Gymnasts Set for Pac-12 Championships in Seattle

THE MEET
The No. 14 Oregon State gymnastics team is back on the road for Pac-12 Championships in Seattle this Saturday at 6 p.m. The Beavers enter the conference meet as the fourth seed and will compete directly against Utah, UCLA and California. The afternoon session consists of Stanford, Washington, Arizona and Arizona State at 1 p.m. Both sessions will air live on Pac-12 Networks ... The Beavers will begin the meet on the floor exercise, then will move to vault, uneven bars and balance beam.

BEAVER BITES
The Beavers are ranked at No. 14 this week. Rankings recently switched to being determined by Regional Qualifyting Score ... all four of OSU's lineups are ranked among the top 25 in the nation. The bars lineup is the highest ranked for the Beavers at No. 10 (49.260 average). The beam team is ranks No. 17 (49.145) with the floor (49.165) and vault (49.145)squads ranked No. 21 ... OSU's roster includes a pair of All-Americans, three-time honoree Madeline Gardiner, who has finished third on the beam in Event Finals each of the last two years, and Erika Aufiero, who will miss the season due to a knee injury suffered the week of the season opener ... the Beavers return 10 contributors in 2016 including 15 out of 24 routines from NCAA Championships in 2015. But it is more complicated than that. Senior Erika Aufiero, who was slated to perform in the all-around, and sophomore Dani Dessaints, who anchored the vault and bars lineups in the season-opener will both miss the season due to injury.

LAST YEAR AT PAC-12'S
Oregon State went 24-for-24 at Pac-12 Championships scoring 196.900 and finished fourth. The Beavers were led by Kaytianna McMillan's 39.375 in the all-around. OSU's uneven bars team posted a season-high (49.300) for the third straight meet with Silvia Colussi-Pelaez and Erika Aufiero providing a pair of 9.90's. OSU's floor team was on as well with McMillan, Risa Perez and Chelsea Tang each scoring a 9.90 as the lineup posted a 49.325.

OSU AT PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Here are some quick hittes about Oregon State's history in the Pac-12 Championships:

Oregon State is one of only four schools - along with UCLA, Stanford and Utah - to have won the Pac-10/12 Championships in the 29-year history of the event.
The Beavers are seeking their seventh conference title and third in six years.
OSU has a 1-2 record against their direct competition this year defeating Cal at home and taking road losses at Utah and UCLA.
20 OSU gymnasts have combined to win 42 individual titles over th course of 29 years.
Senior Erika Aufiero is already a Pac-12 champion having won a team title as a freshman for the Beavers in 2013. Aufiero performed in the bars lineup that night in Corvallis.

VS. UTAH
Saturday marks the 76th time OSU and Utah have met with the Utes holding a 66-9 advantage in the series. Oregon State visited Salt Lake City in January performing well on the first three events. However, both teams counted a fall in the final rotation (beam for OSU) to prevent a big scoring night. Madeline Gardiner won the all-around that afternoon.

VS. UCLA
This match-up is the 109th between the Beavers and Bruins with UCLA sporting a series advantage of 27-80-1. OSU traveled to Westwood in February producing one of its best performances of the season. The Beavers came up short 197.475-196.225 with four season-bests on the bars. Kaytianna McMillan made her first floor exercise appearance of the year at UCLA scoring a team-best 9.850.

VS. CALIFORNIA
Oregon State and California faced off in Corvallis last month with the Bears faltering as the Beavers posted their best score of the season 196.850-195.350. Madeline Gardiner posted a then-personal-best 39.475 in the all-around, tied her career-high on the beam (9.925) and added an individual title on the floor (9.90). Kaytianna McMillan recorded a pair of career-highs with 9.950's on bars and beam to secure a pair of event titles as well. Mary Jacobsen shattered her career-best scoring 9.950 on the bars and tied her best mark on the floor (9.825). Gardiner went on to earn Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week while Jacobsen received Freshman of the Week honors. Historically, the Beavers have dominated the series 88-5.

OREGON STATE QUICK HITTERS
Here are some quick hitters about the Oregon State gymnastics team in 2016:

The Beavers have counted only one fall in 2016 ... the counter came with pair of falls on the balance beam at Utah ... OSU counted falls in just two meets in 2015.
OSU has 'hit' 227 out of 240 (94.6% ) routines in 2016 ... the Beavers 'hit' 95% (297 out of 314) of their routines over the course of 13 meets in 2015.
It took until the seventh meet of the season, but the Beavers 'hit' all 24 routines for the first time in 2016 against California ... it has now been four straight meets without a missed routine.
Oregon State has relied heavily on junior Madeline Gardiner to compete in the all-around for much of the last three seasons. Thus far in her career, Gardiner has performed in the all-around 25 times in her career including the last 15 meets. Gardiner had won three all-around titles entering the season and has already exceeded that mark in 2016 having won the all-around in the Beavers' first four meets ... in total she has won six all-around titles this season and 14 total individual titles in 2016.
The Beavers a couple gymnasts ranked among the top 35 in the nation on various events. Kaytianna McMillan is currently ranked No. 6 on the uneven bars (9.925 RQS) while Madeline Gardiner is No. 19 in the all-around (39.365) and tied for 18th on the balance beam (9.890).
The 2016 roster includes four freshmen: Mary Jacobsen, Mariana Colussi-Pelaez, McKenna Singley and Elizabeth Yu. Colussi-Pelaez is the younger sister of Silvia Colussi-Pelaez, who transferred to Oregon State last year.
Nine of OSU's 2016 opponents were ranked in the preseason top 36: No. 4 Utah, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 UCLA, No. 8 Stanford, No. 10 Auburn, No. 14 California, No. 30 Washington, No. 33 New Hampshire and No. 36 Arizona State.

WHICH WAY DO WE GO?
The Beavers, like every other team in the country, are seeking to qualify to the NCAA Championships and the Super Six. But to reach that goal teams must get through NCAA Regionals. In 2016, regionals will be held at Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Utah. The top two finishers at each regional will advance to the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas.

CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS
The Pac-12 Conference has seven out of eight of its teams ranked in the Top 36, which is the number of teams that qualify to NCAA Regionals. Utah is ranked No. 5, UCLA is at No. 9, California is 11th, Washington is 17th, Stanford is 19th, and Arizona is 21st.

THREE FOR 2017
In November, two gymnasts signed the National Letters of Intent to join the Oregon State gymnastics program for the 2016-17 academic year. Isis Lowery (Melbourne, Australia) and Brianna McCant (Frisco, Texas) are scheduled to enroll in Oregon State this coming summer. In addition, 2015 signee Sabrina Gill (Oakville, Ontario) is slated to join the program for the 2017 season as well. Gill opted to defer her enrollment while she trains for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for Team Canada.

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