Gymnasts Host Annual Shanico Inn-vitational On Friday
March 1, 2000
THIS WEEK: The No. 24 Oregon State gymnastics team (7-5) hosts the annual Shanico Inn-vitational at 7 p.m., Friday, March 3 at Gill Coliseum. The meet will feature three of the top 25 teams in the nation, with No. 5 Nebraska and No. 10 BYU also competing. Division II powerhouse Seattle Pacific rounds out the four-team meet.
TICKETS: Reserved seats tickets for the Shanico Inn-vitational are available for 10 dollars. General admission prices are six dollars for adults and four dollars for senior citizens and youth (HS and under). OSU students are admitted free with a sports pass or for one dollar without a sports pass.
BEAVERS BACK IN TOP 25 AS RANKINGS SWITCH TO RQS: OSU is back in the national rankings at No. 24 this week as rankings are based on regional qualifying scores for the first time this year. The RQS is based on a team's top three road scores and top three other scores (home or away), of those six scores, the highest is dropped and the remaining five are averaged to calculate the RQS. Until this week, rankings were based on season average, which meant OSU had to count scores of 191.100 and 191.500 from the first two weeks of the season, those scores are eliminated under the RQS format. OSU was 12th in the preseason poll but was ranked only once during the seven weeks that rankings were based on averages.
OREGON STATE VS. THE SHANICO FIELD: OSU is 16-3 all-time against BYU, 21-3 against Seattle Pacific and 4-5 against Nebraska. OSU and BYU met in Provo, Utah, earlier this year, with the Beavers posting a narrow 191.500-191.375 victory in that meet. Stephanie Bychowski won bars and tied for first on beam with teammate Tiffani White, while BYU took top honors on vault and floor. OSU, Nebraska and BYU met in a tri-meet at Nebraska last season in a meet that took nearly four hours because a snow emergency in most of the state meant only two judges could get to the competition, meaning only one event could be held at any given time. Nebraska won the meet with a 196.075, while OSU was second at 194.575. BYU was third at 193.400. OSU last met Seattle Pacific at last year's Shanico Inn-vitational, when the Falcons scored a 184.300 to finish fourth.
SHANICO TO FEATURE SEVERAL OF NATION'S TOP GYMNASTS: The 2000 Shanico Inn-vitational will feature six gymnasts who are ranked among the nation's top 25 gymnasts on at least one event. Nebraska's Heather Brink ranks second in the nation as an all-arounder and is third on vault, tied for 14th on floor and tied for 16th on bars. BYU's Kelly Parkinson is 17th as an all-arounder and 18th on vault. OSU's Lara Degenhardt is 24th on vault, Nebraska's Nicole Wilkinson is ninth on beam and teammate AJ Lamb is tied for 14th on beam. NU's Amy Ringo is 22nd in the all-around.
RECAPPING THE 1999 SHANICO INN-VITATIONAL: OSU won last year's Shanico Inn-vitational, scoring a 194.625 to finish ahead of Michigan State, Southeast Missouri State and Seattle Pacific. OSU won every individual event, including first-place finishes by two current Beavers. Lara Degenhardt was first with a 9.85, while Corrie Young scored a 9.775 to place first on beam.
LAST WEEK'S COMPETITION: OSU suffered a narrow loss to No. 8 Stanford at Gill Coliseum as the Cardinal came away with a 195.100-194.800 victory over the Beavers. OSU led through the first three rotations, but a sub-par performance on floor cost the Beavers the meet. OSU, which was averaging a 48.80 on the event prior to that meet, ended up with two falls and had three gymnasts combine for .400 in out-of-bounds deductions to finish with a 48.475 on the event -- OSU's lowest floor score since the third week of the year. Despite the team loss, the Beavers got two individual victories. Stephanie Bychowski tied her career-high on bars with a 9.925 to win that event, while Annie Campbell scored a 9.90 to win floor.
DEGENHARDT MOVES INTO NATIONAL RANKINGS ON VAULT: Lara Degenhardt is ranked 24th in the nation with an RQS of 9.820 and a team-best average of 9.803 on the event. She has scored a 9.825 or better at the last four meets, highlighted by a season-best 9.95 three weeks ago. Degenhardt has placed first on vault three times this season, giving her 17 total vault titles in 32 collegiate meets. She's also won floor at one meet this season and has scored a 9.80 or better at five meets, with a season-best of 9.90 twice. She is averaging 9.534 for the year, although that does include falls at two meets. Degenhardt has also competed on bars at the last three meets, with a season-best 9.725 coming at last week's meet. She was the Pac-10 floor champion last year, scoring a perfect 10.0 at the conference meet. She qualified for the NCAA Championships as an event specialist on floor last year as well. Her career-high of 9.975 on vault came against Utah last season, and she has been named to the All-Pac-10 Team as a vaulter two years in a row.
