USU Gymnastics places third in Best of Utah meet
WEST VALLEY CITY — Utah State Gymnastics competed in the Best of Utah meet, falling to No. 3 Utah (197.750) and No. 23 Southern Utah (196.175) while defeating Brigham Young (195.050).
The Aggies finished the meet with a score of 195.800, which is the second-highest season-opening score in program history, just falling short of last year’s score of 195.875.
The event took place at the Maverik Center for the fourth consecutive year, with Utah winning the previous three years.
“The atmosphere was incredible,” first-year head coach Kristin White said. “I was nervous at the start but after we finished bar rotation I settled in and had a great time with our team.”
In the first rotation, the Aggies started on the bars scoring a 49.025. Senior Jessica Gutierrez and freshman Avery Bibbey led the Aggies at 9.825 with all scores coming at 9.775 or higher. Utah State trailed only Utah after the first rotation with the Red Rocks leading at 49.375.
White — who took over for the program following the departure of Amy Smith — joined the team in wearing “Something 2 Prove” shirts before the meet referencing the people who “wrote off” the Aggies after the departure of Smith and key athletes.
“I think a lot of people doubted Utah State. They wanted to get out there and prove they are the same team as last year,” White said.
Some returning athletes for the Aggies voiced their support and desire to prove those wrong who doubted them after the departure of Smith.
“We had a whole program switch. (The shirts) are to show everyone that even though we lost our lineups and coaches, we are still an amazing team and we are going to prove to everyone we can win a championship again,” senior Sofi Sullivan said.
Utah State traveled to the beam rotation and repeated its score of 49.025 from the first rotation.
The rotation was highlighted by a 9.900 anchor from Sullivan which prompted a 9.950 from one of the judges. The Aggies fell to third place trailing the Red Rocks at 98.275 and the Thunderbirds at 98.200. BYU trailed the Aggies at 97.975.
In the third rotation, Utah State was on the floor, which was one of the Aggies’ best last season. Following the departure of Brie Clark — who scored a 9.950 in one of her floor routines last season — the Aggies were looking to replace her excellent results. While no Aggie scored that high in the meet, their floor routines continued to shine. A pair of 9.850 scores from Ariel Toomey and sophomore Amari Evans pushed the Aggies to their best score of the night at 49.125.
The final rotation for the Aggies was on the vault. Utah, SUU and BYU all finished at 48.800 or better but the Aggies couldn’t reach that benchmark. USU finished the vault at 48.625, their lowest rotation score of the meet. Brianna Brooks continued her excellent day with a 9.825 and Payton Gatzlaff scored a 9.800. Utah State’s anchor, Grace Rojas, only scored a 9.400 which failed to wipe the 9.525 scored previously by Marley Peterson.
The Aggies were in second place after three rotations and had a chance to knock off a ranked opponent in Southern Utah, but fell short. However, White isn’t worried.
“That’s our vault rotation right now. We are a little low on our depth and that’s OK. We are going to continue building and will have a very solid lineup,” White said. “I am very proud of our vault.”
The No.3 Red Rocks took first place in the event, backed by a great beam performance that produced five 9.900 scores or higher and a perfect 10 from Kara Eaker. The lowest score of the beam was 9.875 for Utah which was dropped.
“They are almost inspiring. It is so cool to watch them and we strive to be at that level. It’s a big goal,” Brooks said.
Next week, Utah State will travel to Cedar City to take on the Thunderbirds on Friday, Jan. 20 before returning home to host BYU on Jan. 27.
Featured image by Heidi Bingham.