Oregon State
Utah
Beavers Come Up Short Against Utah
February 28, 2015 | Women's Gymnastics
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The No. 12 Oregon State gymnasts fell behind early, struggling on the uneven bars, but finished strong on balance beam and floor exercise but ultimately came up short against No. 4 Utah 196.875-195.750.
The Beavers, whose record dropped to 7-4 in 2015, trailed 98.850-97.025 midway through the meet before storming back to close the gap during the third (beam) and fourth rotations (floor).
“I was really proud of how they came back,” head coach Tanya Chaplin said. “We talk all the time about living in the moment and how it is crucial to do that, especially with your routines. You can't think about the past and you can't think about the future, you have to live right now in the moment. You have to do the skills and think about the event you are doing. I think they did a very good job of letting bars go and focusing on beam and floor.”
OSU's comeback began on the beam where it overcame a mid-rotation fall to tie a season-high 49.275 on the apparatus. Chelsea Tang tied her career-high score with a 9.925 to lead the charge. Risa Perez notched a 9.875 while Madeline Gardiner and Kaytianna McMillan each tallied scores of 9.850.
With a little momentum behind them, the Beavers floor squad fed off of the crowd of 4,116 cheering them on. Nicole Turner led off with a solid routine (9.800) and Cerise Witherby followed with a routine (9.850) that brought the crowd's first big roar of the night. Tang performed a beautiful routine (9.900) to record her third 9.9+ score of the meet. Perez (9.875), McMillan (9.850) and Gardiner (9.925) continued to pour on the fantastic routines and big scores to finish off the meet.
“It shows that we're fighters and that we don't give up even with those mistakes on bars,” Tang said. “They were flukes and they were not something we normally do, so we decided we were going to turn the meet around and that's what we did.”
However, the late flurry by the Beavers wasn't enough to overcome three falls on the uneven bars. Senior Taylor Keeker led off with the first fall of her career after hitting the previous 34 routines. OSU appeared to bounce back with freshman Dani Dessaints scoring a 9.725 in the first official bars routine in her college career. Tang followed with a 9.900 and Silvia Colussi-Pelaez marked at 9.800. However, falls by McMillan and Erika Aufiero set the team back with team score of 48.000 on the event.
Aufiero led the way for the Beavers on the vault with a team-high 9.850. Keeker added a score of 9.825 and Gardiner tallied a 9.80.
Oregon State goes on the road next week to take on No. 8 Nebraska Saturday afternoon. The Beavers return to Corvallis for the final time this season the following weekend for a Saturday quad meet against San Jose State, Lindenwood and Seattle Pacific.
Team Scores: No. 4 Utah 196.875; No. 12 Oregon State 195.750.
All-Around: 1. Baely Rowe (UTAH) 39.300; 2. Tory Wilson (UTAH) 38.625.
Vault (49.025): 1. Tory Wilson (UTAH) 9.950; T2. Kari Lee (UTAH), Kailah Delaney (UTAH) 9.900. OSU Scores: Erika Aufiero 9.850; Taylor Keeker 9.825; Madeline Gardiner 9.800; Taylor Ricci 9.775; Megan Jimenez 9.775; Dani Dessaints 9.700 (Exhibition – Shireen Khamedoost 9.600).
Uneven Bars (48.000): 1. Georgia Dabritz (UTAH) 9.950; T2. Chelsea Tang (OSU), Corrie Lothrop (UTAH) 9.900. Other OSU Scores: Silvia Colussi-Pelaez 9.800; Dani Dessaints 9.725; Kaytianna McMillan 9.325; Erika Aufiero 9.250; Taylor Keeker 9.075 (Exhibition – Shireen Khamedoost 9.775).
Balance Beam (49.275): 1. Chelsea Tang (OSU) 9.925; T2. Risa Perez (OSU), Corrie Lothrop (UTAH) 9.875. Other OSU Scores: Kaytianna McMillan 9.850; Madeline Gardiner 9.850; Katelyn Ohlrich 9.775; Cerise Witherby 9.350 (Exhibition – Silvia Colussi-Pelaez 9.750).
Floor Exercise (49.450): T1. Madeline Gardiner (OSU), Georgia Dabritz (UTAH) 9.925; T3. Chelsea Tang (OSU), Kaytianna McMillan (OSU), Kari Lee (UTAH), Corrie Lothrop (UTAH) 9.900. Other OSU Scores: Risa Perez 9.875; Cerise Witherby 9.850; Nicole Turner 9.800 (Exhibition – Jamie Radermacher 9.775).
Players Mentioned
