LIVE BLOG: No. 25 Oregon State at No. 28 Utah State

Oregon State visits Utah State today, hot off the heels of their first 197+ team score of the season and hoping to replicate it at a road meet. Sophia Esposito blew past her previous career best all around last week with a 39.700, and now faces the task of replicating such success outside of Gill Coliseum. She was responsible for four of the Beavers’ seven 9.9+ scores that night, with big contributions expected this week from herself, alongside Olivia Buckner, Ellie Weaver, and Lauren Letszch on vault, bars, and beam, respectively. 

Utah State begins tonight’s home meet slightly behind on paper, but has been a more consistent team in recent weeks than Oregon State. The Aggies’ blowout win last week facing Southern Utah came largely from their confidence across beam and floor, where all six lineup spots went 9.8+ after a too-close-for-comfort first half of the meet. Multi-event contributors Olivia Orengo and Isabella Vater have been hit or miss earlier in the year, but look to be putting up a complete set of routines for the final stretch of the regular season. Vault phenom Nyla Morabito is also three weeks back into competing floor after an untimely ankle injury last spring. 

If you’re looking for any more drama going into tonight’s match-up, look back to January 2026 when these two teams met in Corvallis. Oregon State won by 0.525, which may be hard to replicate as a team known for having a much higher scoring ceiling at home meets. 

Recent Utah State graduate Jenna Eagles is joining tonight’s commentary team to cover her alma mater.

Rotation 1: Utah State VT, Oregon State UB

Witte (USU): clean fty, legs glued and straight bodyline throughout. flexes feet right before landing with a small hop back. 9.775, ties her career high.

Miller (OSU): toe hs Maloney to Pak, both with a leg separation. strong handstand angles, and a near-stuck DLO to start the Beavers’ night. 9.850

Vandertoolen (USU): has her head out while rotating the FTY, takes away some of her amplitude forcing her to pike early to land. 9.650

Kaloudis (OSU): calm through her low bar toe hs to Maloney Pak, pirouettes right over the bar quickly. sticks her DLO but will take a low chest deduction in the process. 9.800

Dewey (USU): MASSIVE flared FTY, small hop back. 9.775

Caso (OSU): Maloney Pak with flexed feet, but legs squeezed together. almost holds the stick for her floaty blind full double tuck. 9.850

Valdez (USU): big FTY, equally big step back but keeps it to one step. 9.775

Esposito (OSU): takes her time with her handstand, clean ray to shootover. blind full double tuck takes a small hop, but otherwise looks close to her performance last week. 9.850

Vater (USU): full on Y pike, able to rotate without piking a whole lot. keeps the landing to one step backward. 9.775

Weaver (OSU): blind full Geinger hits easy, and so does her bail to hs. great tension throughout her routine. blind full to double tuck with a college stick. 9.800

Morabito (USU): smallest hop back out of her team’s lineup. great flare as her FTY finishes twisting. 9.875

Cheek (OSU): toe hs Maloney Pak sequence is cleanest of the Beavers’ lineup. toe full opens early on the high bar and has to come off forwards. remounts for her dismount and shows a toe hs to double tuck.

AFTER ONE: Oregon State 49.150, Utah State 48.975 

For a rotation with four counting vaults starting at 9.950, Utah State did almost as well as it could have facing Oregon State on its strongest event. As the two teams swap events now, we’ll see a more levelled out picture of scoring.

Rotation 2: Oregon State VT, Utah State UB

Crabb (OSU): very fast on and off the table on her FTY. clean block and a small hop back. 9.675

Jelen (USU): strong rhythm in her flight connection, and a no nonsense stuck DLO. 9.925, career high!

Marchal (OSU): almost a carbon copy of Crabb’s, fast and efficient off the table to a FTY with a small hop back. 9.775

Vater (USU): clear hip to Deltchev clean as usual, small step forward on her DLO. 9.825

Miller (OSU): full on pike off with a sense of urgency, piking before she leaves the table and just clearing the end. 9.575

Orengo (USU): stream joins her for her DLO, stuck. 9.850

Buckner (OSU): Y1.5 finds the ground calmly, small hop forward. 9.875

Bibbey (USU): clean Tkatchev to shootover, then casts over on her handstand but recovers it for her giants and DLO. 9.225

Esposito (OSU): closest to a stuck FTY we’ve seen all night, will go north of 9.800 but takes a pike down and the shuffle back. 9.850

Vandertoolen (USU): toe hs Maloney Pak hit textbook, and makes sure to hit each handstand. stalder to double tuck nearly sticks.

Rude (OSU): fhs on, fhs front pike takes a deep squat landing after tucking around the 75% mark of her post-flight, but keeps it to her feet. 9.500

Laufer (USU): starts with a shootover to toe shoot back up, then NAILS a shushunova, and a stuck blind full to double tuck. 9.850

Valdez (USU): big Ray to shootover, but clips the mat catching. shuffle forwards on her DLO.

AFTER TWO: Utah State 98.300, Oregon State 97.900

Oregon State’s lead from the first rotation has dissolved, now that both teams have had the opportunity to go to bars. A near stick from Esposito, along with two 10.0 start vaults was ambitious, but ultimately couldn’t hold up against the Aggies’ form across their flight releases. In rotations three and four, we’re staring down a similar situation, with beam being the strength for both teams The winner at the end of the day could conceivably be the team that has the better floor day to complement beam as the obvious strength across the board.

Rotation 3: Utah State BB, Oregon State FX

Jelen (USU): clean aerial bhs, laser focused. double stag jump with no wavers, same as the switch leap shortly after. bhs gainer full finds the stick — what a leadoff on her two events today! 9.825

Kaloudis (OSU): front tuck through to double pike, big lunge back and stays in bounds by a foot at most. really taking her time with the dance. front lay to front full has a slight knee bend, but credit where it’s due for taking it right into the dance again. 9.800

Orengo (USU): front toss to bhs keeps good rhythm. switch leap to split jump both hit calmly. sticks the daylight out of her roundoff 1.5. 9.750

DeVries (OSU): opens with a big roundoff to 2.5 twist, keeps her landing under control. switch side and straddle half both look a little tentative, but then she finds her split angle better in the switch half to wolf full better. roundoff 1.5 to front layout finds good timing, but lacks a little rise in the layout. 9.800

Medrano (USU): bhs loso continues the Aggies’ checklist of check-free skills. calm aerial and jump series as well. holds the stick on her gainer full, stone cold focus throughout. 9.850

Buckner (OSU): sky high punch rudi loso, stutter step out of her loso. switch half to stag half finishes a little short of rotating, but manages to cover nicely with her dance to bridge it into her front full front full series. 9.850

Valdez (USU): bhs loso carries her team’s momentum. she’s simultaneously taking her time, and never showing a pause. switch to switch half looking just as calm as her full turn earlier, and then follows up with a near stuck roundoff double twist. 9.750

Marchal (OSU): super compact double tuck to open, glues her front foot down in the lunge. switch side half to straddle jump both getting high and precise with the straddle shapes. she’s having fun in the dance, smoothly into a second leap pass of switch half to wolf full. clean roundoff 1.5 front layout to cap off her routine. 9.850

Laufer (USU): bhs loso. front toss lands as confident as ever. switch and straddle half connect, but ultimately come off. roundoff double full rotates fast, and takes a big hop back. 8.900

Miller (OSU): front tuck through to double tuck, absorbs the landing easily. she’s having fun with the Britney Spears medley, and matching the tempo changes. roundoff 1.5 to layout bounds smoothly. 9.875

Witte (USU): bhs bhs loso looking fluid, same with her switch to split 3/4 right after. rock solid front aerial right down to the finger-flickin’ finish. stuck gainer full to close the rotation! 9.850

Esposito (OSU): front tuck through to double pike, keeps her feet glued down once they find the lunge. switch side to split full both hang in the air. Her team gets all into the OSU arms built into her dance. throws down a clean front lay to rudi and finishes with a tongue out for good measure. 9.900

Crabb (OSU): exh — fhs to front double full, clean in the air but takes a step forward continuing the twist as she lands. roundoff 1.5 to front layout finishes her exhibition.

