March 12, 2004

Final Stats

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State set a new season high scoring a 196.225, but lost to Brigham Young, which scored a 198.025 in women's gymnastics action here on Friday.

USU's 196.225 included a season-best tying 49.475 on the floor as well as the team's second best vault (48.875) and bars (49.200) scores of the year. However, the Cougars recorded their season best overall mark, surpassing the 197.550 the team scored against Texas Woman's.

Seven Aggies tied or set career highs during the meet, including Gretchen Goerlitz, who tied her career-best for the second meet in a row with a 9.90 on the vault. Goerlitz then tied her career best on the beam at 9.825 and then matched her best on the floor with a 9.95 to end the competition. That 9.95 is the second best score in school history.

Goerlitz won the all-around competition with a 39.400 while teammates Alex Martin and Rachel Ropelato were second and third with scores of 38.725 and 38.650 respectively.

"I think we had it going after two events and unfortunately we went to beam and uncharacteristically, we took a fall there," said USU head coach Ray Corn. "We were not expecting Alex Martin to fall on her dismount. I thought we had it. It was a good night for us. We continue to build our confidence and improve our scores. We came right back on floor and certainly we are very proud of the team."

"We had a great night on vault and a great night on balance beam," said BYU head coach Brad Catermole. "We had a couple of our top floor workers out with illness and the ones that came in to fill in for them did spectacularly. You can always find some little thing that you can improve on, but this was pretty close to as good a meet as you are allowed to have."

Utah State will close out its regular season with a home meet against 20th-ranked Denver on Monday at 7 p.m. USU will then compete at the Western Gymnastics Championships at Boise, Idaho on March 20. BYU will host Southern Utah on Monday.

BRIGHAM YOUNG 198.025, UTAH STATE 196.225

All-Around1. Gretchen Goerlitz, USU, 39.4002. Alex Martin, USU, 38.7253. Rachel Ropelato, USU 38.650
Vault (USU 48.875, BYU 49.625)1.  Kirsten Pauga, BYU, 9.9751. Marie-Helene Claveau, BYU, 9.9753.  Gretchen Goerlitz, USU, 9.9003.  Trisha Ashton, BYU, 9.9003. Jaime Mabray, BYU, 9.900
Bars (USU 49.200, BYU 49.300)1. Rachel Ropelato, USU, 9.9251. Brogan Jacobsen, BYU, 9.9251. Kari Lords, BYU, 9.925
Beam (USU 48.675, BYU 49.675)1. Jaime Mabray, BYU, 9.9751. Marie-Helene Claveau, BYU, 9.9752. Trisha Ashton, BYU, 9.950
Floor (USU 49.475, BYU 49.425)1. Gretchen Goerlitz, USU, 9.9502. Liesel Kohler, USU, 9.9252. Brogan Jacobsen, BYU, 9.925