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Show Statesman Sports Page 10 Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010 Challenge: Second year coach looking forward to season I continued from page 9 make it through this, I think we will have a great season. , Despite the returners, USU will be without the services of sophomore Erica Huelsmann as well as junior Nicole Simoneau for medical reasons. "Last year, Erica Huelsmann did great for us on the floor. We were hoping to get her back on bars and she was doing quite well. With her being out, her floor and beam set will be tough to replace. Of course, Nicole Simoneau had our highest bar average and score and she will be tough to replace," a disappointed Richards said. Simoneau's loss means that USU will not have any returning all-WAC gymnasts to competition, as the Aggies' other all-conference honoree from last season is now on USU's coaching staff in graduate assistant Nicki Felley. However, Utah State returns two gymnasts who qualified and participated in the NCAA North Central Regionals in junior Lyndsie Boone (all-around) and junior Jackie Dillon (vault), who will combine with Heinrich to provide veteran talent and leadership. Dillon qualified for regionals last year on vault with a 9.692 average, second on the team behind Heinrich's 9.756. Dillon also had a 9.713 average on bars, which is also second on the team behind Simoneau's 9.800. Additionally, Dillon had a 9.525 floor average. Marquardt missed last season, but had a 9.750 average on vault as a freshman in 2008, as well as notching averages of 9.660 on bars and 9.588 on beam. Heinrich, who's illness kept her from being eligible for the NCAA Regionals, led USU with the aforementioned 9.756 vault average, while posting averages of 9.635 on floor, 9.521 on bars and 9.375 on beam, as well as a 38.205 all-around average. Regional all-around qualifier Boone had a 37.985 average in addition to a 9.625 on vault, 9.492 on floor, 9.481 on bars and 9.346 on beam. Heinrich is the lone senior, while Boone and Dillon are the lone juniors, as the Aggies' roster includes six sophomores and four freshman. "We definitely have a young team. Last year, WELCOME BACK USU STUDENTS! . / CiC wAy. 930 North Main Street (435) 753-9755 Why Waste Time? Get The Ring She Will Cherish, And Your textbook prices have dro • ped! DELINQUENCY THE CORE LARRY 1 SIEGEL B BRANDON C. WELSH j 4 SOC 3410 was: $120 now: $92 used even lower we had a young team and in showed in us being fairly inconsistent last year. I think that is evident when you have a young team," Richards said. "Now they have a lot of that competition under their belt and they will be more consistent. I expect them to have a little bit more fight in them. They know what to expect now, they know what is expected of them and they know how to work with it." Meeting expectations is a bit easier with a complete offseason, something Richards and the Aggies didn't have last year due to the coaching change. This year is a different story, as several USU gymnasts' improvements are impressing Richards. "Everyone is showing improvement, but there are a few who will surprise and impress folks with their progress," Richards said. "I would say Jackie Dillon had an incredible year last year. Then over the offseason and during the preseason period she has gotten even better. She has never competed on beam before and she is looking like she is in our beam lineup right now. She has done well in the offseason and all of her events are looking good. The other surprise is Chelsea Marquardt. She was injured last year, and we weren't sure how that foot was going to hold up, but she has been doing great this preseason. She is really stepping up." This year's Aggie squad will have success by committee, as they will rely on each other to succeed, with not one gymnast in the spotlight, but a team of gymnasts in the spotlight. "I don't think our team has any wow kids. They all work hard and they are all very talented. We don't have anybody that really stands out. We will really have to really stick together as a team. Everyone is going to have to be consistent and hit for us to move on. I wouldn't say there is any one kid that is going to be a stand out and lead the team. I think it is just going to take a conglomerate of all of them," Richards said. EVENT BREAK DOWN "I believe that beam will be one of our better events this year. I would say bars and beam will be our strongest. After that, it'll be vault and floor from there. Floor is not usually that way. Right now we have only six kids that we can put up in that," Richards said. Bars Richards has a long line of talented gymnasts on bars, where he can look toward Heinrich, sophomore Brandie Dickson, Boone, Marquardt or Dillon for veteran experience, leadership and talent. Amelia Montoya and Amanda Watamaniuk are two of the talented freshmen who Richards expects to be in the starting rotation from the get-go. Dickson posted a 9.623 average on bars last season, logging a season-high 9.775 in four different meets. USU logged a 48.365, the highest team average last season and the No. 8 spot in school history. Utah State notched a season-high 48.900 in the dual with Cal State Fullerton, one of six scores of 48.500 or higher for the Aggies. Beam On beam, Richards will turn to Heinrich, Marquardt, sophomore Rebecca Holliday, Montoya and Dillon. Holliday showed steady progress last year until an illness shortened her season, finishing with a 9.525 beam average. Dillon's offseason improvement means added contribution, along with veteran leadership and talent. As a team, USU posted a 47.296 average on beam, with a season-high of 48.450 in the home dual meet vs. BYU, USU's lone win of the season. That was one of three times that the Aggies posted higher than a 48.000, something that Richards hopes will improve. Vault Heinrich and Dillon are USU's leaders on vault, with their respective 9.756 and 9.692 averages. Following them, Richards will look for someone to rise up and contribute. "We are a little weak on that event. We have some work to do there," Richards said. The Aggies notched a season-average of 47.927 on