USU gymnastics hosting Denver

Aggie gymnastics will be trying to put the past disappoints behind and look to opportunities for success in their meet tonight against 13th-ranked Denver University, gymnastics head coach Ray Corn said.

"We are pretty down to be 3-9," Corn said. "We've never been this deep before in the hole in terms of wins and losses. But we have to forget all the disappointments and move forward and look at the possible successes."

Coming off of a second place in the last meet against the University of Utah and Southern Utah University, the team will be having a more promising and stronger lineup as freshmen Chelsea Marquardt and Jasmine Minion are back in after struggling with injuries, sophomore Heather Heinrich said.

"We've gotten a lot healthier and we actually have some depth coming into this meet," she said. "We've done a lot more routines this week and also have done a lot more visualizing for beam, so hopefully that will help for this meet."

Corn said he is excited for this meet and hopes the team has a "shining night," as they have not had one yet in the Spectrum this season.

"As a team, we've turned this corner and the able bodies are all healthy," he said. "We hope to have a great outing (tonight)."

The Aggies last competed with DU earlier this month as they came in behind DU with a score of 192.275 to their 195.700.

"This team stood up to DU in three out of the four rotations when we were there in Denver," Corn said. "They just need to put that beam rotation together and see how we close. We can get to the 13th-ranked team in the country."

DU will be without junior All-American Jessica Lopez, who may be selected to compete in Saturday's Tyson America Cup, one of the sport's premier international events, which is an all-around invitation competition showcasing the top male and female gymnasts in the world.

Utah State is 18-18 all-time against the Pioneers.

Funds from the meet will go directly to support for the fight against breast cancer. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Logan Regional Hospital Foundation for cancer research.