DENTON, Texas — Jessica Parenti won the all-around for the second straight meet, but it was not enough to help Utah State's gymnastics team overcome Texas Woman's best performance of the year as the Pioneers defeated the Aggies Tuesday, 195.950 - 195.900.
The Aggies thought they won 195.900 — 195.875, but the judges went into a closed-door meeting after the meet, and when they came out the Aggies had lost.
The Aggies fell to 3-5 with their season-high team total score, while the Pioneers improved to 3-10.
The Aggies started off the meet with their second-highest bars and vault scores of the season with a 48.675 and 48.850, respectively. Sophomore Alex Martin and freshman Katie Omann tied for third on bars with a 9.850. It marked the highest individual score on bars for the Aggies this season and a career best for Omann. Freshman Megan Tschida tied her career best on bars with a 9.750. Parenti won the vault title with a career high 9.900 which also ties her for the fourth highest score all-time for the Aggies. Teammate Rachel Mandy tied her career high on vault with a 9.850 to take second place while Meagan Nelson tied for third with a 9.750.
Tschida won the floor with a career high 9.950. The score ties her for the second highest all-time for the Aggies. Parenti and Junior Liesel Kohler finished tied for third on floor with a 9.900. It was the second straight 9.900 for Kohler and the first time in four meets she did not win the floor title. She did, however, win the beam title with a career high 9.925 which also tied her for fourth all-time for Utah State. Martin tied for third with a career high 9.900 on beam, good enough to tie her for 10th all-time for the Aggies.
Parenti's 39.350 in the all-around was a career high and tied her for the 12th best score all-time for USU. Martin's 39.275 was a season high. On the night, the Aggies had season highs on beam and floor with a 49.075 and 49.300 respectively. USU's team total tied for the 11th best all-time score. The Aggies only other 195.900 was against Texas Woman's in Denton in 2000.
"I am so proud of our team," said head coach Ray Corn. "They proved tonight that they are for real. They had a lot of distractions tonight with a children's choir and a drumline performing during the meet. Even though I am sickened by what happened tonight, it is still a great road score for us to build upon."
Another bit of bad news for the Aggies came when freshman stand-out Jackie Fogli injured her knee on vault. The extent of her injuries were not immediately known.
Texas Woman's was led by former Aggie Courtney Arno who won the bars title (9.925) and Rachel Goddard who tied for the beam title with a 9.925. The Pioneers had season high team totals in every event and bested their previous high team total of 193.225 by 2.725.
Utah State returns home to face California (6-5) on Tuesday, March 7 at 6:45 p.m. MST. Texas Woman's heads to Oklahoma Saturday, March 5.