AGGIES BEGIN 2024 CAMPAIGN AT NORTH CAROLINA QUAD MEET
Utah State will begin its 2024 campaign on Friday, Jan. 5, at the North Carolina Quad Meet. The meet between the Aggies, Ball State, Rutgers and host Tar Heels will take place at 5:30 p.m. (MT), at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill.
ROTATION ORDER
Utah State will begin the meet on bars and end on vault. North Carolina starts on vault, Ball State begins on beam and Rutgers opens on floor.
FOLLOW ALONG
The podium event will be streamed live on the ACC Network at
https://rb.gy/6ygc30, and live scoring will be available online at
https://rb.gy/bauw5m. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State gymnastics social media outlets for meet updates.
UTAH STATE IN SEASON OPENERS
The Aggies are 46-35 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. Utah State has opened the past four seasons at the Best of Utah Meet, scoring a 195.800 in 2023 to place third, a 195.875 in capturing second in 2022, a 194.350 to place third in 2021 and a 194.150 to finish fourth in 2020.
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.
PRESEASON MOUNTAIN WEST RANKING
Boise State is the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West as the Broncos received three first-place votes and 30 points, finishing above San Jose State (24), Utah State (18) and Air Force (12). Boise State is also ranked 29th in the preseason Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) poll.
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 junior
Brianna Brooks and senior
Sofi Sullivan to the NCAA Regional Championships in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Brooks tied for third on bars with a score of 9.925, the second-best score in program history, while
Sullivan placed seventh on beam with a score of 9.875.
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.
Sullivan was USU's second gymnast named first-team all-MRGC, earning the award on beam. Utah State had two gymnasts named second-team all-MRGC as senior
Alivia Ostendorf and senior
Ariel Toomey each earned the honor on floor.
Utah State earned a total of 12 weekly accolades from the MRGC as
Brooks earned two MRGC Gymnast of the Week honors, one Bars Specialist of the Week honor and one Beam Specialist of the Week honor.
Ostendorf earned two MRGC Floor Specialist of the Week honors and one Vault Specialist of the Week honor.
Sullivan earned two MRGC Beam Specialist of the Week honors.
Toomey was a two-time MRGC Floor Specialist of the Week honoree. And, graduate
Carley Bayles earned the MRGC Beam Specialist of the Week award once.
Individually, the Aggies recorded career-high marks 27 separate times on the season.
Utah State had four gymnasts earn academic all-district honors from the College Sports Communicators (CSC) in senior
Lexi Aragon, sophomore
Dani Kirstine,
Brooks and
Toomey.
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.
