Utah State gymnastics posts a 195.450 in decisive home opener
Utah State gymnastics opened up their 2018 home schedule in dominating fashion, posting a team score of 195.450 to defeat San Jose State and Sacramento State on Friday night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
“It was a big improvement from last weekend, where we wanted to open the season with a 195. We did it this weekend, though,” said USU head coach Amy Smith following her first home meet as an Aggie. “They really took the parts they needed to work on and put it in play tonight and we got it done. It was exciting.”
Utah State started off the meet on vault, where the Aggies were led by freshman Mikaela Meyer and junior Madison Ward led USU with scores of 9.800 and 9.775, respectively. The scores helped the Aggies post a score of 48.775 on the apparatus, and take the overall lead following the first rotation.
“We kept the energy up and kept it going and stayed on track throughout the entire meet,” said freshman Faith Leary.
From there, USU moved to uneven bars, an event in which they struggled mightily the week prior at Bowling Green. Multiple falls there doomed USU to a score of 46.950. At home on Friday, the team pushed through the bars pristinely, with five gymnasts posting scores 9.700 or higher, as the Aggies posted a team score of 48.875 on the event to further extend their lead.
Balance beam featured the feel-good story of the night, as junior Emily Briones returned from a torn Achilles injury suffered last season to post a score of 9.825 on the apparatus to lead the Aggies. Freshmen Annie Beck and Taylor Dittmar also posted scores north of 9.800 to help USU post of a score of 48.775.
“Our underclassmen are phenomenal and we have wise upperclassmen,” junior Emily Briones said. “We are just going to keep the ball rolling and hit one meet after another.”
The team finished out on floor, needing to only avoid major mistakes to take home the victory in the meet. The Aggies did just that, with no gymnast posting a score lower than 9.700 on the event. A trio of freshmen in Meyer, Leary, and Autumn DeHarde joined sophomore Elle Golison in posting scores over 9.800, as the Aggies finished out the meet with a floor score of 49.025.
“Collectively, it was so good,” Smith said. “It was great to see Faith (Leary) hit on her floor routine, which is relatively new, and to get Elle (Golison) back was awesome. It was great to get her back on floor and we still need to get her back on vault and beam, too. We’ve got more to come.”
Up next, Utah State will travel on the road to face off against Denver on Saturday before returning home to the Spectrum on February 2 to open up Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference play against Boise State.