Dec. 5, 2008

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State gymnastics will host its annual Blue-White Exhibition meet on Saturday, Dec. 6. The first look at the 2009 Aggie squad will start at 2 p.m. at the HPER gym.

"When the school year first began, it seemed like things were taking forever to start, but once Halloween hit, that was the key that the season is here. You think you have all sorts of time to get ready for everything and then suddenly, bam; it's here," said USU head coach Jeff Richards, who is entering his first year at the helm of the Aggies. "We're really excited for Saturday. We had some injuries at the beginning of the year, but we're almost completely healthy now, and we should have a pretty decent Blue-White intra-squad meet."

USU has overcome those injuries, and Richards is ready for Saturday's action.

"When we first started, we weren't sure we'd have enough healthy bodies for a complete intra-squad meet, and we'll be able to go four-on-four in every event except vault, where we're only seven deep right now," Richards said. "Our depth is better now than it looked in the beginning of the season, but it's definitely not where we'd like it to be. We'd be a lot better off if we were 10-12 deep at every event but that doesn't always happen. We're eight deep at everything except vault."

Saturday's meet will be treated like an actual meet and allow the squad to adjust to a meet setting before the Aggies' official season-opener on Jan. 10 at Kentucky.

"Saturday is more of an opportunity for them to get their jitters out than anything," Richards said. "It will give us coaches a chance to see how are they looking at competition. Do they get all frozen, or are they relaxed and do everything just like they do in practice? One of our main focuses this season has been consistency, to increase our averages. That comes from doing what you do everyday and not changing that when you get in a meet. We've really tried to work hard on that, especially in the past month."

The meet will also be a chance for Richards and his staff to monitor and evaluate the squad. Richards' staff includes first-year assistant and former BYU standout gymnast Dayna Smart-Allen, Josh Nilson, who is in his fourth year with the squad, and former Aggie gymnast Alex Martin.

"We've had a couple other practice intra-squad meets, where we ran our team lineup and things like that," Richards said. "The first one went pretty well, surprisingly, and we've had three others since then and the team has really come together. It's been good for them because it lights a fire under them and shows them that this is where we are, and this is what we need to work on to improve on as individuals and for the team."

Through the first months of practice, Richards and the staff have been impressed with the six returning letterwinners from last season's squad that had a 6-18 overall record and a 2-6 Western Athletic Conference ledger. Among the six returners are three all-WAC honorees, including senior Nicki Felley, junior Heather Heinrich and sophomore Nicole Simoneau. While USU did not qualify as a team to the NCAA North Central Regional Gymnastics meet, the Aggies sent six individuals.

"It's still a bit early to have any individuals stand out yet, but I think that Nicki (Felley) and Nicole (Simoneau) will be our main leaders this season, as well as Heather (Heinrich)," Richards said. "A real surprise from last year will be Jackie (Dillon), last year she was only in a couple events here and there, but we're looking for her to an all-arounder for us this year. She's been working hard and really stepped it up. She's looking really nice on all the events."

Felley is the lone senior on USU's roster. Last season, she earned second-team all-WAC on both beam and the all-around, as well as qualifying to the NCAA Regionals. As a freshman last season, Simoneau earned second-team all-WAC honors on bars and also qualified to Regionals. Dillon, a sophomore, was slowed by injury last season, but showed continued improvement as the season went on.

Heinrich earned first-team all-WAC accolades last season on beam and joined Felley in the all-around at NCAA Regionals.

Other returners include sophomore Lyndsie Boone, an NCAA Regional qualifier on beam last year, as well as sophomore Chelsea Marquardt, who suffered a knee injury early in the season, but returned at the end of the year, competing on bars. Erica Huelsmann redshirted last season with a shoulder injury, but is expected to make significant contributions this year.

In addition to the returners, Richards has liked what he's seen from his freshmen so far.

"Our freshmen our getting better every day as they're adjusting to college gymnastics and they're continuing to improve," Richards said.

Kileigh Peterson is out for the season with an injury, but Richards expects the other four freshmen, Brandie Dickson, Rachel Flessner, Haley Hogan and Rebecca Holliday to make an impact this season.

Utah State's home-opener is on Friday, Jan. 16, against Central Michigan.

All USU home meets begin at 7 p.m. at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

Gymnastics tickets are available through the USU Ticket Office at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, online at www.UtahStateAggies.com and clicking on "tickets" in left column, or by calling 1-888-U-STATE-1 or (435) 797-0305.

-USU-