USU gymnastics: Aggies to host Southern Utah and Hamline in first home meet of 2013 season

Utah State gymnastics will play host to Southern Utah and Hamline University, as it returns to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum for its first home meet of the season on Friday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.

While this is the first-ever meeting between the Aggies and the Hamline Pipers, USU and SUU have a long-standing tradition of competition. As Western Athletic Conference and in-state rivals, the two teams have been consistently comparable, with a nearly even record. The Thunderbirds currently edge out the Aggies, leading the all-time series 37-36.

Utah State and Southern Utah also have a connection among the coaches. Both USU head coach Jeff Richards and SUU's Scott Bauman began their coaching careers as student assistants at Utah State under Ray Corn. Later, Richards worked as an assistant coach to Bauman at SUU from 1991-98.

To kick off the home season, Utah State Athletics is sponsoring two community promotions for Friday's meet. Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night is open to all employees of Utah State University. By presenting a flyer that has been distributed around campus, employees will be eligible to pay just $1 for a ticket to the meet. In the Greek Challenge, members of the USU fraternity or sorority who have the highest percentage of members in attendance will receive free T-Shirts for their chapter.

Next weekend, the Aggies and Thunderbirds will meet up again in a WAC-sponsored meet in Cedar City. Action gets underway at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1.

Live results for Friday's tri-meet are available by clicking on the "Live Results" and "Watch Live" links on the USU website. There will be a small fee to watch the video feed and the live stats link will only work once the meet has started.

For USU gymnastics ticket information, contact the USU Ticket Office at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum by calling 1-888-USTATE-1 or online.

Doug Hoffman is the assistant athletic director for Utah State University Athletic Media Relations.