By Wade Denniston

As she has done so many times in her career at Utah State University, senior Christy Denson led the women's gymnastics team to its first victory of the year, 191.625-190.100, vs. Big West Conference-rival Boise State University Friday night in the Spectrum.

"In my opinion, we got better tonight," Aggie head coach Ray Corn told The Herald Journal. "We improved our vaulting (and) we improved our uneven bars tremendously over the last week. It's just unfortunate we had three falls on beam."

The 4-inch balance beam proved to be tough for every competitor throughout the evening as seven of the 12 gymnasts that competed on it fell off.

"It was weird, totally uncharacteristic of both teams," Denson told The Herald Journal. "At least we improved our score a little."

Anchoring the young Aggie squad, Denson was last on every event and proved why she is the team leader, capturing the all-around title with a score of 39.100, edging out teammate Kristen Bloom, who scored a 38.725.

"I'm very excited, that was definitely a good night," Bloom told The Herald Journal about her collegiate debut.

Denson led every gymnast on the bars with a score of 9.925, tied BSU's Jessica Berry for the top score on the balance beam with a 9.85, and led USU on the floor with a 9.65. The 5-foot-5 Palestine, Texas, native recorded a 9.675 on the vault to round out her evening.

Denson's 9.925 on the bars was her second best career score as she had a 9.950 against the University of Utah and BSU last year.

As a team, the Aggies' best score came on the bars as they tallied a 48.800. However, USU (1-1) struggled on the floor routine, posting a 46.725.

"We are going to have to be patient with this team until they come around," Corn said. "We have to eradicate all of our mistakes, but we are going to get better from here. We got better from the Utah meet and we will get better from here."

The Aggies now lead the overall series with the Broncos 38-3. Utah State will have a chance to improve on Friday night when it travels to Sacramento State University.

USU has never lost to Sac State, holding an overall record of 4-0, with three of those meetings being at a neutral site. This will be the first meeting at SSU.

JF
JF

September 1998
October 1998
November 1998
December 1998
January 1999
February 1999
March 1999
April 1999
September 1999
October 1999
November 1999
December 1999
January 2000
February 2000