Gymnasts spring into new season of action
It’s the end of practice and the Utah State gymnastics team is wrapping up with conditioning. One girl pulls herself up the rope with only her arm strength. Another digs into the ground as she pushes a folded mat across the floor. Each is cheered by her teammates who have just as much enthusiasm as they would if they were cheering on a routine.
The Aggies are young this year. Only two seniors anchor their lineup, but that’s not a problem for Utah State gymnastics head coach Jeff Richards.
“The skill level we have is definitely much higher. At the beginning of the year we started out with six 10.0’s on vault,” Richards said. “We’ve got one or two more that are maybe a little iffy but could do well on vault. That’s been our weakest event.”
Richards said the new team members brought in new talents, who along with veterans are expected to help the Aggies to the next level.
“I think our standouts will be Sarah Landes, Katlyn Betts on vault, Amelia Montoya, I think will surprise people this year, and Amanda Watamiach,” Richards said.
Richards said he recruited Betts specifically for her vault talents, an event the Aggies have struggled with in the past.
“I’m feeling really confident now,” Betts said. “I’m ready to go and I’m ready to get out there.”
The freshman from Michigan was the Junior Olympic national vault champion before coming to Utah State. Her talent along with those of Sarah Landes, a freshman from Oklahoma, should rejuvenate the Aggie team.
Betts said she is excited for her college gymnastics career to start.
“Doing gymnastics our whole lives, we’ve looked up to college gymnasts,” Betts said. “Now, it’s our time to do it, so I’m excited to see what it’s like on the other side.”
The Aggies were picked to finish third in the Western Athletic Conference preseason poll, but Richards has his eyes set higher.
“We want to finish well in the WAC, make it to regionals and then hopefully make it farther,” Richards said. “We haven’t made it to regionals as a team yet, but that’s our goal.”
The Aggies have some mountains to climb. A few of their top performers are injured to start the season.
“We started off the year already behind the eight ball,” Richards said. “We have three girls, two with season-ending injuries and one who couldn’t do anything until November so we were behind there.”
Despite the short numbers, the Aggies are pushing through.
“We shouldn’t let it affect us, but already almost everyone has something, so we’re just pushing through,” senior beam specialist Haley Hogan said. “I don’t think we’re going to let it affect us, because we don’t want to let any of our team down.”
As a young team, Richards has made some adjustments with the team to work toward its WAC goals.
“We’ve put in a lot of time,” Richards said. “We’ve put a lot of work on leadership and focusing in on how to calm themselves down. They’re ready — they need to trust that.”
Trust is a reccurring theme for Aggie gymnastics.
“We just need to trust in ourselves more,” Hogan said. “I think we have struggled with that.”
Betts agreed and said short numbers can be discouraging but trust will remedy that.
“We’re a little bit low on numbers, but these girls who are up in lineup are ready to go. We just have to believe in ourselves and go out and do what we’ve got to do,” Betts said.
– meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu