No. 21 Beavers to Host No. 4 Utes in Home Opener Saturday

Saturday, January 19

Corvallis, OR

2:00 PM

Oregon State

Utah

McKenna Singley - beam - Orarnge & Black

Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics

No. 21 Beavers to Host No. 4 Utes in Home Opener Saturday

January 15, 2019 | Women's Gymnastics

OSU vs Utah notes

By: Athletic Communications

ON TAP
Oregon State (3-0) hosts its home opener against No. 4 Utah (2-0) Saturday at 2 p.m. The Beavers, who knocked off then-No. 7 Kentucky last weekend in a quad meet at Illinois, are ranked No. 21 entering this weekend's matchup with the Utes.

TICKETS AND PROMOTIONS
• Single meet and season tickets are available by visiting BeaverTickets.com/gymnastics or by calling 1-800-GO-BEAVS.
• Jr. Beavs members receive a free general admission ticket to the meet. Sign up in the lobby to get your child signed up to be a Jr. Beav.
• The team will host a short dance party on the competition floor with children from the crowd following the meet.

LIVE VIDEO
• The meet will stream live at osubeavers.com. Former OSU gymnasts Heather (Bennett) Humphrey and Stephanie McGregor will provide the analysis.

LIVE RESULTS
• Live results will be available for the meet and can be found by visiting the gymnastics schedule page on osubeavers.com.
• To access live stats, via your computer, smartphone, or tablet, visit osubeavers.com.

QUICK STICKS
• Oregon State opened the season on the road for the third straight season ... the Beavers now have a 5-0 record in those road season-openers.
• Eleven of OSU's 15 regular season opponents on the 2019 schedule are ranked in this week's Top 36.
• Oregon State hosts NCAA Regionals April 4-6. It is the first time OSU has hosted the regional round since 2013 ... this year's regional will be the first season with the new format that includes three days (four meets) of competition.

LAST WEEK AT ILLINOIS
• Oregon State scored 195.225 to take first place in Champaign on Sunday, defeating the host Fighting Illini (195.175) as well as No. 7 Kentucky (195.100) and Lindenwood (192.525).
• OSU reached the 49-point threshold on the floor exercise Sunday, scoring 49.025 on the event. Savanna Force led the squad with a 9.875 and Isis Lowery added a 9.850.
• Madi Dagen enjoyed a solid college debut hitting on all three of her events. Dagen tied for team-highs on vault (9.800) and beam (9.825).
• Redshirt junior Lacy Dagen (9.700 on vault), sophomore Lexie Gonzales (9.675 on vault) and freshman Kristina Peterson (9.725 on beam) also made their Oregon State debuts.
• Lowery competed in three lineups for the Beavers setting a personal-best on beam (9.825) and also 'hit' her first career bars routine (9.750).

RETURNING FOR 2019
• The Beavers return 22 out of 24 routines from the 2018 NCAA Regionals lineup. Both graduated routines by (Dani Dessaints and Shireen Khamedoost) were on the uneven bars.
• OSU had two gymnasts perform as all-arounders at various times in 2018 and both, Sabrina Gill and McKenna Singley, return.
• Four walk-ons made significant contributions to the squad in 2018 - Alyssa Minyard was a regular in the bars and beam lineups, Maela Lazaro was a consistent bright spot in the beam lineup, Lena Greene was a key component in the back half of the vault lineup and Niya Mack filled in several times on the floor exercise. As a group, the foursome hit 38 out of 41 routines.
• In addition, to 13 contributors returning, two others - Lacy Dagen and Colette Yamaoka - performed a total of 11 exhibitions for the Beavers as well.
• Kaitlyn Yanish earned Pac-12 second team honors on the floor exercise and was named an NACGC/W Regular Season All-American on floor in her first season at OSU.
• There were several notable improvements by previously unsung gymnasts in 2018 ... Destinee Davis contributed one routine as a freshman in 2017 worked her way into three lineups by season's end converting 21 out of 22 routines as a sophomore ... Alyssa Minyard, who didn't perform a single exhibition as a freshman in 2017, was a regular in the bars and beam lineups this season hitting 18-19 routines ... Maela Lazaro, who earned one exhibition at the end of the '17 season, jumped into the beam lineup in the season's third meet with a 9.90 and became a fixture in the lineup ... Lena Greene, who missed 2017 due to injury returned to make her debut at Washington with a 9.90 on the vault and became a mainstay in the back end of the vault lineup the rest of the way this year ... Halli Briscoe returned from her own injury late in the 2018 season to make her college debut on the bars where she too became a key to the lineup.

