Gymnasts take second place Friday
Friday night was full of falls for the Aggies, as they went head to head with No. 10 Missouri and Boise State and finished in second place with a score of 195.350.
Missouri finished the night in first place, receiving a score of 196.350 and Boise wrapped it up with a 194.100.
“From the very beginning we had the 10th best team in the country on the road but couldn’t put it together in the second event,” said Utah State Head Coach Ray Corn about having to compete against Missouri. “A golden opportunity was missed.”
From the very beginning several gymnasts found themselves face down on the mat after a fall.
On their first event, the uneven bars, the Broncos had three falls. Missouri on the floor had one fall and a gymnast that stepped out of bounds.
The Aggies started the night on vault. They tied for the second highest vault score of the season with a 48.775.
Top scorers on the vault for Utah State include co-captain Rachel Ropelato who finished with a score of 9.825. Gretchen Goerlitz finished with a 9.800, tying teammate Rachael Mandy. Co-captain Katie Rutherford received a career high of 9.725. USU led after the first round.
The Aggies’ next event was the bars, an event that saw three Aggie athletes fall.
“I told the ladies that if they can’t handle the bar routines we’re going to have to change them,” Corn said.
Despite the falls, Ashley Barr managed to tie her previous career high of 9.875 with a solid performance and land. All-arounder Alex Martin also put in a strong performance and earned a 9.725.
“Sometimes when we’ve had mistakes early, it is hard for some people to get the confidence [to hit their routines],” Barr said.
The team then moved on to the balance beam, where they experienced two more falls.
Top scorers for the beam included Liesel Kohler with a 9.85. Martin and teammate Stacy Stewart tied with a score of 9.800. Barr got her second best beam score of her career and of the season, with a 9.775.
The Aggies also received a season-high and second-best all-time score of 49.475 on the floor.
Stewart started the cycle with her career best of 9.775, followed by Ropelato who tied her career high of 9.875 and Martin who also tied her career high of 9.9. Barr promptly followed with her career high of 9.925.
“It’s the biggest high in the whole world,” said Barr about competing on the floor in front of a home crowd.
Finally for the Ags, Kohler notched a 9.95. Kohler was also named the Coca-Cola Outstanding Player.
“They came back and made the fans remember what a great team we have out of Utah State,” Corn said.
The team will be on the road for the last time during the regular season Feb. 27 when they face off with No. 4 Utah.
-vramirez@cc.usu.edu