Three USU gymnasts crack top 15 at NCAA regionals
Up against athletes from nine teams, six nationally ranked, five Aggie gymnasts traveled to the University of Denver Saturday to compete in the NCAA North Central Regional Gymnastics Competition.
“We weren’t completely on our game, but overall they did pretty well,” USU head coach Jeff Richards said. “They were very composed and didn’t show signs of stress or anything.”
In all-around competition, senior Jackie Dillon led the Aggies and took eighth place with her score of 38.450. Freshman Rachel Vaske finished not far behind in 12th place with an all-around score of 38.025. Senior Lyndsie Boone finished off her Utah State career in 14th place with 37.950.
Junior Nicole Simoneau and freshman Paige Jones both spent the evening competing in individual events. Simoneau was on bars for the second time at Regionals, as well as on beam for the first time. Jones qualified on both the vault and floor exercises.
“The freshmen were OK with it, I think. It wasn’t their best performances, but it’s hard to go as an individual,” Richards said. “They were just excited to be there.”
While this was Dillon’s third time competing at the regional level, this was her first year in the all-around competition. It was Boone’s fourth trip, having competed on beam her freshman year and in all-around both of the last two years. This was Simoneau’s second trip for bars competition, but her first time on beam. This was the first NCAA appearance for Jones and Vaske.
On the vault, Dillon tied her season-high with a 9.775, tying for 23rd. Boone, Jones and Vaske were close together in the standings, taking hold of 39th, 40th, and 42nd respectively.
Maintaining her habits from the regular season, Simoneau led the Aggies on bars. She tied for 14th place, landing a score of 9.800. Boone tied for 19th after getting her second-highest score of the season, 9.775. Vaske tied for 34th with her 9.650, while Dillon came in 40th with a 9.550.
Simoneau also led Utah State on beam, tying for 27th place with a 9.625. She was not too far ahead of Boone who tied for 29th with her score of 9.575. Vaske came in 31st with a 9.550, with Dillon finishing in 34th with a 9.450.
On floor for the final rotation, Dillon led the Aggies, finishing 35th with a score of 9.675. Vaske was in 37th with her 9.550, with Jones in 39th, landing a 9.425. Boone scored a 9.000, her roughest event of the evening.
“They’ve put in a lot of hard work this season, but I think they were at least able to walk away happy,” Richards said. “For (Dillon) and (Boone) it was a little bit harder to leave, knowing it was their last meet. I think they think they could have done better, but they didn’t let it eat at them.”
Six universities were represented as overall teams at the competition. No. 12 University of Arkansas won the meet with a total score of 196.550, upsetting the No.1-ranked Florida Gators, who came away with a total of 196.425. Both teams automatically qualify for the upcoming national tournament in Cleveland, Ohio.
With the end of Regionals comes the end of the season, but that doesn’t mean the team is done working this year.
“They’ll be just in lifting and conditioning, and working on skills on their own in the gym,” Richards said. “And then we’ll come back, ready to go next year.”
– megan.allen@aggiemail.usu.edu