Morabito (USU): exh — long wait while the judges sort out technical difficulties with the scoring equipment. scratches the exhibition.

AFTER THREE: Utah State 147.325, Oregon State 147.175

The Aggies threw down the gauntlet at beam, only to see the Beavers answer their call. The lead Utah State had after bars shrunk from 0.400 down to only 0.150, and the fate of the meet as a whole looks like it’ll come down to the final skill.

Rotation 4: Oregon State, Utah State FX

Heather (OSU): small moment of unsureness in the front toss, but keeps it going into her bhs swing down. clean switch half to beat jump. gainer pike off the end, takes a hop forward. 9.800

Orengo (USU): front tuck through to double tuck, almost as if to answer Oregon State’s same pass. BIG switch half to wold 1.5, no question about it rotating enough for credit. roundoff 1.5 front layout hits. 9.850

Buckner (OSU): bhs loso and split jump to double stag series all hit solid. small check on her side aerial. small pause, then nearly sticks her bhs layout 1.5. 9.775

Yelle (USU): front double full right off the top, and then gets her team into the choreo alongside her. her roundoff 1.5 front layout gets nice lift in the second salto. 9.825

Cheek (OSU): stream joins in time for her bhs gainer full, small slide on landing. 9.800

Peterson (USU): runs HARD into her front layout to rudi, stays in bounds by a hair. more controlled through her leap series. deep breath, then jogs into a calm front lay to front full. 9.775

Weaver (OSU): fluid double wolf turn to start. bhs loso and switch to split both elegant in the air. same for her front aerial, smallest of checks covered well. hop forward on her roundoff 1.5. 9.775

Morabito (USU): front tuck through to a double tuck that still rises in the second rotation. she’s staring down the judges without giving up any performance quality. switch to Gogean! front lay front full front tuck bounds like it’s on a trampoline to finish her routine. when she’s on, she’s on. 9.925, ties her career high!

Letzsch (OSU): tranquility personified on beam. front aerial to back tuck with a well disguised check. clean split to ring jump. she’s locked in through some serious yelling. college stick on the front gainer full. 9.825

Vater (USU): a little wild on her front double full, but keeps it in bounds. very clean switch to switch side half. another floaty roundoff 1.5 to front layout caps off her evening. 9.850

Esposito (OSU): stunning front aerial to bhs loso. switch to split jump and beat jump keep good rhythm. college sticks her roundoff double twist. 9.675

Gruber (USU): starts with an incredibly efficient back 2.5. switch side half to straddle jump dont appear to rush at all, she’s doing a great job taking it one skill at a time. squeaky clean roundoff 1.5 to front full to close out the meet. 9.875

Kaloudis (OSU): exh — switch, switch, split triple series hits, as does her bhs loso. a little hesitant on the side aerial, but avoids any checks. small step backward on her roundoff 1.5.

In the arena, the jumbotron is playing a previous routine from Amari Evans as an honorary exhibition, from the MW Championship in 2024.

FINAL: Utah State 196.650, Oregon State 196.150

Oregon State will host Denver next weekend in lieu of attending a conference championship, with the chance to capitalize on Gill Coliseum scoring one more time this season. For Utah State, their final test before the MW Championship will come in the form of a tri-meet on the road with Arizona State and SEMO.

VT: Olivia Buckner (Oregon State), Nyla Morabito (Utah State): 9.875

UB: Sydney Jelen (Utah State): 9.925

BB: Mya Witte (Utah State), Kaylie Medrano (Utah State): 9.850

FX: Nyla Morabito (Utah State): 9.925

AA: Sophia Esposito (Oregon State): 39.275

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Live blog by Peri Goodman