Beaver Gymnastics Returns to Gill Coliseum

vs. UCLA: The 18th-ranked Beaver gymnastics program returns to Gill Coliseum to compete against the No. 8 UCLA Bruins at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 9.

This is just the second home meet of the season for the Beavers and their first since January 21 when they defeated Brown 197.575-192.950 at Gill. The 197.575 is Oregon State's best score of the season and the sixth-best team score in program history.

The Bruins are coming off a win over Arizona when they scored a season-high 198.075 that included their best scores of the year on the uneven bars (49.425), balance beam (49.525) and floor (49.750). UCLA is led by second-year head coach Janelle McDonald.

Oregon State and UCLA battled to a 197.275 deadlock on January 29 last season at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. Jade Carey took home the all-around title with a 39.775 across the four events

TELEVISION: The meet against UCLA will be televised nationally on Pac-12 Networks.

LIVE SCORING: Fans can follow live scoring at this link.

STARTING STRONG: Oregon State has used a mix of veterans and newcomers to get off to a strong start this season. Some team and individual highlights from the first few meets of the season include:
• Six different Oregon State gymnasts have won event titles this season -- Jade Carey, bars (three times); Taylor DeVries, bars; Sophia Esposito, vault (twice); 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; and Sage Thompson, Coaches' Choice.
• Carley Beeman was a last-minute addition to the Beavers' bars lineup against Brown and she responded with a career best-tying 9.850 in the leadoff position to finish in a tie for third.
• Natalie Briones has competed in three events in four of the five meets, and has career highs on the vault (9.850), bars (9.900) and floor (9.850) this season.
• True freshman Olivia Buckner posted a career-best 9.950 against Utah, shattering the 9.775 she scored at the Rutgers January Quad, and has career bests of 9.800 the last two weeks against California and Utah.
• Jade Carey has won the bars title three times this season, with two 9.975 scores, and now has 97 titles in her Oregon State career, the second most in program history (Chari Knight holds the record with 116). She competed on the vault for the first time this season against Brown and posted a 9.875 to finish in a tie for second.
• True freshman Taylor DeVries won her first career event title (shared with Carey) with a 9.875 on the bars against Brown.
• True freshman Sophia Esposito has won two event titles this season, both on vault, and set career bests against Brown on the vault (9.900), beam (9.900) and floor (9.875). She has competed in 15 events this season, the most on the team.
• Kaitlin Garcia and Ellie Weaver shared the individual title on the floor with a 9.875 at the Super 16 Championships. Weaver won the beam title with a career-best 9.975 against Brown. Garcia posted a career-best 9.900 on the floor against California.
• Sydney Gonzales had a great meet at Utah with season highs 9.875 on the vault and floor, and another 9.875 on the beam.
• Jennifer McMillan posted a career-best 9.950 on the bars to finish in a tie for second at the Super 16 and had a best career score of 9.875 on the beam Utah.
• Sage Thompson tied her best career scores on the vault and floor with a 9.850 at the Rutgers January Quad but missed the meet against Brown with a minor injury.
• Ariana Young won the event title at the Rutgers January Quad with a 9.875 on the beam and the event title against Brown with a career-best 9.925 on floor. She had a team-best 9.900 on the floor at Utah to finish in a tie for third.

HOME SWEET HOME: Oregon State has four of its last six regular season Pac-12 meets at Gill Coliseum -- UCLA at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 9 (Pac-12 Oregon); Stanford at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 17 (Oregon State Live Stream); 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, February 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.

PRESEASON RANKINGS: Oregon State was ranked 13th heading into the 2024 season, as voted on by the members of the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA). All eight Pac-12 gymnastics teams were ranked among the Top 22 in the nation in the preseason poll. 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.

PAC-12 PRESEASON WATCH LISTS: Jade Carey was named to the Pac-12 Preseason Watch List and Sophia Esposito was selected to the Pac-12 Preseason Newcomer Watch List. The lists include 11 returning Pac-12 standouts and five newcomers as nominated by the league's eight women's gymnastics programs.

Carey has been named the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year each of the past two seasons and earned at least one Perfect 10 on all four events, becoming just the 13th NCAA Gymnast all-time to complete the Gym Slam.

Esposito, a freshman from Melville, N.Y., won Development Program National Titles in the all-around and the beam to go with her five-straight regional championships on the floor and three consecutive regional titles on vault this past year.

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.

A LOOK BACK AT 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.
• Nineteen 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.

TWO NEW GYMBEAVS COMING TO CORVALLIS: Two student-athletes have signed National Letters of Intent to join the program beginning with the 2024-25 season. Guilianna Fiorillo (fee-oh-rillo) attends Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California and competes with the Airborne Gymnastics Club. Sophia Kaloudis (kuh-loo-dus) attends Huntington High School in New York and has competed for the Apex Athletics Gymnastics Club.

UP NEXT: OSU will face Stanford at Gill Coliseum next weekend, with the event set to begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Carley Beeman

Natalie Briones

Olivia Buckner

Jade Carey

Francesca Caso

Madi Dagen

Taylor DeVries

Sophia Esposito

Kaitlin Garcia

Sydney Gonzales

Jennifer McMillan

Savannah Miller

Sage Thompson

Ellie Weaver

Ariana Young