Six USU Gymnasts NCAA Regional-Bound

While Utah State's gymnastics team won't be going to the NCAA Regionals as a team, six members of the Aggies' squad have been selected to the NCAA North Central Regional meet as individuals, including two all-arounders and four individual specialists.

Junior Nicki Felley and sophomore Heather Heinrich were selected as all-arounders, while senior Megan Tschida (floor) along with freshmen Jasmine Minion (vault), Lyndsie Boone (beam) and Nicole Simoneau (bars) were all chosen in their respective events.

 

The NCAA North Central Regionals will be hosted by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday, April 12, at UM's Sports Pavilion.

 

Utah State's team action ended with Saturday's [March 29] fifth-place finish at the Western Athletic Conference Championships, as USU is ranked No. 38 in this week's rankings and the top 36 advance to the NCAA Regionals, marking just the fifth time in 31 years that the Aggies have not advanced to Regionals and the second in last three years after not qualifying in 2006.

 

"Certainly the team is disappointed in not going to regionals as a team, especially since it is only the fifth time in 31 years that we have not," USU head coach Ray Corn said. "The conference meet ends this year's competition for us as a team, but the individual qualifiers for the NCAA North Central meet is the springboard for next year. They will obtain the experience from having competed in the regionals and relay that to the rest of the squad to help lead the team next year so that we may return to regionals as an entire team."

 

Felley, a native of Flower Mound, Texas (Marcus HS), has an RQS of 38.595 in the all-around. This past Saturday at the WAC Championships, Felley placed fifth with a season-high 38.925, earning second-team all-WAC honors. Felley won the all-around competition in three meets this season and posted four of USU's top six scores in the all-around.

 

Heinrich, a Littleton, Colo. (Dakota Ridge HS) native, has a 38.320 RQS in the all-around. She was 11th in the all-around at the WAC Championships with a 37.900. Heinrich earned first-team all-WAC recognition after tying for third on beam with a season-high 9.825. She was the top all-arounder in two meets this season, including a career-best 39.000, which is the Aggies' highest all-around posting of the year.

 

Tschida is a St. Paul, Minn. (Cretin-Derham Hall HS), native returning to compete in her hometown for only the second time in her career, as the Aggies competed at Minnesota in a dual in 2006, her sophomore season. Tschida was the co-WAC Champion on floor Saturday at the conference meet with a season-best 9.925, earning first-team all-WAC accolades and recording her first-ever individual conference title and the Aggies' first floor champion since Liesel Kohler in 2005. She has an RQS of 9.860 on floor and Saturday was the fourth meet this season in which she at least won a share of the event title.

 

A Memphis, Tenn. (Bolton HS) native, Minion qualified to regionals with a 9.840 vault RQS. She earned second-team all-WAC honors after tying for sixth on vault at the WAC meet with a 9.800. Minion won the event in three meets this season including posting a season-best 9.875 twice, winning the event in a dual at Cal State Fullerton and placing third at BYU.

 

Boone, a Winthrop Harbor, Ill. (Zion Benton HS) native, has a 9.600 RQS on beam. She was tied for 13th in the event at the WAC meet on Saturday. Boone notched her season-high of 9.750 at the dual at BYU, which is one of the top four scores on beam for the Aggies.

 

Simoneau, a native of Manchester, N.H. (Manchester Central HS), has an RQS of 9.845 on bars after placing fourth-place at the WAC Championships with a 9.775, earning second-team all-WAC accolades. Simoneau, who has won the event in eight meets this season, has a season-best score of 9.900 in winning the bars in the dual with Southern Utah. She posted 12 marks of 9.800 or higher this season in USU's 14 meets.

 

The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships in Athens, Georgia, April 24-26, hosted by the University of Georgia.

 

In addition, the event winners at the regional championships will advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or the all-around qualifiers.

 

"Hopefully some of our gymnasts will perform well enough to qualify for the national championship meet. It has been awhile since we've had an NCAA national qualifier," Corn said in reference to the last USU gymnast to qualify for nationals, Amber Jamison in 1999.