THE ROSTER
Here are some quick hitters about the 2019 Oregon State gymnastics roster:
• The Beavers have three seniors on the team (Mariana Colussi-Pelaez, Mary Jacobsen and McKenna Singley). The trio has combined to perform 224 routines in their career entering the season.
• There were four additions to the squad this fall with the arrivals of freshmen Leah Bivrell, Madi Dagen, Alex McClung and Kristina Peterson.
• Thirteen of the 21 gymnasts on the 2019 team competed in at least one meet for the Beavers last season
• Redshirt junior Lacy Dagen and sophomore Lexie Gonzales as well as freshmen Madi Dagen and Kristina Peterson made their Beaver debuts in the season opener at Illinois.
• The Beavers have three gymnasts that hail from the state of Oregon - Lena Greene (Tigard), Jaime Law (Corvallis) and Alex McClung (Salem).
• OSU also has three gymnasts from outside the United State - Mariana Colussi-Pelaez and Sabrina Gill (Oakville, Ontario, Canada) and Isis Lowery (Melbourne, Australia).
• The Beavers return 22 out of 24 routines from the 2018 NCAA Regionals lineup. Both graduated routines by (Dani Dessaints and Shireen Khamedoost) were on the uneven bars.

A LOOK BACK AT 2018
• OSU advanced to the postseason for the 44th consecutive season.
• The Beavers traveled to Raleigh, N.C. for NCAA Regionals in April as the third seed. Oregon State counted two falls, the first of the season, on the balance beam in the final rotation and finished sixth in meet. OSU's final ranking was No. 27.
• All four of OSU's lineups were ranked among the top 25 in the nation. The floor lineup was the highest ranked for the Beavers at No. 7 (49.380 regional qualifying score), vault was 18th (49.135), beam was also ranked 18th (49.165) and bars finished at No. 21 (49.200).
• Oregon State 'hit' 274 out of 288 (95.1%) routines in 2018.
• Kaitlyn Yanish (FX) earned NACGC/W Regular Season Second Team All-America. Yanish was also named to the Pac-12 All-Conference Second Team on the floor exercise as a freshman in 2018.
• Dani Dessaints was named as one of 10 finalists for the AAI Award, annually given to the top senior gymnast in the nation.
• Ten OSU gymnasts received Pac-12 All-Academic honors; Mariana Colussi-Pelaez and Shireen Khamedoost were first team honorees, while Dani Dessaints, Lena Greene and McKenna Singley earned named to the second team. Halli Briscoe, Mary Jacobsen, Maela Lazaro, Isis Lowery and Alyssa Minyard received honorable mention.
• Thireen gymnasts were recognized as Scholastic All-Americans by the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W): Halli Briscoe, Mariana Colussi-Pelaez, Lacy Dagen, Dani Dessaints, Savanna Force, Lexie Gonzales, Lena Greene, Mary Jacobsen, Shireen Khamedoost, Jaime Law, Maela Lazaro, Niya Mack and McKenna Singley.
• Oregon State went an undefeated 5-0 at Gill Coliseum in 2018 including four wins over Top 25 teams - No. 23 Stanford, No. 12 Arizona State, No. 24 Arizona and No. 21 BYU.

LOADING UP FOR 2020
In November, three gymnasts signed the National Letters of Intent to join the Oregon State gymnastics program for the 2019-20 academic year. Kayla Bird (Chandler, Ariz.), Jenna Domingo (Honolulu, Hawai'i) and Jane Poniewaz (Henderson, Nev.) are scheduled to enroll at Oregon State this coming summer ... In addition, 2018 signee Jade Carey (Phoenix, Ariz.), who has deferred her enrollment this year to train for the U.S. National Team, plans to attend OSU in the future. Carey earned a pair of silver medals for Team USA at the 2017 World Championships.