USU Gymnastics Finishes Fourth At WAC Championships
March 25, 2006
LOGAN, Utah - Jessica Parenti won the bars and finished second on the vault and in the all-around to lead Utah State at the Western Athletic Conference Gymnastics Championships here on Saturday afternoon. The host Aggies finished fourth in the six-team meet that was won by Sacramento State. Sac State scored a 193.950 to defeat Boise State (193.775) and Southern Utah (193.600). USU scored a 193.100, while San Jose State was fifth at 192.800 and Cal State Fullerton was sixth at 192.600. Parenti, a senior from Glendora, Calif., entered the meet with the two best all-around scores in the WAC this season. She scored a 38.875 and finished second to Southern Utah's Leah Sakhitab, who scored a 39.050. Parenti claimed the bars title with a season-best score of 9.875, edging out Boise State's Taylor Jacob, who posted a 9.850. Teammate Alex Martin tied for third on the bars with a 9.800. Parenti's 9.850 on the vault was second to Shaniece Craft of Boise State, who scored a 9.875. Parenti's other scores included a 9.725 (tied for 10th) on the floor and a 9.425 on the beam (tied for 25th). "Starting off on beam, I thought we looked very good," said USU head coach Ray Corn. "We had a critical mistake with Jessica Parenti scoring a 9.425, which was disappointing for not only herself, but the team. But if you flip the coin around, she saved the vault." The Aggies scored a season-best 48.800 on the vault behind Parenti. Rachael Mandy and Megan Lewis tied for ninth on the event with 9.775 scores and Nicole Felley added a 9.750 and Katie Omann scored a 9.625. Utah State entered the meet ranked fifth in the conference and 37th nationally, while Southern Utah (1st/25th) entered as the favorite followed by Boise State (2nd/28th), Sacramento State (3rd/30th) and San Jose State (4th/33rd). Cal State Fullerton was ranked 49th in the GymInfo Poll.
"I told the ladies they shouldn't be ashamed and shouldn't hang their heads down, but it was a similar repeat performance of what we have had through the course of the year...," Corn said. "We vaulted well and we did the floor well." The top three finishers in each event earned first-team all-conference honors, while the fourth through sixth-place finishers were tabbed second-team all-WAC. USU honorees included Parenti in the all-around (second place), vault (second place), and bars (first place), Alex Martin on the bars (third place), and Megan Tschida on floor (fourth). "We knew that this was going to be an exceptionally close meet so you had to stay on to win," said Sacramento State head coach Kim Hughes. "Our number one goal was to qualify for regionals and we did that. Our goal was to place in the top three, so we obviously surpassed that today." Hughes was named the WAC coach of the year while Southern Utah's Leah Sakhitab was the gymnast of the year and Marina Borisova of Sacramento State earned freshman honors. 2006 Western Athletic Conference Gymnastics Championships Hosted by Utah State University Logan, Utah March 25, 2006 TEAM RESULTS 1. Sacramento State: 193.950 (Vault 48.625, Bars: 48.375, Beam: 48.175, Floor: 48.775) 2. Boise State: 193.775 (Vault: 49.000, Bars: 48.050, Beam: 48.675, Floor: 48.050) 3. Southern Utah: 193.600 (Vault: 48.125, Bars: 48.750, Beam: 48.100, Floor: 48.625) 4. Utah State: 193.100 (Vault: 48.800, Bars: 48.450, Beam: 48.025, Floor: 47.825) 5. San Jose State: 192.800 (Vault: 48.250, Bars: 48.475, Beam: 47.825, Floor: 48.250) 6. Cal State Fullerton: 192.600 (Vault: 48.425, Bars: 48.125, Beam: 47.4725, Floor: 48.325) INDIVIDUAL RESULTS All-Around 1. Leah Sakhitab SUU 39.050 2t. Jessica Parenti USU 38.875 Marina Borisova SSU 38.875 USU 11t. Meagan Lewis USU 38.225 |
