LOGAN, Utah – Utah State's gymnastics team, ranked No. 34 in the nation, continues its season-long four-meet road swing when it travels to Provo, Utah, to take on No. 5 UCLA and No. 15 BYU on Saturday, Jan. 18, at the Marriott Center, at 6 p.m.
Saturday's meet will be broadcast live on BYUtv and live scoring will be available at statbroadcast.com. Fans can also follow the Utah State gymnastics social media outlets for meet updates.
The Cougars (3-1, 2-0 Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference) will begin the meet on vault, the Aggies (0-3, 0-2 MRGC) will start on bars and the Bruins (3-1) will begin on beam.
Saturday is the second of four contests this season between Utah State and BYU, as the two teams also opened the season on Jan. 11 at the Rio Tinto Best of Utah Meet and will face each other again on March 6 in Logan and March 21 at the MRGC Championships in Boise, Idaho.
BYU is ranked No. 15 in the nation with a season average of 195.663. Junior Abbey Miner won the all-around at the inaugural Rio Tinto Best of Utah Meet, scoring a 39.250 to notch her second all-around win of the year. She currently ranks No. 17 in the nation in the all-around and was named the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Gymnast of the Week. Her sister, Sadie Miner, was tabbed the MRGC Vault Specialist of the Week.
The Bruins are ranked No. 5 in the nation with a season average of 196.688, including a high of 196.800. UCLA is the top floor team in the nation with an average of 49.575, including a high of 49.725.
In UCLA's home meet against Boise State on Jan. 12, senior Kyla Ross notched her 10th-career perfect 10 on bars, setting an NCAA record on that event. Ross' perfect 10 was her first-ever on bars in Pauley Pavilion; the other nine were all scored on the road.
With 20 career perfect 10s, Ross ranks fifth all-time in the NCAA and is eight away from the all-time record of 28 held by UCLA's Jamie Dantzscher (2000-2003) and Kentucky's Jenny Hansen (1993-96). Last year, Ross set NCAA records for most 10s in a single season (14) and most consecutive meets with a perfect 10 (10).
Utah State recorded a 194.150 in its season opener at the inaugural Rio Tinto Best of Utah Meet on Jan. 11 in front of 6,542 fans at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah. The Aggies, who were tied for second heading into the final rotation, finished fourth behind then-No. 5 Utah (197.000), then-No. 23 BYU (195.575) and Southern Utah (194.650).
Utah State's top event score was on vault with a 48.975. Freshman
Sofi Sullivan led the Aggies on the event with a 9.850 to tie for third. Junior
Autumn DeHarde and freshman
Rebecca Wells each had a 9.800 to tie for 12th.
The Aggies opened their season on beam with 48.625. DeHarde tied for second with a 9.875, while Sullivan tied for fourth with a 9.850. USU moved to floor in the second rotation and tallied a 48.900 on the event. DeHarde and fellow junior Leighton Varnadore tied for sixth with matching 9.850s, and freshman
Ariel Toomey tied for 14th with a 9.800.
In Utah State's final event of the night, freshman
Maia Fishwick led the Aggies with a 9.875 on bars to tie for second. Sophomore
Grace Rojas tied for seventh with a 9.825.
Fans can follow the Aggie gymnastics program at twitter.com/USUGymnastics, on Facebook at Utah State Gymnastics, and on Instagram at USUGymnastics. Fans can also follow the USU athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on Facebook at UtahStateAthletics.
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