Oregon State
Arizona State
Beavers Douse Sun Devils in the DAM Cancer Meet
January 31, 2016 | Women's Gymnastics
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Junior All-American Madeline Gardiner did it again winning the all-around competition for the fourth straight meet as the 15th-ranked Oregon State gymnastics team defeated Arizona State 195.875-193.075 in the Beavers' 11th annual DAM Cancer meet before a Gill Coliseum crowd of 3,313.
Gardiner added an event title on the balance beam tying her career-best with a score of 9.925. It is her second beam title of the season, seventh event title total in 2016 and 21st of her career.
But Gardiner wasn't the only OSU gymnast doing work Saturday afternoon. Four other gymnasts combined to set six personal marks. Freshman Mariana Colussi-Pelaez set career marks on both of her events winning the uneven bars title scoring 9.850 and adding a score of 9.650 on the beam. Junior Megan Jimenez set a personal-best on beam (9.80) and tied her high mark on floor (9.825) and freshman Mary Jacobsen added a 9.70 on the floor.
Joining Gardiner and Colussi-Pelaez as event winners was senior Risa Perez, who scored a 9.90 on the floor exercise to take top honors on the apparatus.
“There were a lot of good performances tonight,” head coach Tanya Chaplin said. “I liked the energy they brought to the floor tonight. Those are things that we worked on this week and to see the outcomes today was a positive.”
The Beavers' tallied team scores of 49.075 on the beam and floor but it was their performance on the beam that stood out. OSU's beam team bounced back from a disappointing performance at Utah a week ago to establish a new season-high mark. Jimenez, who suffered a minor injury warming up for the floor exercise and then fell on the beam at Utah, came back Saturday to set a personal-best with a 9.80. Like Jimenez, junior Silvia Colussi-Pelaez rebounded from a fall at Utah to perform a solid routine to score 9.725 and contribute to the season-best score for the beam team. Perez added a season-high (9.850) and Gardiner, twice an All-American on the event, tied her career-best of 9.925.
“I thought coming off of Utah, as a team we needed to step it up a bit,” Jimenez said. “The whole time I was out there I was just thinking do this for your team.”
“As a team, we really did some soul searching this past week,” Perez said. “What do we want to do? And what team do we want to be? We decided to just turn the way we did everything. Out there you can feel the energy in the way we are more confident, in the way we trust each other and we have each other's backs.”
Saturday's meet was the 11th annual DAM Cancer meet. The program hosted a lunch and silent auction earlier in the afternoon to help raise money and awareness for breast cancer with proceeds going to The Corvallis Clinic's Project H.E.R. (Help. Enlightenment. Resources.) The Beavers walked out with cancer survivors during march out introductions to begin the meet.
“One thing we talked about was how to flip (the pre-meet energy) and creating a heart statement with that,” Chaplin said. “But this event is almost a heart statement in itself because a lot of times you compete for more than just yourself. It's bigger than us, this event, and what these individuals are having to go through is much bigger than what we are doing. So to be able to do this event for them is a big deal.”
The Beavers have more than a week to prepare for their next meet as they'll travel to face Washington in Seattle Monday, Feb. 8 on Pac-12 Networks. OSU returns to the friendly environs of Gill Coliseum for the first of three straight home meets Saturday, Feb. 20 against California.
Team Scores: No. 15 Oregon State 195.875; Arizona State 193.075.
All-Around: 1. Madeline Gardiner (OSU) 39.300; 2. Allie Salas (ASU) 38.875; 3. Katelyn Lentz (ASU) 38.100.
Vault (48.850): 1. Taylor Allex (ASU) 9.850; T2. Madeline Gardiner (OSU), Megan Jimenez (OSU) 9.825. Other OSU Scores: Mary Jacobsen 9.750; Taylor Ricci 9.750; Shireen Khamedoost 9.700; Risa Perez 9.675.
Uneven Bars (48.875): 1. Mariana Colussi-Pelaez (OSU) 9.850; T2. Shireen Khamedoost (OSU), Madeline Gardiner (OSU) 9.775. Other OSU Scores: Kaytianna McMillan 9.750; Mary Jacobsen 9.725; Silvia Colussi-Pelaez 8.975.
Balance Beam (49.075): 1. Madeline Gardiner (OSU) 9.925; 2. Risa Perez (OSU) 9.850; 3. Katelyn Lentz (ASU) 9.825. Other OSU Scores: Megan Jimenez 9.800; Kaytianna McMillan 9.775; Silvia Colussi-Pelaez 9.725; Mariana Colussi-Pelaez 9.650.
Floor Exercise (49.075): 1. Risa Perez (OSU) 9.900; 2. Taylor Allex (ASU) 9.875; T3. Megan Jimenez (OSU), Jamie Radermacher (OSU) 9.825. Other OSU Scores: Madeline Gardiner 9.800; Taylor Ricci 9.750; Mary Jacobsen 9.700.
