRGC after winning her school-record 12th title in the event on Friday March 6.
Utah State will close out the regular season against the University of Utah on Friday, March 13, at 7 p.m. at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
Full list of results below
Team Results: 1. Utah State – 196.600 (vault: 49.100, bars: 49.275, beam: 49.000, floor: 49.225); 2. BYU – 196.450 (vault: 49.300, bars: 49.050, beam: 48.750, floor: 49.350).
Vault: 1. Jordan Matthews – BYU, 9.900; 2. Abbey Miner – BYU, 9.875; T3. Mikaela Meyer- 9.850; T3. Avery Bennett – BYU, 9.850; T3. Sadie Miner – BYU, 9.850; T6. Grace Rojas – USU, 9.825; T6. Rebecca Wells – USU, 9.825; T9. Autumn DeHarde – USU, 9.800; T9. Leighton Varnadore – USU, 9.800; 11. Elle Golison – USU, 9.775.
Bars: T1. Brittany Jeppesen – USU, 9.900; T1. Sofi Sullivan – USU, 9.900; 3. Haley Pitou – BYU, 9.875; 4. Grace Rojas – USU, 9.850; T5. Maia Fishwick – USU, 9.825; T7. Leighton Varnadore – USU, 9.800; 11. Jessica Gutierrez – USU, 9.725.
Beam: 1. Autumn DeHarde – USU, 9.875; 2. Sofi Sullivan – USU, 9.850; 3. Abby Stainton – BYU, 9.825; T4. Rebecca Wells – USU, 9.800; 7. Taylor Dittmar – USU, 9.775; T8. Carley Bayles – USU, 9.700; T9. Leighton Varnadore – USU, 9.675.
Floor: 1. Autumn DeHarde – USU, 9.950; T2. Sadie Miner – BYU, 9.900; T2. Abbey Miner – BYU, 9.900; T4. Rebecca Wells – USU, 9.850; T4. Sofi Sullivan – USU, 9.850; 10. Elle Golison – USU, 9.800; T11. Ariel Toomey – USU, 9.775; T11. Mikaela Meyer – USU, 9.775.