Gymnasts fall short of upset of No. 20 ranked SUU in season opener
After a tough season ending in a third-place finish at the WAC tournament, the Aggie gymnastics team is feeling confident and ready for the 2011 season.
The Aggies opened their season at home Saturday night, for the first time since 2005, in a meet against the No. 20 Southern Utah University Thunderbirds. The last time the Aggies opened the season at home was also the last time they won a conference championship.
The Aggies held on to the nationally ranked T-birds, maintaining a slight lead through the first two rotations.
Both teams struggled on balance beam, which caused the Aggies to fall behind.
Head coach Jeff Richards said the team is building off last year’s conference finish.
“We were picked to finish last, but finished third instead,” he said. “That built a lot of confidence and you can really see that starting to shine.”
This year’s preseason rankings have picked the Aggies to tie for fourth place in the WAC.
This year’s roster brings in six new freshmen, who Richards said are all looking strong and ready to go.
One freshman, 5-foot-4 Paige Jones from Smithville, Mo., said she is ready and excited for the upcoming season.
“It’s been crazy getting adjusted to life and the team up here, but I love it,” she said.
One of the biggest adjustments is simply being a part of a college team.
The freshmen are used to being the oldest and most experienced members of their club teams, but are now the youngest and have the most to learn.
“The atmosphere here is just so different,” Jones said. “I’m back to being the youngest, but it’s nice to have the older girls to look up to.”
Jones made her college gymnastics debut on Saturday as an all-around competitor with a score of 37.150.
“It’ll be a fun year,” she said. “It’s going to be an exciting journey.”
Richards said he is looking forward to seeing the freshmen compete and start reaching into their potential.
“They are all hard workers and strong girls,” he said. “They are our future team leaders.”
Senior captain Lyndsie Boone agreed.
“The freshmen girls are very motivational for all of us,” she said. “They make all of us push a little harder.”
One of the goals of the team this season is to stay ranked in the top 36 in the country. If they do that, they will get to compete at Regionals.
“We’re just going to take it one meet at a time,” Richards said, “but if we can compete with the other teams, we can make it.”
One concern Richards has is coming back and maintaining strength after injuries. Both seniors on the team, Boone and Jackie Dillon, have had significant injuries they are recovering from.
“Jackie has been injured, but she’s looking amazing,” he said. “I think she’ll surprise a lot of people this season.”
Dillon had knee surgery this summer but has been nursing it back to health.
Boone is also working her way back up from knee problems, but still led the Aggies in the floor exercises Saturday night.
“I struggle on floor because of a knee injury,” she said. “I can’t train it as much as a lot of the other girls do, but I love doing it in competition.”
Junior Rebecca Holliday had a career-high performance on the vault with a score of 9.7.
The Aggies fought hard and held their own against the Thunderbirds, but eventually fell with a final score of 193.475 to 192.8.
“SUU is a great team, but so are we,” Holliday said. “We’re going to have fun and finish strong.”
Richards said, “We just have to stay out of our own heads and we’ll be fine.”
Boone said she is looking forward to her last season as an Aggie.
“We knew we were up against some tough competition tonight, but we did well and showed great improvement from last year’s start,” she said. “We’re going to be unstoppable.”
– megan.allen@aggiemail.usu.edu