Gymnastics Completes First Season of Tanya Chaplin Era
May 14, 1998
CORVALLIS, Ore. - A QUICK RECAP: Oregon State finished its first season with head coach Tanya Chaplin. The Beavers completed a strong regular season, posting an 11-4 mark, and followed that up with a second place showing at the Pac-10 Championship. Oregon State struggled to a fith place finish at the NCAA West Regional and failed to advance to the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive year, but Deanne Droegemueller and Megan Murphy represented the Beavers as individual qualifiers.
HEAD COACH TANYA CHAPLIN: Tanya Chaplin completed her first year as head coach of the Oregon State gymnastics program after serving as an assistant at Washington for the previous seven seasons. Her collegiate record stands at 11-4 (regular season) after her first year at the helm of the OSU program. Formerly Tanya Service, she was a six-time All-American and held six school records while competing for UCLA from 1986-89.
OREGON STATE AT NATIONALS: Oregon State did not qualify for the NCAA Championship as a team, but two Beavers still represented the program at the national meet. Senior Deanne Droegemueller placed first on bars at the NCAA West Regional with a career best score of 9.975 to qualify for nationals as an event specialist. Junior Megan Murphy scored a 38.900 at the regional meet to qualify as an individual all-arounder. At the NCAA Championship, Droegemueller scored a 9.90 on her bar routine, earning first team All-America honors. It was her first such honor on bars, and her second career All-American title. Murphys best performance came on beam, when she scored a 9.80. She came away with a 9.725 score on bars, 9.575 on vault and 9.225 on floor to finish with an all-around score of 38.325.
BEAVERS SECOND AT PAC-10 CHAMPIONSHIP: Oregon States 194.950 score placed second only to Stanfords 195.275 at the 1998 Pacific-10 Championship. It was the first time OSU or UCLA did not finish in the top spot. Leading the way for OSU was senior Deanne Droegemueller, who scored a career high 9.975 on bars to become the third Beaver -- and the first since Chari Knight in 1994 -- to be crowned Pac-10 Champion on bars. Freshman Lara Degenhardt tied her career high with 9.90 vault to place second, while junior Megan Murphy tied her career best all-around score with a third-place 39.175. She also was third on beam and floor with scores of 9.875 on both events.
OREGON STATE HEADLINES CONFERENCE HONORS: Four OSU gymnasts combined for five All-Pac-10 honors, more than any other team. Junior Megan Murphy was named All-Conference on both beam and all-around, while seniors Deanne Droegemueller and Amy Slack received recognition on bars. Freshman Lara Degenhardt was All-Pac-10 on vault. Additionally, both Murphy and Droegemueller were named second team Pac-10 All-Academic , while juniors Bea Tistu and Danae Phillips and sophomore Corrie Young were honorable mention academic selections.
SEVERAL BEAVERS RANKED NATIONALLY: Oregon State was ranked nationally both as a team and individually on several events throughout the season. The Beavers finished the season ranked No. 15th in the final Top 25 poll, and OSU was ranked 11th on both beam (48.737 RQS) and bars (48.919 RQS). OSU was also 18th on vault (48.562 RQS) and 22nd on floor (48.712 RQS). Junior All-American Megan Murphy led OSU in the individual rankings as the only Beaver to be ranked on two events. She was 16th all-around (39.031 RQS) and tied for 15th on beam (9.862). Freshman Lara Degenhardts 9.869 RQS on vault tied her for 10th nationally, and senior Deanne Droegemueller finished tied for 25th with a 9.875 RQS on bars. The Regional Qualifying Score is based on the top two home scores, the top two road scores and the next two best scores (home or away). The highest and lowest of those six are dropped and the remaining four scores are averaged to obtain the RQS. The final rankings were tabulated prior to the NCAA Regional and National Championship meets.
FOUR ALL-AMERICANS ON 1998 ROSTER: The 1998 OSU gymnastics team featured four All-Americans -- seniors Deanne Droegemueller (Bars, 1998; Beam, 1995), Amy Slack (Beam, 1996) and Amanda Turko (Vault, 1994; Beam, 1995; Floor, 1996) and junior Megan Murphy (Beam, 1996). Murphy, Slack and Droegemueller combined for 21 first-place finishes this season. Turko, who missed all but the first two meets of the 1997 season due to a right anterior cruciate ligament tear, has returned to the lineup and competed in the last five meets but has not won an event.
A LOOK AT THE GYMNASTS IN 1998...
MARISSA BRUCH: The freshman competed in nine meets this season, primarily as a vaulter. She also has made the beam and floor lineup in the last few weeks of the year after injuries forced the Beavers to adjust their lineup. She scored a career-high 9.550 on floor at the Pac-10 championships, and in OSUs meet at BYU she scored career highs of 9.65 on beam and 9.50 on vault.
STEPHANIE BYCHOWSKI: Bychowski, a freshman, is a bars specialist for the Beavers. In OSUs first meet of the season, she placed first with a career-high 9.85 at California, and she has scored a 9.80 in three other meets as well. She tied for 10th with a 9.825 at the NCAA West Regional meet, and she placed 11th with a 9.80 at the Pac-10 Championships.
