Gymnasts open with meet at BSU
The Aggie gymnastics team kicks off their 2008 season 7 p.m. Friday night against the Boise State Broncos at BSU’s Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho, marking the first meet of 14 meets of the season. Utah State head coach Ray Corn said he is excited to get the season started and said the Broncos will be tough to beat in their home opener. “We are going to go up there in the lion’s den because although we beat them four times last year, this year they have a brand new team with a roster of 26 girls,” Corn said. The Aggies will have 24 routines, Corn said, and he said he hopes to get the freshmen acclimated to collegiate gymnastics. “We’ll see how many of (the routines) we can hit successfully and see where we stack up against Boise State, and we hope to come home with no injuries,” Corn said. With the youth of the team, Corn said the Aggies are not going to have the strongest possible lineup because some athletes are struggling with injuries or are coming off of illness. “I think we have a very exciting group of freshmen,” he said. “They bring to us some very powerful gymnastics, although not all of them are ready at this point in time.” Gymnasts to look for to score high points for the Aggies are freshman Nicole Simoneau, who scored a 9.850 on the bars at Tuesday night’s exhibition, and junior Nikki Felley and sophomore Heather Heinrich, who recorded in the all around Tuesday a 38.300 and 38.150, respectively. Simoneau said she wants to beat the Broncos and is excited for her first collegiate meet. “I’m nervous but excited too, and I want to do well, not for myself but for my team,” she said. Freshman Jasmine Minion said she expects her team to perform well. “I think we’re prepared and we’ll be sure to kick butt this meet,” she said. In preparation for meets, Minion said Corn has the team have pressure sets in practice, where each athlete is put on the spot doing her routine as if it were a real meet. “The pressure sets we have in practice prepare me for the realities of meets,” she said. Minion said with the bigger crowd outlook in Boise, jitters will be inevitable but so will enthusiasm. “I think a bigger crowd gets me more pumped and motivated to show off, and with the type of team we have, we have a close bond and we will be pulling for each other,” she said. Corn said the team is evenly balanced with experience and newcomers. “I think this team has the opportunity by mid-season to score 49s on every event, which basically is a 196, and that would at least place us in the top 20 in the nation,” Corn said. “Our goal is to get back at that level.” Corn said he is looking for the team to improve upon its ranking from last year, when they placed third in the WAC Championships and sixth at NCAA Regionals. “It’s going to be very interesting and fun for our fans to see the team progress from week to week,” he said. This year the Broncos gymnastics team is under new leadership by co-head coaches Tina Bird, who was promoted to head coach after being assistant coach for the Broncos the past 18 years, and Neil Resnick, who also served as assistant coach to previous head coach Sam Sandmire, who retired last year after 20 seasons with the program. “Boise State with their new coaching staff has been ranked with the ninth best recruiting class in the country,” Corn said. Corn said he looks for his team to adjust to hard landings at meets, which the team isn’t accustomed to because the facility where they train is very soft. “Part of the acclamation (of gymnastics) is taking hard landings, which the team has to get accustomed to very quickly,” he said. With the slow progression of cohesion of the team, Corn said he is impressed with how the team is coming together. “With the previous experience and the freshmen we have, they are doing a tremendous job following the program versus the programs they all came from,” Corn said. In addition to sustaining team unity, Corn said he hopes to have a great home opener Jan. 18 against two-time defending WAC champions Sacramento State. “We hope to pack the stands,” he said. -candice.sandness@aggiemail.usu.edu