Oregon State Gymnastics to Host 2024 Dam Cancer Meet

MATCHING UP: The last time Oregon State and Stanford met during the regular season proved to be one for the record books, as then-ranked No. 11 Oregon State broke the school beam record, tied for the second-highest floor score and posted season-best marks on all four events en route to a program-record 198.075.

Jade Carey posted two perfect 10s in the effort while Jennifer McMillan tied a career-high with a 9.85 on bars, while Sydney Gonzales and Ariana Young both posted career-high 9.925s in the floor exercise.

Dating back to the first meeting between these programs on Jan. 29, 1999, Oregon State has a 21-14 advantage in the all-time series, which includes an 8-3 record when performing at home.

Stanford has gotten off to a rocky start early in the 2024 schedule, entering Saturday's meet with a 1-6 season record in head-to-head matchups – though the team's 195.895 average score ranks them 32nd out of the 87 gymnastics programs in the nation. The team has set and tied its season-high scoring total with back-to-back 196.875s, even taking a lead into the final rotation of its last matchup against Arizona, while Chloe Widner won a share of the bars title in that last matchup thanks to a season-best 9.95.

ALL-AROUND: For the first time in 2024, Jade Carey competed in the all-around against the Bruins on Friday, finishing second in the event title race with a 39.625. After posting a 9.875 vault in the first rotation, Carey earned a 9.925 for her bars routine before finishing second in the meet with a 9.900 on the balance beam; her evening wrapped up with a 9.925 on floor exercise.

Carey, now in her third season at Oregon State, has competed on the bars and beam in every meet this season, while Friday's meet was just her second time on the vault.

NOTHING NEW ABOUT HER: Joining Carey in the all-around was freshman Sophia Esposito, whose 39.525 was good for third-best in the meet. She started things off with a 9.90 vault in the team's first rotation before finishing with a 9.825 on bars and 9.85 on the balance beam. She saved the best for last, however, setting a new career-high with a 9.95 on floor exercise, surpassing her previous career-best mark of 9.875.

With a strong performance against UCLA, Esposito was named the Pac-12 Newcomer of the Week on Tuesday, marking the second time this season that she's won weekly honors, having earned the same award on Jan. 23 after a quality effort against Brown.

THE FIRST OF MANY: A late addition to the Beaver floor exercise lineup, Karlie Chavez made an instant impact in her first official routine of the season with 9.85 from both judges. Having previously participated as an exhibition in four meets this season, Chavez's 9.85 still surpassed her best exhibition marks and helped the Beavers to a 49.450 team score on FX, which was the team's highest of the four rotation scores against UCLA.

BIG-TIME BARS: Two Beavers finished Friday's meet with an individual score of 9.95 or higher: Esposito and Sage Thompson. Entering the meet with two 9.90 or higher bar scores in four appearances, Thompson would earn a share of the event title thanks to a 9.95, even earning a 10 from one of the judges. The result also came within .05 of her career-high, having been given a perfect 10 against Stanford on March 4, 2022, while competing as part of the Utah Utes gymnastics program.

INJURY UPDATES: Ellie Weaver and Sydney Gonzales both sustained injuries that will keep them out for the remainder of the 2024 season. Lauren Letzsch still remains out indefinitely.

QUICK HITTERS:
• Six different Oregon State gymnasts have won event titles this season -- Jade Carey, bars (three times); Taylor DeVries, bars; Sophia Esposito, vault (twice) and floor; Kaitlin Garcia, floor; Ellie Weaver, beam and floor; Ariana Young, beam and floor.
• Five different Oregon State gymnasts have won Pac-12 weekly honors this season: Natalie Briones, Coaches' Choice; Jade Carey, Specialist (two times); Taylor DeVries, Newcomer; Sophia Esposito, Newcomer (twice); and Sage Thompson, Coaches' Choice.
• Jennifer McMillan was credited with a 9.875 on bars against UCLA, making it the fifth time in six meets this season that McMillan has scored 9.85 or higher on that event.
• Kaitlin Garcia has been a fixture in the Beavers' vault and floor lineups this season, finishing with a 9.825 and 9.875 in the two events; she's now appeared in every meet during the 2024 season.
• Making her third-consecutive appearance, Savannah Miller earned a 9.85 for her floor routine against UCLA; her season-high was a 9.875 against Cal.
• Ariana Young has been consistent for the Beavers' beam and floor lineup in the 2024 season, having appeared in both events in every meet so far this year. Coming off a 9.9 against Utah in the floor exercise, the San Mateo, Calif., native posted a 9.85 against UCLA, making it four-straight meets with at least a 9.85 in that event.
• Jade Carey has won the bars title three times this season and now has 97 titles in her Oregon State career, the second most in program history; Chari Knight holds the record with 116.

HOME SWEET HOME: Oregon State has three of its last five regular season Pac-12 meets at Gill Coliseum: Stanford at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17 (Pac-12 Insider); Arizona State at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 1 (Pac-12 Network); Washington at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 8 (Oregon State Live Stream).

Sandwiched in between those meets in Corvallis is a trip to Tucson to battle Arizona at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25 (Pac-12 Oregon). The regular season ends on Sunday, March 17 when the Beavers compete against Boise State and Utah State in Boise, Idaho at 11:00 a.m. PT.

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 2024 Pac-12 Championships will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, March 23 and be televised nationally on Pac-12 Network.

BACK-TO-BACK: Oregon State won a share of the Pac-12 regular season title for the second-consecutive year in 2023. This is the fourth season the conference has crowned a regular season champion, beginning the tradition in 2020, and the Beavers have shared the title in half of them.

2023: Winning a share of the Pac-12 regular season crown was just one of several highlights for head coach Tanya Chaplin and the Oregon State gymnastics team.
• Advanced to the Regional Finals for the first time since 2019 where they finished in fourth place with the fifth-highest score in program history (197.650).
• Finished in a tie for first place at Regionals (with LSU) after posting a 197.375.
• For the first time in program history, Oregon State went over the coveted 198 mark, recording a 198.075 against Stanford to break the previous program record of 197.850.
• The Beavers posted three of the six highest scores in program history.
• Finished No. 12 in the final 2023 Road to Nationals rankings.
• Jade Carey became just the 13th NCAA gymnast, and the sixth Pac-12 gymnast, to complete the Gym Slam with a 10.000 on vault, bars, beam and floor.
• The 2023 freshmen class of Francesca Caso, Jennifer McMillan, Savannah Miller and Ellie Weaver all had an instant impact, making up more than 50 percent of the team's bar routines.
• Jade Carey was selected the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year for the second-straight season.
• Jade Carey, Madi Dagen and Sydney Gonzales were honored by the Pac-12 Conference, taking home eight different honors for their efforts during the 2023 regular season.
• 19 Oregon State student-athletes were named All-American Scholars by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) and 15 were selected to the Pac-12 Winter Academic Honor Roll.
• Madi Dagen was named the 2023 Pac-12 Women's Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the first Beaver to earn the honor since Madeline Gardiner in 2017.

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Players Mentioned

Natalie Briones

Jade Carey

Francesca Caso

Karlie Chavez

Madi Dagen

Taylor DeVries

Sophia Esposito

Kaitlin Garcia

Sydney Gonzales

Lauren Letzsch

Jennifer McMillan

Savannah Miller

Sage Thompson

Ellie Weaver

Ariana Young