AGGIES CONTINUE 2024 SEASON AT BEST OF UTAH MEET
Utah State continues its 2024 campaign on Monday, Jan. 15, at the fifth-annual Rio Tinto Best of Utah Meet. The quad meet between the No. 51 Aggies, No. 5 Utah, No. 24 Southern Utah and No. 25 BYU will take place at 4 p.m., at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah.
ROTATION ORDER
Utah State will begin the meet on beam and end on bars. BYU starts on bars, Southern Utah begins on floor and Utah opens on vault.
FOLLOW ALONG
The podium event will be streamed live on Sporfie and live scoring will be available online at statbroadcast.com. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State gymnastics social media outlets for meet updates.
ARAGON HONORED BY MOUNTAIN WEST
Utah State senior Lexi Aragon was named the Mountain West Beam Specialist of the Week last week for her performance at the North Carolina Quad Meet. It was Aragon's first-ever conference honor.
Aragon, native of Salt Lake City, Utah, scored a career-high 9.850 on beam to tie for first on the event, which was her first-career event title. Aragon's score helped USU to a 48.650 on the beam, which was a team high at the UNC Quad Meet.
AGGIES IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Utah State is ranked No. 51 in the country in Week 2 of the Road to Nationals rankings with an average team score of 193.175. The Aggies are also tied for 37th in the nation on beam (48.650), 49th on bar (48.150), 48th on vault (48.525) and 58th on floor (47.850).
Individually, senior Lexi Aragon is first in the Mountain West and tied for 48th nationally on beam (9.850), while senior Brianna Brooks is second in the MW and tied for 72nd in the nation on beam (9.825).
RECAPPING THE NORTH CAROLINA QUAD MEET
Utah State posted a season-opening 193.175 to place fourth at the North Carolina-hosted quad meet last weekend. Ball State won the meet with a 194.925, host UNC finished second with a 193.725 and Rutgers placed third with a 193.400.
Senior Lexi Aragon's beam routine was the highlight of the Aggies' performance as she recorded a career-high 9.850 and tied for first in the event.
USU opened the meet on bars, recording a 48.150 on the rotation, as senior Brianna Brooks capped the rotation with a 9.800, tying for fifth.
The Aggies had their best rotation of the night on beam with a 48.650, highlighted by Aragon's 9.850, while Brooks tied for third with a 9.825.
USU took the floor for the third rotation and posted a 47.850 behind a 9.800 from graduate Alivia Ostendorf, who tied for fourth on the event.
The Aggies finished the meet scoring a 48.525 on vault as freshman Nyla Morabito opened her career with a team-high 9.800 to tie for seventh.
Brooks was the only Aggie to compete in the all-around and tied for sixth with a 38.575.
LOOKING BACK AT THE 2023 RIO TINTO BEST OF UTAH MEET
Utah State recorded the second-best season-opening score in school history with a 195.800 to place third at the fourth-annual Rio Tinto Best of Utah Meet last year. No. 6 Utah won the meet with a 197.750, No. 22 Southern Utah finished second with a 196.175 and BYU placed fourth with a 195.175.
Sofi Sullivan was tabbed the Aggies' MVP of the meet as the senior from Manhattan Beach, California, tied for fourth on beam with a 9.900.
Fourteen different Aggies competed in the meet with three officially making their collegiate debuts in freshmen Avery Bibbey and Marley Peterson, and sophomore Dani Kirstine.
Utah State opened the meet on bars, recording a solid 49.025 on the event. Senior Jessica Gutierrez led the meet off for the Aggies with a 9.825 to tie for ninth. Bibbey followed suit in the third spot with a 9.825 of her own. Fifth-year senior Grace Rojas and senior Lexi Aragon each had 9.800s, tying for 14th in the process.
The Aggies kept the momentum going in the second rotation with another 49.025 on beam. After Sullivan's 9.900, junior Brianna Brooks tied for ninth with a 9.825 and Aragon tied for 11th with a career-high 9.800.
Utah State moved to floor in the third rotation and recorded another 49.025. A trio of Aggies tied for sixth (matching 9.850s) in seniors Alivia Ostendorf and Ariel Toomey, and sophomore Amari Evans. For Toomey, the 9.850 matched her career high.
The Aggies closed the meet on vault, where they tallied a 48.625 as Brooks tied for fifth with a 9.825.
MOUNTAIN WEST ADDS GYMNASTICS
The Mountain West announced on May 24, 2023, the addition of women's gymnastics as the Conference's 19th sponsored sport starting with the 2023-2024 academic year. Joining USU as competing institutions in MW women's gymnastics will be Air Force, Boise State and San José State.
Most recently, Utah State competed in the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference from 2014-23, in the Western Athletic Conference from 2006-13, in the Western Gymnastics Conference from 2002-05, and in the Big West Conference from 1992-2001.
Utah State's last conference title was in 2022. All-time, USU has six conference championships (2022, 2005, 2001, 1998, 1996, 1992) and has advanced to the NCAA Regionals 27 times.
