USU places third in 4-way gymnastics meet
A weak performance on the balance beam haunted USU as it was unable to recover from the 46.675 score on the event.
The Aggies came in third in the Bruin Classic in Los Angeles on Sunday. Host UCLA captured its sixth consecutive Bruin Classic title with a score of 197.700 followed closely by the California Golden Bears with a 195.025, USU with a score of 192.275 and the University of California at Santa Barbara with a 188.575.
“It was a hard meet to compete in,” said USU head coach Ray Corn.
The Aggies struggled early as they trailed in the quad meet by as many as 2.375 points after one rotation.
Forced to count two 9.0s on the balance beam, Utah State was only able to rack up a score of 46.675 on the event. Freshman Mika Houston led the team with a 9.600 mark, placing 13th overall.
It seemed as if the Aggies were closer to being on track as they recorded a 48.900 on the floor exercise, the highest event score of the match for the team.
“We came roaring back on the floor,” Corn said.
Junior Jessenia Abrego led the Aggies with a 9.875 mark. Sophomore Allison Rosenthal followed closely behind Abrego with a 9.850. Abrego and Rosenthal came in eighth and 10th out of 24 competitors on the event.
After two rotations, the Aggies fell even further behind the meet dominating the Bruins by 2.925 points.
USU finished the third rotation with a 48.600 on the vault. Sophomore Nicole Kilpatrick led the Aggies on the event with a 9.775.
Kilpatrick, the only Aggie all-arounder for the evening, finished fifth in the overall competition with a 38.800 mark.
“Kilpatrick did a wonderful job in the all-around,” Corn said.
The Aggies finished the meet with a 48.050 on the bars – where USU was unnerved by the crowd’s “pandemonium” from UCLA’s three straight 10s on the floor, Corn said. Kilpatrick again led USU with a score of 9.775.
USU will return home on March 9 to host BYU.