Oregon State
Stanford
Beavers Step Up On Floor, Knock Off Stanford
March 01, 2016 | Women's Gymnastics
Corvallis, Ore. – A brilliant performance by McKenna Singley on the final routine of the night powered the Oregon State gymnastics team to a come-from-behind 196.325-196.250 victory over No. 16 Stanford on Monday night.
The teams were dead-even heading into the closing performance. A last-second replacement for Kaytianna McMillan as the anchor, Singley needed a 9.85 or better to give the 20th-ranked Beavers (8-3, 4-2 Pac-12) their second-straight win over a higher-ranked conference opponent.
The freshman from Bountiful, Utah, had performed just three floor routines in OSU's previous seven meets, with a best of 9.75. She responded to the challenge with the poise and precision of a battle-tested senior and posted a career-high 9.90, OSU's top score of the night, thrilling the Gill Coliseum crowd of 2,015.
Singley said stepping in at the 11th hour – McMillan wasn't scratched until after her beam routine, as a precautionary measure to protect a sore knee – didn't make any difference in her mental preparation.
“On floor you just get the adrenaline pumping and just have a lot of fun,” she said. “I had no idea” the dual was tied at that point. “I just knew my team had gone out and done their job and I needed to do mine.
“I could just go out and have fun because of how amazing they did. I've just been doing as many numbers as my body allows and working on the landings to where they need to be.”
The Beavers trailed 147-150-146.925 heading into the final rotation. However, Stanford had an early fall on beam and then had to count a 9.725, missteps that gave the Beavers a glimmer of hope as the rotation progressed.
They didn't waste the opportunity. Freshman Mary Jacobsen opened with a 9.825 and juniors Taylor Ricci, senior Risa Perez, senior Jamie Radermacher and junior Madeline Gardiner nailed consecutive 9.875s to draw the Beavers even, setting the stage for Singley's heroics.
“McKenna really stepped up this week and putting that routine out was beautiful,” Gardiner said. “The team definitely needed it and she definitely stepped into the role we needed. I'm really proud of her.”
Coach Tanya Chaplin said McMillan's knee is fine but there was no need to push the envelope this late in the season and that Singley was itching for another opportunity on floor.
“Kenna, even today, was letting me know, 'I'm ready for floor, I'm ready for floor' ”, Chaplin said. “It wasn't an easy [decision] but you never know what they are going to do.
“She was in that 'Give me and opportunity and I'm ready for it' mode, she just wanted to compete. Putting her in that role really let her show me what she has, and she did a great job.”
The Beavers outscored Stanford 49.40-49.10 on the final rotation and thus snapped a three-match losing streak in the series they now lead 58-30. They posted the top five scores on floor and their 49.40 rotation score was a season-high by .175 points.
McMillan scored a career-high 9.95 on bars and shared top honors on that event with all-around victor Elizabeth Price of Stanford. Perez and Gardiner were OSU's members of a five-way deadlock for beam honors at 9.85.
Gardiner also took third on vault (9.85), tied for third bars (9.85) and took second in the all-around at 49.425, her second-highest score of the season and the seventh time in eight meets she'd surpassed 49 points.
Freshman Mariana Colussi-Pelaez had a personal-best on beam (9.775), as did Ricci (9.875) and Jacobsen (9.825) on floor.
Monday's result gave the Beavers a sweep of the Bay Area schools, both of which were ranked higher than OSU entering the dual. OSU edged then-No. 14 California 196.850-195.350 on Feb. 20 in its previous home meet.
“Winning against a very good Stanford team is definitely a big boost with our confidence and continuing to build momentum,” Chaplin said. “They are one of the toughest teams in the conference, they are strong and looked good, so I was really proud of our floor team for really building up.”
The Beavers conclude the home portion of the regular season at 7 p.m. Friday with a triangular against Ball State and Seattle Pacific.
“Now we will do what we can to rest our bodies, and do a lot of mental routines to do what we can to clean up and get ready to go on Friday,” Chaplin said. “It's another opportunity to increase our RQS (regional qualifying score) and that's what this part of the season is all about.”
OSU closes the regular season at a March 12 quadrangular in Dallas with LSU, New Hampshire and host Texas Woman's University.
The Pac-12 Conference Championships meet is March 19 at the University of Washington. It will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.
Team Scores: No. 20 Oregon State 196.325; No. 16 Stanford 196.250.
All-Around: 1. Elizabeth Price (STAN) 39.550; 2. Madeline Gardiner (OSU) 39.425; 3. Taylor Rice (STAN) 39.025.
Vault (48.725): 1. Elizabeth Price (STAN) 9.900; 2. Nicolette McNair (STAN) 9.875; 3. Madeline Gardiner (OSU) 9.850. Other OSU Scores: Megan Jimenez 9.775; Mary Jacobsen 9.700; Taylor Ricci 9.700; Shireen Khamedoost 9.700; McKenna Singley 9.675.
Uneven Bars (49.250): T1. Kaytianna McMillan (OSU), Elizabeth Price (STAN) 9.950; 3. Madeline Gardiner (OSU), Ivana Hong (STAN) 9.850. Other OSU Scores: Shireen Khamedoost 9.825; Mary Jacobsen 9.825; Mariana Colussi-Pelaez 9.800; Silvia Colussi-Pelaez 9.600 (Exhibition – McKenna Singley 9.075).
Balance Beam (48.950): T1. Risa Perez (OSU), Madeline Gardiner (OSU), Nicolette McNair (STAN), Elizabeth Price (STAN), Rachel Daum (STAN) 9.850. Other OSU Scores: Megan Jimenez 9.800; Mariana Colussi-Pelaez 9.775; Kaytianna McMillan 9.675; Silvia Colussi-Pelaez 9.650 (Exhibition – McKenna Singley 9.650).
Floor Exercise (49.400): 1. McKenna Singley (OSU) 9.900; T2. Taylor Ricci (OSU), Risa Perez (OSU), Jamie Radermacher (OSU), Madeline Gardiner (OSU) 9.875. Other OSU Score: Mary Jacobsen 9.825.
