OSU Gymnastics to Compete in 49th -Consecutive NCAA Regional

MATCHING UP: OSU is set to compete on Thursday against No. 2 LSU, No. 15 Minnesota and the winner of a Boise State and BYU play-in.

No. 2 LSU enters this week's competition with a 198.215 NQS and a top-three ranking in all events, which includes the No. 1 ranked floor lineup in the nation. With a program record 198.075 in last meet, the Tigers won the 2024 SEC Championship and enter Thursday's competition with multiple athletes posting an NQS of 9.9 or higher in their respective events.

The No. 15 Minnesota Golden Gophers finished second in the Big Ten Championships, posting a 197.500. With a 19th-ranked vault squad and 21st-ranked bars lineup, UM's strength is the beam (No. 8) and floor (No. 11). Sarah Moraw won the B1G title on beam while Mya Hooten won on floor, bars and vault as that 197.500 was within one-tenth of a point of the championship-winning score of 197.600.

Boise State is sitting just out the top-25 with a 196.715 NQS that ranks 29th in the nation, while coming off a 196.550 performance that won the inaugural Mountain West Championship over Utah State, San Jose State and Air Force. BYU, on the other hand, sits at No. 32 after finishing third at the Big 12 Championship and posting a 197.050 – a season-high score for the team.

HISTORIC: OSU's run of success is best exemplified by the program's track record of making it to NCAA regional competitions. By making it to Arkansas, Oregon State has officially participated in an NCAA postseason event for 49-consecutive seasons which, not counting the 2020 COVID-impacted season which was canceled just before the Pac-12 Championship, includes each of the 27 season under Head Coach Tanya Chaplin.

The Beavers won regionals in 2008 and 2011 and finished in fourth place last season in Denver, while making it to nationals as a team 13 times during the Chaplin era.

HOT START: Oregon State gymnastics came out of the gate flying during the Pac-12 Championships. Despite it being just the second time all year that OSU started on FX, the Beaver floor lineup posted a season-high 49.550 rotation score.

Kaitlin Garcia and Savannah Miller led things off with back-to-back 9.900s before Ariana Young then posted her fourth-straight 9.850 or higher. Sage Thompson (9.875) and Sophia Esposito (9.875) then set the stage for Jade Carey, who posted her first perfect 10 of the season to seal the strong rotation; thanks to the quality FX rotation, OSU's 49.550 finished as the third-highest rotation score for any of the eight teams to compete in the Pac-12 Championships.

CAREER HIGHS: Garcia and Miller's strong floor routines not only set the tone for OSU, they also tied career-best scores in the event for each of the two gymnasts. Miller has now posted seven 9.900 or higher floor routines in her career, having last done it at the 2023 NCAA Denver Regional Finals on April 2, 2023, while Garcia's 9.900 was her second in as many weeks and fourth of the 2024 season.

SETTING THE TONE: Natalie Briones has been a figure early in the Oregon State lineups this season, as the Gilbert, Ariz., native has led off the vault in every single meet while competing second in the bars lineup in all but one competition. A junior, Briones' 2024 season has been one marked by consistent performances, as she enters the regional with a perfect hit percentage thanks to 29 hits in 29 total performances between the vault, beam and floor. In those 29 hits, Briones has posted 24 scores of 9.800 or higher, which includes a pair of season-high 9.900s on the bars (Jan. 6, March 17).

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: True freshman Olivia Buckner has competed in every single meet this season, competing across the bars and vault. With three 9.900 or higher scores, two of Buckner's best came near home, as the Riverton, Utah, native finished with a 9.950 while competing on the road against Utah on Feb. 2 before building some late-season momentum with a 9.900 in the Pac-12 Championships last weekend, which took place in West Valley City, Utah.

CONSISTENT CONTRIBUTOR: Sophomore Jennifer McMillan has found her groove and sustained a high level of success for the past several meets, finishing with 9.925 bar scores and a 9.800 or better on the beam in five of the last six competitions. Just before that stretch, the Charlotte, N.C., native set a new career-high on beam with a 9.900 against Stanford on Feb. 17. Entering the Arkansas Regional 23-23 on hits this season, McMillan's 9.915 bars NQS is tied for 28th among 534 gymnasts nationally.

