USU takes on Brigham Young for final home meet of season
The USU gymnastics team will host their final home match of the season as they take on Brigham Young University Friday in the Spectrum at 7 p.m.
“It’s a big meet,” said head coach Ray Corn. “It’s an in-state rival.
“It’s always a great match up. I certainly hope that the students and all of the fans will come out and support us. I know that it is at the same time as the basketball game but we’ll announce the score of the game as we go along.”
Currently 5-8 on the season, Utah State will welcome all the support they can get since the Cougars hold an all-time 43-36-1 advantage over the Aggies.
Ranked No. 21 in the latest national rankings with a 194.890 Regional Qualifying Score (RQS). The Cougars are 8-2 on the season recently coming off losses to No. 3 Utah and No. 4 Stanford.
During the 2000 season the two teams split the home and away schedule as the Aggies defeated the Cougars 195.550-195.450 in Logan and BYU defeated USU 195.600-194.250 in Provo.
“I know that we have built this team up pretty highly and it hasn’t really happened yet,” Corn said on the importance of the final home meet of the season. “I think that we are awfully beat up and it’s happened in the last few weeks.”
Although the Aggies consider the match against in-state rivals BYU an important meet, they are still concentrating on the one thing that has been with them all season – progress.
“I can’t say anything more than what I said at the very beginning of the year,” Corn said. “Progress. Progress means staying on the equipment. Frankly with three meets left before we go into the Big West Conference Championship play, it’s [progress] all I can hope for.”
Not only have the Aggies struggled staying on balance beam, they have struggled with injuries.
All-arounder sophomore Tina Ellis had competed in every all-around competition prior to the UCLA Bruin Classic on Sunday. Elis competed in all of the rotations in the loss except the vault where she injured her knee during practice.
“I think she’ll be ready for Friday,” Corn said.
Sophomore Nicole Kilpatrick will also join Ellis in the all-around competition. Kilpatrick led the Aggies at the Bruin Classic with an overall score of 38.800.
Not only will Friday be the final home match of the season for the Aggies as a team, it will also be the last home match for three key members of the team; the seniors.
“I’m excited to be at home last time but I’m also sad,” said senior Megan Woolstenhulme. She regularly competes for the Aggies on the vault and the beam.
Senior Kristin O’Dell points out how it will be an emotional night for the girls.
“We know it’s our last home meet so we are going to try our best,” O’Dell said. “It’s kind of a culmination of the last four years.”
O’Dell only competes on the floor for USU where she currently holds a team-best 9.767 season floor average.
Now that it’s almost over, the seniors say they have no regrets.
“Overall it’s been great,” O’Dell said. “There are a lot of opportunities. The teammates are great, the coaches are good and the university is good.”
“It’s good being able to represent your school,” Woolstenhulme said.
What will the Aggie seniors be doing now that their careers as USU gymnasts are over?
“I’m applying to medical school,” O’Dell said.
Woolstenhulme will be applying to jobs and as she puts it, “becoming a real world person.”
With one year of school remaining, senior Amanda Jenkins will stay at USU. Jenkins is a bars specialist for the Aggies.
“I’m actually excited,” Jenkins said when asked if it would be hard not competing. “I will have more time to study and hopefully keep my grades up.”
“It’s a different perspective,” O’Dell said. “When you watch you know what goes on behind the scenes and all of the hard work that goes into it. It will be cool to see how far the team has come in a year.”
The Aggies will finish off the season, and careers for some, with two meets against in-state rivals Southern Utah and Brigham Young before heading into the BWC Championships.
Although it would be nice to finish the season at home, coach Corn isn’t concerned with ending the year on the road.
“I don’t think, right now with this team, it’s going to make any difference whatsoever,” Corn said. “We’ll just see what happens.”