Utah State University’s women’s gymnastics team will host Air Force in a dual meet on Friday, February 27, at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan. The competition begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be available for live streaming on the MW Network, with live scoring through StatBroadcast.
Utah State enters the meet ranked 30th nationally, while Air Force holds the 35th spot according to this week’s Road to Nationals Poll. Utah State has a season record of 12-4 overall and 4-2 in Mountain West competition; Air Force stands at 13-7 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
The Aggies are promoting this event as the ‘My Cause Meet’, where student-athletes and staff will display poster boards along the concourse to raise awareness for various causes important to them. Causes highlighted include mental health awareness, animal rescue, cancer awareness, veteran suicide prevention, autism, homelessness support, women’s sports empowerment and others.
Head coach Kristin White commented on the upcoming match: “We are looking forward to another great competition on Friday. The energy and crowd were so electric for Spectrum Magic, and we are hoping to have that same environment this weekend. Coming off a season high will give our athletes tremendous momentum for our final conference regular season matchup.”
Utah State is having its best start since 1999 with a record tied for sixth-best in program history. The team leads the Mountain West Conference (MW) with a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 195.700 and ranks first or second within the MW across all apparatus events—bars (NQS of 48.986), floor (49.089), beam (48.854), vault (48.800). Several individuals also hold top rankings: junior Nyla Morabito is first in MW on vault; junior Isabella Vater is second in MW on floor; sophomore Olivia Orengo is second in MW on bars; junior Sydney Jelen is second in MW on beam.
Morabito has won nine career vault titles—seventh-most in program history—and six so far this year alone.
In their most recent outing against Boise State last weekend, six Aggies secured event titles: Avery Bibbey, Chelsea Southam, Nyla Morabito, Isabella Vater, Olivia Orengo and Mara Gruber each claimed or shared top scores across different events including vault, bars, beam and floor.
Air Force currently ranks third within the Mountain West with an NQS of 195.238. Junior Maggie Slife leads individually for Air Force; she ranks eighth nationally in all-around competition and holds top spots within her conference for all four apparatuses.
Historically Utah State leads their series against Air Force by nineteen wins to four without losing at home so far (6-0). This season both teams have one win each over each other—Utah State winning at a neutral site during Boise State Quad Meet while Air Force took victory during AFA Tri Meet earlier this month.
Last week Utah State achieved its ninth-highest home score ever with a win over Boise State (196.325–194.950). Morabito led vault scoring while three gymnasts tied atop bars scores—including career-highs from Vater—and Orengo posted her best-ever score on beam.
Following Friday’s meet versus Air Force, Utah State faces Southern Utah away next Monday before hosting Oregon State later that week.
For more information about tickets or following along with Utah State gymnastics updates visit their official social media channels.
