Gymnasts finish sixth
It was a hard meet for the Utah State gymnastics team as it hit the ground hard in a loss at the regionals, taking sixth place with a final score of 192.375.
“The team fought hard,” USU Head Coach Ray Corn said. “They [just] had so many little mistakes. They cost us.”
Corn said he was proud that the team did not have to count any falls or major errors on their overall team score, but is disappointed that they could not hold their seed. They were at third place going into the meet.
The Ags began their night on the floor, a usually energetic event. The individual scores were low, making the team floor score the second lowest of the season. Liesel Kohler led the way with a 9.750 followed by Jessica Parenti at 9.650.
USU then went on to compete in the vault, where Corn said the team did “superbly.” The team picked up the pace and managed a score of 9.700 or higher for each of the vault competitors. The Western Gymnastics Conference vault champion Jackie Fogli led the way with a 9.775. Co-captain Katie Rutherford helped out with her 9.750.
“It was disappointing,” Rutherford said about the meet. “[But] we proved that we can compete with the rest of them. I just wanted to have a good last meet.”
She also said competing at region was a great experience and that she is very proud of her teammates.
After the vault, it was the Aggies’ turn in the break room. Corn said the team left something in that room – that it seemed tentative after the break.
Unfortunately when they came out, the team’s next event was the uneven bars. The bars have caused the Aggies a great deal of stress and frustration this season. Parenti contributed her part with a 9.700 while teammate and co-captain Alex Martin put up a 9.6225.
The team moved on to their final event of the balance beam. Although it was unable to pull anything together, both Ashley Barr and Martin helped out with a 9.650 each.
“We can’t forget all the things that we accomplished this year,” Corn said. “We are knocking on the door every year and the team is hungry for higher levels of greatness.”
Although the team did not accomplish its final goal, Corn said that he is still quite proud of his team and that they are looking forward to the upcoming season.
-vramirez@cc.usu.edu