Two Gymnasts Headed to Nationals
April 9, 1998
A LOOK AHEAD: Oregon State will have two representatives at the 1998 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, set for April 16-18 at UCLA. Junior Megan Murphy (Palo Cedro, CA) will compete as an all-arounder, while senior Deanne Droegemueller (Maple Grove, MN) will compete as an event specialist on bars.
QUALIFYING FOR NATIONALS: The NCAA Championships field consists of 12 teams and 12 all-arounders (who are not on a qualifying team) and event specialists. The team and all-around winner from each of the five regions receive automatic berths and the remaining seven teams and all-arounders qualifying based on rank order of finish (highest score) from all the regionals championships. If the all-around winner from a region is on a team that qualifies, tht spot will revert to an additional at-large berth. Additionally, individuals who place first on an event and score a 9.80 or higher at regionals will be invited to the NCAA Championship if they are not on the qualifying all-arounder or on a qualifying team. A complete list of team and individual qualifiers follows at the end of this release.
HOW THE BEAVERS GOT THERE: After Oregon State scored a 193.250 to finish fifth at the NCAA West Regional on April 4, the Beavers failed to qualify for the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive season. Unlike last year, however, Oregon State was able to qualify two individual gymnasts to represent the Beavers. Deanne Droegemueller placed first on bars at the regional meet with a career high 9.975 to advance as an event specialist. Megan Murphy finished the regional meet with a 38.800 all-around score, which put her in a three-way tie for 11th place among all-arounders from non-qualifying teams across the country. Murphy had the top Regional Qualifying Score of the three gymnasts tied for the last two spots, and as a result she earned the 11th seed.
WHEN THEY COMPETE: Both Oregon State gymnasts will compete in the afternoon session of the preliminary competition on Thursday, April 16. That session will begin at 1:00 p.m. Each all-arounder is matched with the team that has the same seed, which means that Megan Murphy will compete with No. 11 seed Arizona State. Murphy and the Sun Devils will start the competition on beam and then move to floor. They will then have a bye before vault and bars and will finish on a bye as well. There is just one event specialist on each event this year, so each competitor will perform her routine during the third rotation. Deanne Droegemueller will compete on bars with No. 1 seed Georgia and Nebraska all-arounder Heather Brink. Droegemueller will compete after those seven competitors.
ADVANCING TO THE FINALS: The top four individuals (plus ties) on each event from each of the April 16 preliminary sessions will advance to Saturday's individual finals for a chance to become a national champion. Individual event finals will begin at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 18.
A QUICK LOOK AT DEANNE DROEGEMUELLER IN `98: Droegemueller has served as the team captain of this year's squad and has been one of Oregon State's most consistent bar workers this season. She placed first on bars four times this year, and she is averaging a 9.806 on the event. She has scored a career high 9.975 and placed first on the event in her last two meets. At the NCAA West Regionals on April 4, she was OSU's last competitor on bars on the final rotation of the meet, and she scored a 9.975 to earn the victory and the trip to the NCAA Championships. She also scored a 9.975 at the March 21 Pac-10 Championships at UCLA to claim the league title on bars there as well. On March 27 against Stanford, she won bars with a 9.95, which was a career high at that time. She scored a 9.825 or higher in eight meets and scored a 9.750 or better in every meet but one (She missed her dismount and scored a 9.30 at Utah on March 14.). She also competed on beam in every meet for OSU and averaged 9.646, third best on the team. She was named All-Pac-10 on bars this season, and she also was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic second team this year.
A QUICK LOOK AT MEGAN MURPHY IN `98: Megan has been Oregon State's top beam, floor and all-around performer this season and has scored career highs on every event this year. She has won the all-around competition six times this season, beam four times and floor twice. At the NCAA West Regional competition, she placed third on beam with a 9.875, and she was seventh all-around at 38.800. This season, she recorded a career best all-around score of 39.175 twice and also set career-highs of 9.90 on both beam and floor this season. Additionally, she tied her career high on vault with a 9.80 on a 9.80 value vault at the Pac-10 Championships, where she also was third on beam and floor with 9.875 on both events. She was third all-around as well with a career-best 39.175 performance at the conference meet. On bars, she scored a career high 9.75 against Arizona on February 13. She is averaging 9.764 on beam and 9.700 on floor, both team-bests, and as an all-arounder she averages 38.602. Murphy was named Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week on February 3 after winning three events in a meet against Washington. An All-Pac-10 selection on beam and all-around, Murphy also was named a Pac-10 All-Academic second team selection.
