Photo by Tim Carpenter

USU places third in tri-meet as Ward-Sessions makes history

Utah State traveled to Boise, Idaho this weekend to participate in a tri-meet that consisted of the Aggies, No. 13 Boise State, and No. 17 Washington in the Taco Bell Arena. The Aggies took third in the meet with an overall 195.025 score, but senior Madison Ward-Sessions made history of her own.

Ward-Sessions captured her 19th floor title of her career and tied the university’s record of 19 floor titles first created by Michelle Pohl (1983-86), with her 9.925 score.

Opening the meet on the bars rotation, USU recorded a season-high 49.100 score with the contribution of a pair of 9.850’s put up by Ward-Sessions and junior MaKayla Bullitt. Trailing closely behind was sophomore Annie Beck, who recorded a career-best 9.825. Sophomore Leighton Varnadore followed next with a 9.800, while freshman Grace Rojas put up a 9.775. Although not included in the team score, junior Madi Tueller also had a career-best 9.700 on the bars.

A set of triple 9.825 scores helped the team score a 48.350 on the beam. Rojas was the first to score in the 9.825 trend, followed by sophomore Autumn DeHarde pulling the same number at the right time, just after fellow sophomore Taylor Dittmar injured her leg on her beam dismount. Ward-Sessions was the final one to put up the same score and round out the event.

Once again, Ward-Sessions stole the show with her captivating 9.925 floor routine. Two more Aggie gymnasts broke the 9.800 barrier on the floor, with DeHarde and a 9.850 and senior Emily Briones with a 9.800 score.

Leighton Varnadore tied her career-high 9.825 score on the vault, which gave her the highest score on the USU team. Ward-Sessions followed up with 9.775 and DeHarde with a 9.750. Junior Elle Golison and Rojas tied with a pair of 9.625s.

Ward-Sessions went on to tie for second in the all-around category with a 39.375 total, just under Washington’s Evanni Roberson’s 39.500 score.

Host Boise State won the meet with 197.125, with Washington following behind with a 196.750, leaving USU in the third spot of the tri-meet.

Next week on Friday, March 8, Utah State will return to the Spectrum for the final home meet of the season against Southern Utah at 7 p.m.