LOOKING AT THE 2024 ROSTER
Under the direction of second-year head coach Kristin White, the Aggies return 11 gymnasts from last year's squad in graduates Lexi Aragon and Alivia Ostendorf, seniors Brianna Brooks, Jenna Eagles and Angel Stuart, juniors Amari Evans, Payton Gatzlaff and Dani Kirstine, and sophomores Avery Bibbey, Marley Peterson and Chelsea Southam. Newcomers on the team include freshmen Lexi Boone, Sydney Jelen, Nyla Morabito, Riley Sorrell, Isabella Vater, Mya Witte and Hattie Wright, along with graduate transfer Juliette Boyer.
A LOOK BACK AT THE 2023 SEASON
Utah State finished the 2023 season at 2-15 overall with a fourth-place finish at the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Championships. The Aggies sent two gymnasts to the NCAA Regional Championships in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including current sunior Brianna Brooks, who tied for third on bars with a score of 9.925, the second-best score in program history.
Brooks was named the NCAA North Central Region (Region 2) Gymnast of the Year by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association, and was named first-team all-MRGC in the all-around and second-team all-MRGC on beam. Graduate Alivia Ostendorf earned second-team all-MRGC honors on floor.
UTAH STATE HEAD COACH KRISTIN WHITE
Kristin White, who was named the head gymnastics coach at Utah State on May 20, 2022, is in her second season with the Aggies.
During her first season at the helm, White coached Brianna Brooks, who was named the North Central Region Gymnast of the Year. The junior from Las Vegas, Nevada, garnered first-team all-Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference accolades in the all-around and second-team honors on bars.
Under White's tutelage, two Aggies competed at the NCAA Regional Championships in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Brooks competed on bars and tied for third in Session I with a career-best 9.925, which is tied for 11th all-time in school history and ranks second all-time for a regional meet. Sofi Sullivan capped her Utah State career by placing seventh out of 27 competitors with a 9.875 on beam
Three other Aggies joined Brooks in earning all-MRGC honors as Sullivan garnered first-team accolades on beam, while Alivia Ostendorf and Ariel Toomey picked up first-team honors on floor.
Behind Ostendorf and Toomey, who each averaged 9.863 on floor, which is tied for sixth all-time in single-season program history, Utah State averaged 49.003 as a team on the event, good enough for seventh-best in school history.
Brooks averaged 9.855 on bars (third-best in school history) and 9.820 on beam (ninth-best), while Sullivan averaged 9.861 on beam (fourth-best), Ostendorf averaged 9.808 on vault (tied for ninth-best) and Grace Rojas averaged 9.786 on bars (tied for 11th-best).
Utah State placed fourth at the 2023 MRGC Championships with a score of 195.825 – its third-highest score of the season.
White joined the Aggies after spending the 2021 and 2022 seasons as an assistant coach under co-head coaches Jay and Jess Santos at Arizona State as the Sun Devils finished the 2022 season ranked No. 22 in the nation and captured a share of the Pac-12 regular season title. ASU finished the 2021 season ranked No. 9 in the nation as White was named the WCGA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year.
With White working with gymnasts on beam and floor, Arizona State finished the 2022 season scoring 49-plus in nine-straight meets on beam as junior Hannah Scharf led the Sun Devils with a team-best 9.950 on the event and earned WCGA second-team All-American honors and first-team all-Pac-12 accolades.
Prior to Arizona State, White was an assistant coach at Iowa State during the 2018-20 seasons as the Cyclones finished among the top-25 teams in the nation each year. During her final season in Ames, White mentored a floor lineup that finished the year ranked No. 16 in the nation, an improvement of 23 spots from the season before. Individually, junior Andrea Maldonado was named a 2020 WCGA first-team All-American on floor, as well as earning first-team all-Big 12 honors on the event as her 9.935 national qualifying score ranked seventh in the nation and second in the league.
Before entering the college ranks as a coach, White spent five years at the club level, where she mentored club gymnasts with Dynamo Gymnastics in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Dynamo, one of the top clubs in the nation, was awarded a pair of Region III Program of the Year honors in 2015 and 2016, as White was recognized individually as the 2016 Oklahoma State Coach of the Year.
A 2010 graduate at Oklahoma, White remained at her alma mater as a graduate assistant during the 2011 and 2012 seasons as the Sooners finished among the top 10 each year. At OU, White completed a master's degree in adult and higher education.
As a student-athlete at Oklahoma, White helped lead the Sooners to a trio of Big 12 team championships from 2008-10, and a runner-up finish at the 2010 NCAA National Championships. Individually, White was recognized with All-American honors on beam and floor as a senior in 2010. In addition to her excellence in the gym, White also earned three Outstanding Community Service Awards and spent three years as a member of Oklahoma's Student Athlete Advisory Committee and two years on OU's Athletics Council.
White and her husband, Trent, have three children: a son, Brayden (2), and twins, Blakely and Boston, born in September of 2023.
