WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – Utah State's gymnastics team will open the 2022 season at the third-annual Rio Tinto Best of Utah Meet on Friday, Jan. 7, at the Maverik Center.
The podium event, which will also feature in-state rivals BYU, Southern Utah and Utah, will be televised live on BYUtv, at 7 p.m. Additionally, live scoring will be available online at
https://bit.ly/3JLSqnK. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State gymnastics social media outlets for meet updates.
"The expectations for Friday are we want to go out there, get our feet wet and see where we are at," said fifth-year Utah State head coach
Amy Smith. "We have had a really great preseason, so we are excited to get out there and see where we're at. We want to bring the energy and have fun. This meet is fantastic, so we are just excited to kick off 2022."
The 26th-ranked Aggies will begin the meet on vault and end on floor. No. 25 Southern Utah starts on bars, No. 4 Utah begins on beam and No. 19 BYU opens on floor.
"What makes the Best of Utah so special is that it is such a premier gymnastics meet and it is so cool that the state of Utah has so many phenomenal athletes and we have these four collegiate programs," Smith said. "Competing on the podium at the Maverik Center is so special. It's a great meet, great environment, great environment, and great arena. We really appreciate the Maverik Center taking on collegiate gymnastics and putting us on this fantastic pedestal and podium for people to see and realize how great this sport is."
Utah State scored a 194.350 to finish third at last year's season-opening Best of Utah Meet, beating Southern Utah (194.325).
The Aggies are 44-34 all-time in season openers, a record that takes several multi-team meets into account. In Utah State's season- and program-opening meet on Jan. 9, 1978, the Aggies placed first in the Air Force-hosted Rocky Mountain Open. USU finished with a team score of 131.650, defeating eight other schools.
When facing their in-state rivals in season-opening meets, the Aggies are 5-2 against Southern Utah, 1-4 against BYU and 0-8 against Utah.
Junior all-arounder
Rebecca Wells is looking forward to opening the season Friday.
"I am super excited to see the team come together and put everything together for the first time this year, and then build off of that meet by meet," Wells said. "The Best of Utah is a fun meet. All the teams in Utah get to go out there and compete together. It's a good competition scenario with everyone in Utah coming together for this meet."
In 2021, Utah State enjoyed one of its finest seasons in program history as the Aggies competed in their 26th NCAA Regional Championships, including their first since 2017. USU ended the season ranked No. 25 in the nation, its best finish since finishing 15th in 1999. The Aggies also tied for 25th in 1998.
Utah State returns 11 gymnasts from last year's squad that recorded three of its best all-time team scores in school history with a 196.775 (third) at the Denver tri meet, a 196.600 (tied for fifth) at BYU and a 196.500 (seventh) at Utah.
Additionally, the Aggies welcome back junior
Sofi Sullivan, along with seven freshmen. Sullivan opted out of her sophomore season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sullivan was tabbed the 2020 MRGC Freshman of the Year, as selected by the league's head coaches, and earned MRGC co-Beam Specialist of the Year and first-team all-conference honors after tying for first in the league and tying for 27th nationally with a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 9.895 on the event.
Utah State welcomes Air Force to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Friday, Jan. 14, at 6 p.m., for its home opener. The Aggies lead the overall series with the Falcons, 13-1
For more information on the Utah State gymnastics program, follow the Aggies on Twitter at @USUGymnastics, on Facebook at UtahStateGymnastics and on Instagram at USUGymnastics.
-USU-