vault last season, scoring a seasonhigh 48.725 in the dual with Boise State. Section F A different point of view Simply put, the fairytale of 2009 is over for Utah State basketball. The dream season of a year ago when the USU men were dominating teams on a nightly basis and basking in the spotlight of being a mid-major media darling is officially a thing of the past. It is back to real life for Aggie basketball, where instead of fighting for that national attention and a higher ranking in the weekly top-25 polls, USU is going after conference supremacy as its primary goal. The reality for mid-major teams is that rF USUW UtahState Universit Floor "We don't have a lot of depth, but I feel like the kids we are going to put up are good," Richards said. "We have the one senior in Heather Heinrich, who knows what it is going to take and she knows how to stick her landings. She is going to be strong there, where I think its great to have senior leadership in that event. We'll also look to Lindsey Boone, she loves to compete and show off her routines. Amelia Montoya will be great on that event as a freshman. Rebecca Holliday has been trying to land some upgrades, and if those pan out she will be a standout on the floor." Holliday averaged a 9.432 on floor last year, breaking into the lineup in the later part of the season. Her previous appearances were all as an exhibition performer. Last season, USU had a 48.100 average on floor, posting a season-best 48.925 in a dual with No. 1 Utah, tying the Utes on the event. All-Around Richards and the Aggies have more depth in the all-around, as returners Heinrich, Boone, Dillon and Holliday along with newcomer Montoya will see action. "It is definitely good to have more depth in the all-around," Richards said. "We are definitely stronger in a few events. We have a lot of depth on beam, where I would say we can be nine deep. We are eight or nine deep on bars, which helps and makes us stronger. As far as more all-arounders, that is not necessarily a great thing, but it gives us more depth at every event. It gives us a chance to rest some people here and there and plug in some specialists. It gives those all-arounders a little bit of a rest here and there." Coaching Staff "We made a few changes in our staff assignments this year. I will oversee all the events and coach vault as my main focus," Richards said. "I think as a conglomerate our whole staff has that attitude of somehow, some way we need to make it happen. It may not always be 100 perfect, nine times out of ten it won't be. But you need to figure out how to make it happen. That is what good athletes do." Richards added Janet Anson to his staff, replacing Dayna Smart-Allen. Anson was a national qualifier gymnast at Iowa State, spending the previous two seasons as a volunteer coach there. Richards also returns Josh Nilson, who is in his second season on the staff but fifth year with the program, serving as a student assistant the previous three seasons. Former Aggie gymnast Nicki Felley will serve as graduate assistant coach, following her four-year career for USU. 2010 UTAH STATE SCHEDULE Utah State's 2010 schedule consists of 12 meets with five at home. USU, which is entering its fifth season in the Western Athletic Conference, will face each of its five conference foes at least once, as well as each in-state opponent at least once. The Aggies' ledger opens with three meets on the road, but closes with the final two at home. Utah State will face four teams ranked in the top 20 of last season's final Troester/Women's Gymnastics National Poll, in No. 3 Utah, No. 7 UCLA, No. 18 Denver and No. 20 Boise State. The Aggies will also face No. 23 Central Michigan and No. 27 San Jose State. "It will be a pretty good schedule. We'll face two teams that were ranked in the top 10, in No. 3 Utah and No. 7 UCLA, so those will be some fun meets for us, but will give the girls an idea of what we're trying to get to. We also face No. 18 Denver at the BYU tri-meet, and then face No. 20 Boise State twice. I think facing those ranked teams will give us really good competition for what we need to do and where we need to be to make it to regionals as a team, and eventually make it to nationals," Richards said. USU has five home meets this season, something that Richards likes. "Ideally, five is perfect. Six would be great to have, and we'd love to have six home meets in the future, but five is ideal for the regional qualifying score. The team always loves being in front of the home crowd," Richards said. if you can't win your conference, the chances of any kind of NCAA tournament glory are pretty much out the window. What that means for the 2010 version of the Aggies is that the real part of the season that matters is just three games old, and at 1-2 in conference play, Utah State has quite the hole to climb out of if it's going to capture a third consecutive regular season Western Athletic Conference championship. While there are still 13 WAC games remaining, Wednesday night's game at Nevada is as close to a make-or-break game as USU will see this year. After suf- fering losses on the road to New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech to open the WAC season, the Aggies equaled their loss total from the entire WAC season of a year ago before notching their first win at home Monday against Hawaii. Louisiana Tech, however, has jumped to a 4 0 start in WAC play with their home sweep of USU and Nevada followed by a sweep of their road trip to the gem state against Idaho and Boise State. The Bulldogs have looked like the team to beat so far, but a road win at Nevada could throttle Utah State right back into the picture of things with just two losses and the New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech and Nevada road games already in the rear-view mirror. It's safe to say that the WAC schedule for the Aggies has been very frontloaded as far as difficulty is concerned. It also would appear safe to say that after Monday's 98-point game against Hawaii, the USU team is indeed capable of scoring in high numbers after averaging barely more than 60 points per game scored in - I See SECTION F, page 11 |