CAN THEY REPEAT AS ALL-AMERICANS? Megan Murphy (first team on beam in 1996) and Deanne Droegemueller (first team on beam in 1995) already have one All-America title to their names, and they will be looking to add to that at this year's competition. Sixteen gymnasts on each event will be tabbed All-Americans after Thursday's preliminary competition. The top four gymnasts in each of the two sessions will be named first team All-Americans, while the next four in each session will become second team All-Americans. In case of ties, the number of first and second team All-Americans will be adjusted accordingly.
SHE COULD BE THE FIRST: Deanne Droegemueller will be looking to become OSU's first ever national champion on bars. Oregon State has had five gymnasts combine for seven individual national championships, but all have come on beam and floor. OSU's highest finish on bars at the NCAA meet has been second place, with Heather Bennett scoring a 9.95 in 1996 and Chari Knight scoring a 9.85 in 1991. Six Beavers have combined for eight All-American honors on bars. Droegemueller has scored a 9.975 and placed first in her last two meets to win both the Pac-10 Championship (at UCLA) and NCAA West Regional competition. She is averaging a 9.806 on the event. She is ranked 26th in the nation based on regional qualifying scores, but 15 of the 25 gymnasts ranked ahead of her have lower averages than she does.
MURPHY AMONG THE NATION'S BEST ON BEAM, ALL-AROUND: Megan Murphy could become the seventh Oregon State gymnast to become a two-time All-American on beam. Murphy, who was a first team honoree on beam in 1996, is tied for 15th in the nation on the event this year. However, seven of the gymasts who are either ranked ahead of her or tied with her did not qualify for the NCAA Championships. She is also ranked 16th nationally as an all-arounder. Oregon State has had four gymnasts achieve All-American status as an all-arounder a total of five times.
BEAVERS IN FAMILIAR TERRITORY IN PAULEY: The NCAA Championship will mark the third time this season that Oregon State gymnasts will compete in UCLA's Pauley Pavilion. Most recently, the Beavers were there for the Pac-10 Championship, where they placed second at the March 21 meet. Megan Murphy recorded two career bests and placed third in three events. She scored a career high 39.175 to place third all-around and also placed third on beam and floor with 9.875 marks on both events. Additionally, she tied her career high on vault with a perfect score on a 9.80 vault. Deanne Droegemueller recorded the highest score of the competition when she performed a career high 9.975 on bars to win the event. The Beavers also competed in Pauley Pavilion on February 22 in the Bruin Classic, where OSU finished second. Droegemueller placed second on bars with a 9.825 mark, while Murphy tied for fourth with a 9.80 on beam. Murphy finished with an all-around score of 38.600 to place fifth.
1998 NCAA Championship preliminary competition Rotation Order (Thursday, April 16)
Bye Vault Bars Bye Beam Floor ROT. 1 1/2 9/10 3/4 5/6 11/12 7/8 ROT. 2 7/8 1/2 9/10 3/4 5/6 11/12 ROT. 3* 11/12 7/8 1/2 9/10 3/4 5/6 ROT. 4 5/6 11/12 7/8 1/2 9/10 3/4 ROT. 5 3/4 5/6 11/12 7/8 1/2 9/10 ROT. 6 9/10 3/4 5/6 11/12 7/8 1/2 Numbers denote seed numbers. Odd numbered seeds will compete in the afternoon session at 1:00 p.m.; even numbered seeds will compete in the evening session at 7:30 p.m. *Event specialists will compete in Rotation 3 in the afternoon session.
Qualifying Teams and All-Arounders by seed 1. Georgia (198.575)/Heather Brink, Nebraska (39.475) 2. Florida (197.075)/Lindsay Vagedes, Ohio State (39.000) 3. Alabama (196.550)/Christy Denson, Utah State (39.000) 4. Washington (196.150)/Susan Echman, Ohio State (38.950) 5. Michigan (196.000)/Kara Fry, Arizona (38.925) 6. Utah (195.575)/Diana Loosli, Boise State (38.900) 7. BYU (195.500)/Ashley Burkholder, Kentucky (38.875) 8. LSU (195.250)/Johnna Evans, Boise State (38.825) 9. NC State (195.100)/Tenli Poggemeyer, Arizona (38.825) 10. UCLA (195.100)/Mindi Farmer, Ohio State (38.825) 11. Arizona State (195.025)/Megan Murphy, Oregon State (38.800) 12. Penn State (194.600)/Sandy Menard, Northern Illinois (38.800)
Event Specialists Vault: Larissa Fontaine, Stanford (9.95) Bars: Deanne Droegemueller, Oregon State (9.975) Beam: Mandy Mosby, Massachusetts (9.875) Floor: Jill Fisher, Massachusetts (9.975)
(Numbers in parentheses denote scores from regional competition)