ALL PAC-12: The Pac-12 announced its 2024 All-Conference honorees last week, an announcement that had Sophia Esposito crowned Freshman of the Year. A three-time conference Newcomer of the Week selection, Esposito's strong freshman campaign saw the Melville, N.Y., native compete in three or more events in each of the team's 12 meets, which included seven all-around performances. She hit in 39 of her 42 events this season, good for an average of 92.9%, while posting a 9.850 or higher score 26 times, setting her season-high for any event with a 9.950 FX score against UCLA on Feb. 9.

With a team-leading 9.895 vault NQS that is tied for seventh in the conference, Esposito was also an All Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection that event. She vaulted in every single meet and hit all 12, finishing with a score below 9.825 just once while finishing with 9.900 four different times: at Rutgers (Jan. 13), versus Brown (Jan. 21), versus UCLA (Feb. 9) and again at the Pac-12 Championships (March 23).

A two-time Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year, Jade Carey was named First Team All Pac-12 on the bars and an Honorable Mention selection on beam. Entering postseason competition, Carey's 9.960 bars NQS is tied for first in the Pac-12 and fourth place among 534 qualified gymnasts in the nation while her beam NQS, 9.930, is tied for eighth in the conference.

The Phoenix, Ariz., native extended her career hits streak this season, as she's a perfect 141-141 at Oregon State while finishing with a 9.900 or higher in 18 of her 24 combined appearances on the bars and beam in 2024, which featured four total 9.975 scores. 12 of her 20 event titles this season came on either event as she finished seven meets with a 9.900 or higher in both; Carey was the Pac-12 Uneven Bar and Floor Champion after posting a perfect 10 on FX and 9.950 on UB in West Valley City, Utah, last weekend; she's the first Beaver to win a Pac-12 bars championship since 2017.

Sage Thompson, an All Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection on the bars, made an immediate impact in the Beaver lineup during her first season at Oregon State, ending the regular season with a 9.925 NQS that is tied for 22nd in the nation and eighth in the Pac-12. Having hit in every single one of her 11 bars routines this season, she finished with a 9.900 or higher in eight different meets and never had a score lower than 9.800.

Originally from Lehi, Utah, Thompson was named Pac-12 Coaches' Choice of the Week on Jan. 16 and won two bars event titles thanks to a pair of season-high 9.950s against UCLA (Feb. 9) and Washington (March 8).

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 (eight times), beam (four times), floor (four times), all-around (twice) and vault; Taylor DeVries, bars (twice); Sophia Esposito, vault (three times) and floor (three times); Kaitlin Garcia, floor (twice); 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.
•   Oregon State's bars lineup has exceled in recent weeks, fueled by the back-end trio of McMillan, Thompson and Carey. In each of OSU's last three meets, each member of the aforementioned trio has finished with a 9.900 or higher.
•   Carey's 10 was the first of her 2024 season but not the first of her career, and became the 13th gymnast to complete the gym slam in 2023 after posting perfect scores on vault (Feb. 18, 2023), bars (Feb. 24, 2023), beam (March 4, 2023) and floor (Feb. 24, 2023). The's not the only Beaver to earn a perfect score in their career, as Sage Thompson earned a 10 for a bars routine on March 4, 2022.

UP NEXT: Should the Beavers finish with one of the top two scores in Thursday's competition and again finish top two on Saturday, OSU would head to the 2024 NCAA Gymnastics Championship, slated for April 18 & 20 at Dickies Arena in Forth Worth, Texas.

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

OSU Gymnastics to Compete in 49th -Consecutive NCAA Regional

Players Mentioned

Natalie Briones

Olivia Buckner

Jade Carey

Taylor DeVries

Sophia Esposito

Kaitlin Garcia

Sydney Gonzales

Lauren Letzsch

Jennifer McMillan

Savannah Miller

Sage Thompson

Ellie Weaver

Ariana Young

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