GymBeavs Round Out Regular Season in Boise

Sunday, March 17

Boise, ID

11:00 AM

Oregon State

Boise State

Photo by: Oregon State Athletics

March 14, 2024 | Women's Gymnastics

Watch Live Scoring Meet Notes

Oregon State will face Boise State and Utah State on Sunday.

By: Athletic Communications

MATCHING UP: Sunday's meet will mark the sixth time in program history that Oregon State and Boise State have competed against each other dating back to the first meeting on Feb. 9, 2001; each of those six competitions all took place at home, making this weekend's the first matchup outside of Corvallis. Despite falling the last time they faced the Broncos, the GymBeavs hold a 5-1 record, while Sydney Gonzales competed on the vault and beam and was the only member of the current roster to compete during the last meeting.

Oregon State won the lone head-to-head matchup against Utah State, defeating the Aggies 196.675-194.025 back on Feb. 15, 2014, in Corvallis. The then-ranked No. 13 Beavers used a season-high 49.225 on the vault and to finish with three 49+ rotation scores.

ESPOSITO EVENT TITLES: Sophia Esposito's collegiate career has gotten off to a hot start, with the freshman from Melville, N.Y., appearing in every single meet this season. After primarily competing on the vault, beam and floor early on, Esposito has competed in the all-around for each of the last five competitions and found success.

Entering Sunday's meet, Esposito has accounted for five event titles thanks to three on vault and two on the floor, one of which came against Washington on Friday as she earned a 9.925 for her FX routine. With a 9.90 or higher floor score in four of the last five meets, Esposito has won three Pac-12 Newcomer of the Week awards this season.

CAREER-HIGH KARLIE: Despite entering last week's meet with just three appearances all season, Karlie Chavez proved once again that she can step up and help the Beavers whenever her name gets called. The junior from Clovis, Calif., set a new career-high on floor, given a 9.90 that surpassed the 9.85 she posted against both Arizona State and UCLA. With a perfect hit percentage this season, Chavez is now 14-15 (93.3) in her career and has competed in three-consecutive meets.

QUALITY: Jennifer McMillan has competed in every single one of the Beavers' 10 meets this season, averaging a 9.863 on the bars and 9.806 on beam. Having competed exclusively in these two events, McMillan has really found her groove in recent weeks, averaging a 9.87 each time she steps up to compete. With two 9.925 scores on the bars, McMillan's 9.8 beam score at Arizona marked the only time in her last six events that the Charlotte, N.C., native has earned below a 9.85, and she has hit on all 19 of her routines this season.

BRILLIANT BARS: One of the Beavers' greatest strengths this season has been the performance of the bars lineup, who enters Sunday's meet ranked No. 7 in the latest Road to Nationals poll thanks to a 49.385 average rotation score. In the last meet against UW, the bars were yet again strong, earning a 49.45 rotation score that included three-consecutive 9.9s from McMillan (9.925), Sage Thompson (9.95) and Jade Carey (9.95).

FINISH STRONG: It wasn't just the bars who had a strong week, as the floor lineup tied for the meet-high 49.450 score in the final rotation. Coming off a season-high 49.525 against Arizona State last weekend, each of the five Beaver scores were 9.85 or greater: Esposito (9.925), Chavez (9.90), Ariana Young (9.90), Thompson (9.875) and Kaitlin Garcia (9.85).

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.

NOTES:
•   Seven different Oregon State gymnasts have won event titles this season: Jade Carey, bars (six times), beam (three times), floor (three times), all-around (twice) and vault; Taylor DeVries, bars (twice); Sophia Esposito, vault (three times) and floor (twice); Kaitlin Garcia, floor; Sage Thompson, bars (twice); Ellie Weaver, beam and floor; Ariana Young, beam (twice) 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 (three times); and Sage Thompson, Coaches' Choice.
•   OSU had its streak of consecutive event title victories snapped against the Huskies; stretching across three previous meets, Oregon State gymnasts had won event titles in 13-consecutive rotations.
•   Much like McMillan, Natalie Briones has also enjoyed a run of success in recent meets, posting no lower than a 9.825 in each of the last three weeks; that stretch includes a career-high 9.875 vault and has increased her season average to 9.807 on the vault and 9.83 on bars.
•   Kaitlin Garcia has vaulted in every meet this season but had one of her best against Arizona State two weeks ago, tying a season and career high with a 9.85. Carrying the momentum of a performance, Garcia came within .05 of her career high on the floor against Washington, posting a 9.85.

WINDING DOWN: Sunday's competition in Boise is the final of the 2024 regular season. After defeating Washington on Friday, OSU will officially conclude its third-consecutive 10-win season and 24^th in 27 years under Head Coach Tanya Chaplin. Among the three seasons that didn't finish in double-digit victories is the COVID-impacted year in which things were shut down prior to the Pac-12 Championships; Oregon State held an 8-7 team record at that time.

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 2024 Pac-12 Championships will be held in West Valley 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 was 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.

UP NEXT: The Beavers are back in action next weekend, heading to West Valley City, Utah, to participate in the 2024 Pac-12 Championships.

OUR MISSION: Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent, Authentic, Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).