USU gymnastics places third at first meet of the season

Utah State gymnastics placed third at their season-opening meet on Saturday afternoon, but also recorded their highest opening score in program history. The quad meet took place in Pittsburgh, Pa., and was hosted by Pittsburgh. No. 22 West Virginia also attended, along with Eastern Michigan.

West Virginia took first at the meet with a total score of 195.500, followed by Pittsburgh at 194.750, Utah State in third with their highest season-opening score of 194.600, and Eastern Michigan finished fourth with 192.700.

Senior Madison Wards-Sessions took two event titles for the Aggies, bringing her career total up to 24 titles, with a 9.825 win on the bars and a three-way tie with two other gymnasts from West Virginia at 9.900 to share the floor title.

To kick off the afternoon, USU began on the bars and scored 48.525 overall. Along with Ward-Sessions’ bars title, junior MaKayla Bullitt tied for fifth with a 9.775, while fellow junior teammate Madi Tueller scored a 9.600 after not competing for the past three years.

On the beam, sophomores Autumn DeHarde took second with 48.350 with Leighton Varnadore tying for fourth with a 9.700.

Following the 9.900 Ward-Sessions earned on the floor, DeHarde was the next top finisher for Utah State where she put up a 9.825 to tie for sixth place.

Varnadore was able to score her career-best vault score of 9.800 to help the Aggies put up a total event score of 48.850 to close out the meet. During this event, Logan Varnadore made her vault debut with a 9.725 to add to the total score.

The Aggies will open up their home portion of the schedule with a meet on Friday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. against BYU at the Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum.