USU gymnastics falls short to Boise State despite posting highest score of the season
On Friday night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, the Utah State Women’s Gymnastics team posted their best score of the season, but ultimately fell short of No. 7 Boise State, 196.700-196.300.
Not only was the score of 196.300 a season-high, however. It was also the fifth-highest total in the program’s history.
“I thought it was really successful because we went up against a top-ranked team and they did not beat us by that much,” senior Keri Peel said following the meet. “We hung with them for the most part and I’m super proud of the whole team for fighting together.”
Peel led a resurgence for the Aggies, anchoring the team on the uneven bars with 9.875 after a disappointing rotation and Boise State building a lead. The rest of the team built off the momentum on the next two rotations, winning the beam and tying Boise State on floor.
Melanie Oster set a career high on beam with a 9.900, pacing the Aggies to set a new season-high of 49.150.
“It’s really rewarding because I feel like the hard work in the gym finally pays off,” Oster said.
“It was just amazing, because she has been battling a knee injury all year. She’s just going out there and setting aside what it feels like physically and going out there and mentally being in the game. It’s really awesome,”said head coach Nadalie Walsh post-match.
Madison Ward also continued her excellent season, winning the floor with yet another 9.900 — her fourth such score this season.
“Keri Peel, Ellie Golison, Melanie Oster, and Madi Ward going out at the end of those lineups and to do the routines that they’ve practiced, it just builds so much trust,” Walsh said. “I think mostly it will show them that they can trust themselves even more and do the same things the rest of the year.”
Against the seventh-best team in the country, the Aggies never trailed by more than five-tenths of a point, gaining a lot of confidence throughout the meet.
“I think it boosts the whole team’s confidence because going into this meet, we trained a lot to keep up with them and I think it showed a lot,” Peel said of the Aggies’ performance. With several more highly ranked teams on Utah State’s schedule, like No. 4-ranked UCLA on Monday, that confidence will surely be needed.
“I think we’re just gonna use it as motivation. Every single one of these girls know how good they are in the gym, and they just want to do those calm and collected routines,” Walsh said. “On Monday, (playing UCLA) on the Pac-12 Network, I think that we’re ecstatic to be able to show the world, ‘Look, Utah State’s arrived’.”
Utah State will play No. 3 UCLA on Monday in Los Angeles at 2 pm. The meet will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.