No. 19 SUU too much for Aggie gymnasts
For the second week in a row, Aggie gymnastics competed against the No. 19 Southern Utah University Thunderbirds, this time in Cedar City.
The Aggies got their second highest score of the season Friday, finishing with 192.125, but it wasn’t enough to beat the T-Birds who came out at 194.000.
“We’re slowly doing a little better,” head coach Jeff Richards said, “but we just haven’t been able to get it all together yet.”
The Aggies opened the meet on bars, led by junior Nicole Simoneau’s score of 9.825. This gave Simoneau the bars title for the night, and made for four of the season’s five meets that she has won or shared that title.
The two teams swapped apparati for the second rotation, with the Aggies heading to the vault. Junior Rebecca Holliday started it off with a 9.600. Freshman Paige Jones and senior Jackie Dillon both posted 9.700s, and senior Lyndsie Boone rounded-out the rotation with a 9.575. This gave the Aggies a total of 48.200 on vault and leaving them down 96.350-96.100 at the half-way point of the meet.
On floor for the third rotation, freshman Christina Nye notched a 9.675. Senior Jackie Dillon tied her season-high score with a 9.775. Senior Lyndsie Boone was back in competition Friday night after spending two weeks out on injury. She landed a 9.750, contributing to the total score of 48.550, the team’s second-best score of the season.
The balance beam has been the apparatus holding the Aggies back this season. Though it was still the lowest-scoring event of the night, scores went up once again. They are slowly working their way up to where they would like to be. Led by Dillon’s 9.725, her season-high, and just short of her career-high score, the team score was up a little more from last week’s competition against Brigham Young University, Iowa State University and SUU with a total of 47.475.
The Thunderbirds had a very mixed performance, scoring the team’s season-high on vault with 48.950, only to then go and get the season-low 47.700 on bars.
Friday’s meet was a bit of a homecoming for coach Richards, who graduated from SUU in 1995. Opposite of him, T-Bird head coach Scott Bauman graduated from USU in 1990. Both coaches began their careers as student assistants to USU legendary gymnastics coach Ray Corn. Richards spent some of his career as an assistant coach to Bauman during his time at SUU.
Richards said he really enjoys competing against SUU and being with everyone again.
“It’s a great time,” he said. “They’re a good team so it makes for good competition. It’s a lot of fun to go back there.”
This was the third time this season the Aggies and Thunderbirds have competed against each other, and they aren’t done yet. The Aggies will make one more trip to Cedar City to compete in a tri-meet with SUU and the University of Iowa. A week later, both teams will head to the WAC Tournament in San Jose, Calif., where they will compete one last time.
As the Aggies get ready for their next meet, they will be spending a lot of time in the gym working on little things that can make a huge difference in their scores.
“We’re going to be working on handstands on bars. We’re going to be working on finishes on every event, making sure our dismounts are more solid and that we’re really finishing strong,” Richards said. “We’re just trying to get mentally tougher.”
This week will be the fourth away meet in a row. Though it isn’t quite at the same level as it is for other sports, Richards said the home court advantage definitely exists in gymnastics.
“The equipment has a different feel to it, there’s a different look to the gym. There are a lot of different variables,” he said. “It’s a little bit tougher, but they can get through it and just do their gymnastics like they do every day.”
The Aggies continue their road swing with one last away meet at Sacramento State Friday, Feb. 11. The next week, they will finally return to the familiarity of the Spectrum, taking on the Broncos of Boise State on Feb. 18.
– megan.allen@aggiemail.usu.edu