LARA DEGENHARDT: Degenhardt, also a freshman, placed first on vault seven times in 12 meets, with her final victory coming from a 9.85 vault at Utah on March 14. With those seventh victories, Degenhardt became the first Beaver to win the event seven times in one season since All-American Tina Barnes won eight times in 1987 and 10 times in 1985. Degenhardt averaged a 9.813 on vault, ranked 10th nationally and twiced scored a perfect 9.90 on her vault. Of her five non-first-place finishes, three were second-place vaults (at the Pac-10s, at BYU and at OSUs Shanico Inn-vitational); the only time she did not place first or second was at the Feb. 22 UCLA Bruin Classic when she took fourth and at the NCAA West Regional meet when she tied for twelfth. Degenhardt also competed on floor and averaged a 9.535. She scored a career-high 9.925 on floor against Stanford and scored a 9.80 or higher six times. She tied for eighth on floor with a 9.875 at Pac-10s.
DEANNE DROEGEMUELLER: The senior captain and All-American was one of Oregon States most consistent bar workers this season. She placed eighth with a 9.90 on the event at the NCAA Championships to become a first team All-American. It was her first such honor on bars, and the second overall after earning All-American status on beam in 1995. She averaging a 9.813 on bars and scored a 9.750 or bettter in every meet but one. Against Stanford, she scored 9.95 for a then-career high, until bettering that mark when she won bars at Pac-10s with a new career best of 9.975. She followed that Pac-10 title up with a 9.975 routine to the win the NCAA West Regional competition and advance to the NCAA Championship as an event specialist. She also placed first on bars two other times this season. Droegmueller also competed on beam for the Beavers and averaged 9.646 on the event. She scored a career-high 9.90 to place first at the Shanico Inn-vitational, and she also won the event against Arizona. Droegmueller also was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic second team this season, and she was All-Pac-10 on bars as well.
LEAH McKERNAN: McKernan, a former walk-on, has competed as an exhibition performer on beam and floor for most of the season. The senior made the lineup on both events at BYU and on floor at Utah, and she just missed a career high on floor at BYU when she scored a 9.65, .025 under her best mark.
MEGAN MURPHY: Murphy, a junior All-American, was Oregon States top beam, floor and all-around performer this season and scored career highs on every event this year. Murphy advanced to the NCAA Championship as an all-arounder after scoring a 38.900 at the NCAA West Regional meet. She scored a 9.80 on beam at the NCAA meet to place 20th overall in the preliminary competition and finished 31st as an all-arounder. She won the all-around competition six times this season, beam four times and floor twice. 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. She averaged 9.767 on beam and 9.660 on floor, both team-bests. She competed as an all-arounder in (Murphy, cont.) every meet except at BYU. In her other two events, Murphy scored a perfect 9.80 on a 9.80 vault at Pac-10s to tie her career high, and her 9.75 on bars against Arizona set a new personal best for her as well. Murphy was named Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week on February 3 after winning three events in a meet against Washington. Murphy also was named a Pac-10 All-Academic second team selection.
DANAE PHILLIPS: Phillips, a junior, missed the last six meets of the season after she sprained her right ulnar collateral ligament while warming up for the Stanford meet on February 27. Prior to that injury, she had been OSUs number two vaulter, averaging a 9.667. Her 9.758 average on bars was third best on the team. Just two meets prior to her injury, she placed first against Arizona when she scored a career high 9.875 on bars.
AMY SLACK: A senior All-American, Slack is one of Oregon States top bar performers. She averaged a 9.817, the best average on the team for any event. At the NCAA West Regional, she placed second and tied her career high with a score of 9.95 on the event. She scored no lower than a 9.650 on bars this season and scored a 9.80 or higher in eight of 12 meets. She placed first three times and also won the all-around once. She competed all-around nine times but saw limited action in three meets at the end of the season as a result of an ankle injury. She averaged a 9.635 on beam, a 9.605 on vault and a 9.386 on floor. She also averaged 38.472 as an all-arounder.
ANNETTE TAYLOR: Taylor was the freshman with the most action this season. She competed on bars, beam and floor in every meet this season and was an all-around three times. Her top score of the year came on beam when she scored a 9.775 at Utah. She scored a 9.75 on floor twice and a 9.725 on bars three times, including at the NCAA West Regional. Her top vault score was 9.425 at the Shanico Inn-vitational in her first all-around performance.
BEA TISTU: The junior competed on beam in every meet this season and floor in every meet but one. She also made the vault lineup twice and bars once. She placed first on beam in two different meets against BYU and tied her career high with a 9.875 at the Shanico Inn-vitational. Her 9.675 average on beam is the teams second best mark on that event. She is averaging a 9.261 on floor, with her best mark coming against Arizona when she scored a 9.650. At the Pac-10 Championships, Tistu vaulted for the first time in her collegiate career and came away with a 9.65 mark.
AMANDA TURKO: A senior All-American, Turko saw limited action this season after coming back from an anterior cruciate ligament tear that kept her out of competition for all but two meets in 1997 and much of this year. She competed exhibition bar routines in four meets before making the official lineup in the last five meets of the season. She vaulted in six meets, with her best performance coming at the Pac-10 Championship with a 9.625 vault. She scored a season best 9.75 on bars at Utah.
CORRIE YOUNG: Young, the only sophomore on the team, competed on vault, beam and floor in every meet for the Beavers this season. She tied her career best on floor with a 9.80 performance at the Pac-10 Championship, and earlier in the year she scored a 9.850 on beam to tie her career best on that event as well. Her 9.583 average on floor is the teams second best, and she became OSUs number two vaulter after Danae Phillips went down with an injury. Youngs 9.644 average on vault is third on the team, behind Phillips and Lara Degenhardt. She averaged a 9.575 on beam.