CAMPBELL IMPRESSIVE ON FLOOR: Annie Campbell has been outstanding on floor all season, scoring a 9.80 or better at every meet but two. She's averaging 9.769 on the event and has scored a 9.90 three times. She's won or tied for first on floor four times this season, including last week against Stanford. She also set a new personal best on beam at the Stanford meet, when she scored 9.85 on the event. Her top score on vault is 9.90, and her best bars mark is 9.775. She has scored 39.00 or better as an all-arounder at three meets, with a top score of 39.150.
RICIOLI BACK ON THREE EVENTS: Tanya Ricioli sprained the ulnar collateral ligament in her right thumb three weeks ago and will be limited to no more than three events for the rest of the season. She has competed on vault at all three meets since the injury and competed on floor twice. At last week's meet against Stanford she returned to the beam lineup, but she will be unable to do bars for the rest of the year. Ricioli has the team's second best average on vault at 9.741, with a season-high of 9.85. She is averaging 9.754 on floor and has scored 9.825 or better on that event at five meets. Her top score on beam is 9.775, and her best bars score was a 9.825. She was averaging 38. 640 as an all-arounder, with a season-best of 39.200. Prior to the injury, Ricioli had won eight individual titles in five meets, was named Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week on Jan. 25 and was selected as OSU's Female Athlete of the Month for January.
BYCHOWSKI ONE OF BEST ON BARS, BEAM: Junior Stephanie Bychowski continues to lead the Beavers on bars and beam this season. She is averaging a team-best 9.734 on bars after recording a career-high 9.925 to place first against Stanford last week. She's averaged 9.875 on the event at OSU's last four meets. She has won the event three times this season. Bychowski has also competed on beam in all eight meets this year, and her average of 9.631 is second best on the squad. She had her second best score of the year with a 9.825 last week, and she had a career-high 9.85 in the season opener. She's scored a 9.75 or better four times this year and has won the event twice. Bychowski was an All-Pac-10 pick on bars last year.
LOPEZ PUTTING UP SOLID NUMBERS: Sophomore Jerra Lopez has been a solid contributor for OSU on bars and floor at the last five meets. She scored 9.875 on both events against Stanford last week, and both marks were good for second place. Her score on bars tied her career-best. Lopez is averaging a team-best 9.820 on floor. Her bars average of 9.683 is second best on the team, and she's averaged 9.83 on the event at the last five meets. Lopez, who competed as an all-arounder in three meets as a freshman, has made the vault lineup four times this year, with a season-best 9.70 at last week's meet with Stanford. She has yet to compete on beam this year. She was voted the team's Rookie of the Year last season.
SEVERIN ONE OF OSU'S MOST CONSISTENT GYMNASTS: Katrina Severin is the only Beaver gymnast to average 9.70 or better on three different events this season. She currently holds the team's best average on beam (9.70), is third on vault (9.738) and third on floor (9.763). She has hit every routine but one this season, when she recorded a rare miss on vault to score a 9.20 last week. Prior to that score, she was averaging a team-best 9.845 on vault and scored no lower than 9.80 on that event, highlighted by a career-best 9.90 three weeks ago. Severin's top floor score this year is a 9.85, and her top score on beam is a 9.825.
JILLSON TURNS IN SEASON-HIGH: Freshman Elizabeth Jillson scored a career-best 9.85 on bars to place third against Stanford last week. Her previous best was a 9.725. Jillson is averaging a 9.388 on the event, but has continued to score higher as she has been able to perform a more difficult dismount in competition. She entered OSU while still rehabbing from ACL surgery and was unable to add the dismount into her routine until recently. As her knee got stronger, she began to perform the more difficult dismount, which added .200 to her start value.
HEAD COACH TANYA CHAPLIN: Tanya Chaplin is in her third season as head coach of the OSU gymnastics program. Her career record is 25-14 for the regular season and 40-22 including postseason competition. In 1999, Chaplin was named Pacific-10 Coach of the Year after the Beavers posted a 16-8 record in 1999 and finished second at the Pac-10 Championships, where OSU set a school record with a 197.400 score. She was an assistant coach at Washington for seven years before moving to OSU. Formerly Tanya Service, she was a six-time All-American and held six school records while competing for UCLA from 1986-89.
PACIFIC-10 CHAMPIONSHIPS TO BE TELEVISED: FOX Sports Net will televise the Pac-10 Championship meet on a delayed basis. The competition will be held at 5 p.m. PST on March 18 at Arizona State, with the replay airing at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 25.
REGIONAL TICKETS ON SALE: Tickets for the NCAA Region 1 competition are available at 15 dollars for reserved and 8 dollars for general admission. The meet is scheduled for 6 p.m., Saturday, April 1 at Gill Coliseum. The ticket office phone number is 1-800-GO-BEAVS.
