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Show Monday, March 29, 2010 Page 8 MondaySII0FtS Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com Gymnasts surge to finish third at WAC meet By DAN FAWSON staff writer Head coach Jeff Richards said it. He said it again, and again, and again and again. Ravaged by injuries, the Utah State women's gymnastics team struggled through the regular season, going 1-16 on the year and 0-5 in conference play. Throughout it all, Richards remained positive, though, constantly assuring his team and everyone who would listen that once his girls were healthy, they would come together and surprise a lot of people during the Western Athletic Conference Championships. Saturday night found Richards' prediction vindicated. The Aggies placed third in the six-team WAC championship meet hosted by Cal State Fullerton, posting a 193.675, its second highest score of the season. Southern Utah won the meet with a score of 195.800, narrowly eclipsing two-time defending champion Boise State's 195.700. Despite being out of title contention, the Aggies were thrilled with their performance. "It's awesome," Richards said, when asked how it felt to be proven right. "We had a lot of making up to do," senior Heather Heinrich said. "We talked about it before. This whole season, we were training for this meet. We're capable of scoring much higher than we did all season." For the first time all season, USU achieved its goal of scoring 48.000 or above in all four events. The Aggies posted a season-high 48.650 on vault, 48.575 on bars, 48.250 on floor and 48.200 on beam. The Aggies' vault score was highlighted by a 9.825 from junior co-captain Lyndsie Boone. Richards said the score was extra special because it came on the same vault Boone had injured herself on in a meet earlier in the year at BYU. Boone's performance was one of a number of individual successes the team had throughout the meet. Heinrich, the team's lone senior, finished fourth in the all-around with a 38.950, posting team best 9.750s on both beam and floor. "Tonight, I just wanted to go out there and do what I knew how to do," Heinrich said following the meet, noting she was able to keep her focus despite this being her last team meet with the Aggies. "Honestly, I didn't really think of it at all until the very end. The whole meet I was focused on helping the team." Richards also praised his senior's focus. "She had a great meet tonight," he said. "She did a great job of leading her team and staying focused. She was really a true senior." Heinrich earned second-team all-conference honors for her performance in the all-around, the third time she has earned AllWAC honors. Sophomore Rebecca Holliday also earned two second-team All-WAC honors, after tying for fifth on bars with a 9.800 and tying for sixth on beam by equaling her career-best of 9.825. "I knew that I was capable of them," Holliday said of the scores, "but I was kind of surprised because I hadn't had that many meets this season." Holliday was one of the many Aggies who missed time due to injury this season. "It's really kind of sad she was injured," Richards said. "We really have four 39.000 kids who should be in there competing. It's nice to see those guys step in there and do well." With the 2009-'10 season now in the books, the Aggies hope the trials they went through this season, and their performance Saturday night will propel them toward a great next season. "They are going to be an amazing team," Richards said of next year's group. "We're carrying a lot of momentum off of this, finishing third when everyone thought we would finish sixth." Heinrich, the only departing member of this year's team, also expects big things from next year's group. "I'm honestly really excited to watch them next year," she said. "I think they're going to have a ton of potential. I'm really excited to see what they have to bring next year. This year, as frustrating and as hard as it was, I think it's really going to pay off." While the Aggies will not compete as a team at the April 10 NCAA Regionals in Salt Lake City, Richards guessed four Aggie gymnasts would be selected to compete in individual events. The Regional field will be announced Monday. — dan.fawson@aggiemaiLusu.edu USU'S LONE SENIOR HEATHER HEINRICH helped lead the Aggies to a third-place finish in last weekend's Western Athletic Conference championship meet. Heinrich was named to the All-WAC second team. PATRICK ODEN photo Tennis splits against Eastern Washington, Nevada By KAYLA CLARK staff writer Men's tennis came home from conference play this weekend with mixed results. Friday in Reno was marked by a victory against Eastern Washington, with the Aggies coming out strong and winning 6-1. However, they couldn't keep up the trend and fell to Nevada on Saturday, losing 5-2. On Friday, the doubles point was claimed by wins in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Senior Amit Maharaj and freshman Sven Poslusny defeated Fernando Mussolini and Julian Sanchez, 8-6, for the No. 2 victory. At No. 3, juniors Nikita Ryashchenko and Alex Thatcher beat EWU's Stefan Simikic and Kevin Anderson, 9-7. Juniors Jakob Asplund and Bryan Marchant dropped the No. 1 win, losing to Nico Riego de Dios and Chad Henninger, 8-5. Singles action was nearly flawless for USU, with a loss only at the No. 2 position. Asplund battled through three sets at the No. 1 position to come out on top and beat EWU's Riego de Dios, winning 1-6, 6-1, 6-3. Poslusny dropped the No. 2 point, falling to Simikic, 6-2, 6-4. No. 3 player Marchant defeated Sanchez of Eastern Washington, 6-3, 6-4, and at No. 4, Maharaj triumphed over Mussolini, 6-2, 6-1. Thatcher rallied for three sets — 4-6. 6-2. 7-6 — and overcame Malagutti at No. 5. Ryashchenko, at No. 6, defeated Anderson, for a final score of 6-3, 6-2. Playing Nevada was not as lucrative for USU, dropping the match 5-2. Singles lost at all positions, save for Marchant, who picked up a win against Nevada's Alex Daruty, 7-6, 6-3, at the No. 3 position. Asplund, USU's No. 1 singles player, was defeated by Laurent Garcin, 6-3, 6-3, and Poslusny mirrored his defeat, falling to Wessim Derbel, 6-1, 6-2. Maharaj dropped the No. 4 point to Stefan Demitrovic of Nevada, losing 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, and Ryashchenko, at No. 5, lost to Myard, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. Thatcher, at No. 6, was defeated by Nevada's Kristian Kuharszky, 6-3, 6-4, to finish up singles action. As a duo, however, the boys performed much better, winning in all three doubles positions. Asplund and Marchant defeated Nevada's Garcin and Myard, 8-6. Maharaj and Poslusny, at No. 2, beat Derbel and Dmitrovic, 86, and Ryashchenko and Thatcher finished up the victories with a win over Kuharszky and Daruty, 8-6. USU's spring season record now stands at a 10-7, and the Aggies are still 0-3 in WAC play. Utah State travels to Honolulu, Hawaii, for four matches spread out 1111 61111111.1 a mei 11111111111111111111111 ea eirioloiligisio itavailliiii ow 01 via . 1111111111 ‘ 1°1 01011111111P1,11114k iiinpainoorissinissliagaillumi. 50 ill lifloffliii 1111.111111111.11111111111111111.1111111.111 ■ & 111 ■ 1111111.11111 elm Oise iii III la0111111--" 111,111111eva. llirififirle ilifi . refill" iiiiiiiilliei ilipipiiIIIIIIIi vollataillfilloi 10111111111.1111111 111111111.11111PIPI il iow arligis 11111111111111111111111 oft I See TENNIS, page 10 111 III 111 • • file111111111111 IMS1111111 iimmilin am isi it ill Ili 111111M 111111 UTAH STATE'S BRYAN MARCHANT attacks the net during tennis action earlier this year. The USU men's tennis team split its weekend matches against Eastern Washington and Nevada. CODY GOCHNOUR photo III ill eti mi |