Beavers Set to Start Season at Critique Classic

Photo by: Ralph Greene

December 30, 2019 | Women's Gymnastics

By: Athletic Communications

ON TAP
Oregon State opens the season with a quad meet at the Critique Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. this Friday at 4 p.m. PST. The Beavers, who are ranked 11th to begin the season, will be tested early facing No. 8 Georgia, No. 29 Iowa and Bridgeport.

QUICK STICKS
Oregon State kick starts the season on the road for the fourth straight year ... The Beavers (195.225) defeated No. 7 Kentucky (195.100) along with Illinois (195.175) and Lindenwood (192.525) in a quad meet in Champaign, Ill. to begin the 2019 season ... OSU knocked off Pittsburgh, 194.850-194.125, in the 2018 opener and defeated Auburn, 195.575-195.275, in 2017 ... OSU hosts its home opener during Week 2 welcoming Seattle Pacific and Centenary to Gill Coliseum for the first of six 2020 home meets on Jan. 11 ... OSU hosts six regular season home meets in 2020 for the first time since 1981. The Beavers will be home Jan. 11 (vs. Seattle Pacific & Centenary), Feb.2 (vs. Stanford), Feb. 8 (vs. LSU & Arizona State), Feb. 29 (vs. UCLA), March 6 (vs. Washington) and March 14 (vs. Illinois).

RETURNING FOR 2020
• The Beavers return 17 out of 24 routines from the 2019 NCAA Championships lineup. OSU will seek to replace two routines each on vault, bars and floor, and a single routine on the beam.
• Oregon State returns 17 gymnasts from 2019 including 14 that competed last season.
• In addition, senior Alyssa Minyard returns more than a year removed from a season-ending injury.
• Among those 17 returning gymnasts are eight seniors - Halli Briscoe, Lacy Dagen, Destinee Davis, Sabrina Gill, Jaime Law, Maela Lazaro, Isis Lowery and Alyssa Minyard - who will be expected to provide leadership for the squad.
• Lena Greene, who missed the 2017 season due to injury has elected to use a fifth-year of eligibility and will now be a redshirt junior in 2020.
• The Beavers return four All-Americans from 2019. Halli Briscoe (bars), Maela Lazaro (beam) and Isis Lowery (floor) each garnered second team All-America honors at NCAA Championships last season. In addition, Kaitlyn Yanish was recognized as a WCGA Regular Season All-American on the floor exercise for the second straight season.

A LOOK BACK AT 2019
• OSU advanced to the postseason for the 45th consecutive season.
• Oregon State hosted the NCAA Corvallis Regionals in April as the third seed. The Beavers finished second in the second round of regionals and then hit all 24 of their routines at Regional Finals to knock out top-seeded Florida advancing to NCAA Championships in Fort Worth.
• OSU concluded the season with a sixth-place finish at NCAA Championships.
• All four of OSU's lineups were ranked among the top 20 in the nation. The floor lineup was the highest ranked for the Beavers at No. 10 (49.370 national qualifying score), while the vault (49.140) ranked No. 15, balance beam (49.160) was No. 16 and the uneven bars lineup tied for 20th (49.145).
• Oregon State 'hit' 313 out of 336 (93.2%) routines in 2019 ... the Beavers counted three falls in 2019.
• The Beavers' routine production breakdown looked like this: Juniors performed 126 of 336 routines (37.5%), seniors produced 100 of 336 (29.8%), sophomores 72 of 336 (21.4%) and freshmen 38 of 336 (11.3%).
• Although the Beavers returned 22 out of 24 routines from the 2018 NCAA Regionals lineup, only 13 of those routines remained in the lineup at NCAA Championships in 2019.
• Mary Jacobsen (vault), Halli Briscoe (bars), Maela Lazaro (beam) and Isis Lowery (floor) each earned All-America Second Team honors at NCAA Championships in April.
• Kaitlyn Yanish (FX) earned NACGC/W Regular Season Second Team All-America on the floor exercise for the second straight year. Yanish was also named to the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team on the floor.
• Ten OSU gymnasts received Pac-12 All-Academic honors; Mariana Colussi-Pelaez (microbiology) and Lacy Dagen (sociology) were first team honorees, while Savanna Force (kinesiology), Mary Jacobsen (computer science) and McKenna Singley (sociology) were named to the second team. Halli Briscoe (business administration), Lena Greene (bioengineering), Maela Lazaro (BioHealth Sciences), Isis Lowery (digital communication arts) and Colette Yamaoka (biology) received honorable mention.
• Twelve gymnasts were recognized as Scholastic All-Americans by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association: Halli Briscoe, Mariana Colussi-Pelaez, Lacy Dagen, Madi Dagen, Savanna Force, Lexie Gonzales, Lena Greene, Mary Jacobsen, Jaime Law, Maela Lazaro, Kristina Peterson and McKenna Singley.
• Oregon State registered four regular season wins over Top 25 teams - No. 7 Kentucky, No. 11 Washington, No. 25 Arizona and No. 20 Arizona State.

THE ROSTER
Here are some quick hitters about the 2020 Oregon State gymnastics roster:
• The Beavers have eight seniors on the team (Halli Briscoe, Lacy Dagen, Destinee Davis, Sabrina Gill, Jaime Law, Maela Lazaro, Isis Lowery and Alyssa Minyard). The trio has combined to perform 270 routines in their career entering the season.
• There were three additions to the squad this fall with the arrivals of freshmen Kayla Bird, Jenna Domingo and Jane Poniewaz.
• Fifteen of the 20 gymnasts on the 2020 team competed in at least one meet for the Beavers last season. Jaime Law and Alex McClung are all seeking their first competition routines at OSU, in addition to the three freshmen.
• 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 two gymnasts from outside the United State - Sabrina Gill (Oakville, Ontario, Canada) and Isis Lowery (Melbourne, Australia).
• The Beavers return 17 out of 24 routines from the 2019 NCAA Championships lineup. The graduated routines by (Mariana Colussi-Pelaez, Mary Jacobsen and McKenna Singley) are broken as two on vault, two on bars, one on beam and two on floor.

LOADING UP FOR 2020
In November, four gymnasts made official commitments to join the Oregon State gymnastics program for the 2020-21 academic year. Sydney Gonzales (Newport Beach, Calif.), Kaitlyn Hoiland (Kent, Wash.), Anna Yeates (Roseville, Calif.) and Ariana Young (San Mateo, Calif.) are scheduled to enroll at Oregon State this coming summer ... In addition, 2018 signee Jade Carey (Phoenix, Ariz.), who has deferred her enrollment to train for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics still plans to join the Beavers in time for the 2021 season.