Gymnastics Team To Host Regionals Saturday
March 29, 2000
THIS WEEK: The No. 20 Oregon State gymnastics team (15-7) will attempt to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The Beavers will host the NCAA Region 1 competition at 6 p.m., Saturday, April 1 at Gill Coliseum. Joining the Beavers at the regional meet are No. 2 UCLA, No. 10 Oklahoma, No. 15 Stanford, No. 18 Washington and Boise State. There are also individual qualifiers from Cal State Fullerton, California and Sacramento State competing. The top two teams will advance to the NCAA Championships, set for April 13-15 at Boise State.
TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets for the NCAA Region 1 meet can be purchased at the OSU Ticket Office in Gill Coliseum or by calling 1-800-GO-BEAVS. Reserved seat tickets are available for 15 dollars, while general admission seats are eight dollars. OSU students can purchase a general admission ticket for three dollars with a valid student ID.
BEAVERS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: OSU moved up to 20th in the latest national rankings after recording a 196.575 at the Pac-10 Championships on March 18. The Beavers have a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 195.205, and teams are ranked by their RQS. 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. OSU is also ranked 15th as a team on floor exercise, 13th on vault, 20th on beam and 23rd on bars. Individually, Katrina Severin is 19th in the nation on vault with an RQS of 9.880.
ROTATION ORDER: Team rotation orders were determined by a random draw, and OSU will begin the competition on vault and finish on floor. The rotation order for the meet is as follows:
Rot. Vault Bye Bars Beam Bye Floor I OSU STAN WASH OKLA UCLA BSU II BSU OSU STAN WASH OKLA UCLA III UCLA BSU OSU STAN WASH OKLA IV OKLA UCLA BSU OSU STAN WASH V WASH OKLA UCLA BSU OSU STAN VI STAN WASH OKLA UCLA BSU OSU
LAST TIME OUT: The Beavers picked up their second best score of the year and best road score with a 196.575 to place second at the Pac-10 Championships on March 18 at Arizona State. OSU scored 49+ on all four events, with season-highs on bars (49.200) and beam (49.125). Two Beavers came away with second-place showings. Stephanie Bychowski placed second on bars after tying her career-best of 9.925, and Annie Campbell tied her career-high of 9.90 on the balance beam to place second on that event. OSU also got a fifth-place vault out of Katrina Severin (9.90), fifth-place beam routines out of Annette Taylor and Bychowski (9.85) and a sixth-place bar routine out of Elizabeth Jillson (9.90).
DEGENHARDT LOOKING FOR SECOND REGIONAL TITLE: Lara Degenhardt enters Saturday's NCAA Region I meet as the defending champion on floor after scoring a 9.925 at last year's regional meet to advance to the NCAA Championship as an event specialist. Degenhardt has scored a 9.90 on floor three times and a 9.80 or better seven times this year. Degenhardt is also one of OSU's top vaulters, with a team-best average of 9.823 on the event. She has scored a 9.80 or better seven times this year, highlighted by a career-high 9.975 on March 3. Degenhardt has placed first on vault four times this season, giving her 18 vault titles in 35 collegiate meets. Degenhardt has also competed on bars at the last six meets, with a season-best 9.725. Degenhardt scored a perfect 10.0 on floor at the 1999 conference meet. She was named to the All-Pac-10 Team as a vaulter two years in a row (1998-99) and was All-Pac-10 on floor last year as well.
CAMPBELL HAVING OUTSTANDING ROOKIE SEASON: Annie Campbell has been outstanding as a rookie all-arounder this season. She's scored 39.0 or better five times this year, highlighted by a 39.375 against Utah on March 12. She has posted career-highs of 9.95 on floor, 9.90 on vault and beam, and 9.80 on bars. Campbell is averaging 9.802 on floor and has scored 9.80 or better in nine meets, including scores of 9.85+ at the last six competitions. She's also scored 9.85 or better on beam at the last four meets. She has won floor five times this season and has two victories on beam.
BYCHOWSKI SHINES ON BARS, BEAM FOR BEAVS: Stephanie Bychowski continues to lead the Beavers on bars and beam this season. She's averaging 9.777 on bars and 9.691 on beam, and both marks are team-bests. At the Pac-10 Championships two weeks ago, she tied her career-high on bars with a 9.925 to place second and she added a fifth-place 9.85 on beam as well. She's scored 9.80 or better on beam six times this year, highlighted by a career-high 9.875 on March 12. She's scored 9.80 or better on bars eight times, with three marks of 9.90 or better. Bychowski has won bars three times this season, and she has two beam titles as well. Bychowski was an All-Pac-10 pick on bars last year.
JILLSON CONTINUES TO GET STRONGER: Elizabeth Jillson has scored 9.925 and 9.90 on bars at OSU's last two meets to become a major force on that event. It was just a matter of time for Jillson, who entered OSU while still rehabbing from ACL surgery. She was unable to perform a true dismount for the first half of the season, but once her knee got stronger and could handle the more difficult dismount, her scores rose considerably. She's scored a 9.80 or better at the last four meets, but is averaging just 9.500 as a result of her early season routines.
RICIOLI STILL PUTTING UP STRONG NUMBERS: Tanya Ricioli has been kept out of the all-around competition since injuring the ulnar collateral ligament in her right thumb in early February. She's competed on vault in all six meets and on floor five times since then, but she's competed on beam just twice and has been unable to do bars because of the injury. Despite the injury, she's still averaging a 9.759 on vault (third best on the team) and 9.775 on floor (fourth on the team). Her two best vault scores (9.875) have come after the injury, as did her top floor score (9.925). She has scored a 9.80 or better on floor seven times and has five vault scores of 9.80 or better as well. Her top score on beam was 9.775, and her best bars score was a 9.825. Prior to the injury she was averaging 38.640 in five meets as an all-arounder, with a season-best of 39.200. In those five meets, she won eight individual titles, but she has not claimed a individual event title since. She was named Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week on Jan. 25 and was selected as OSU's Female Athlete of the Month for January.
TAYLOR COMING OFF BEST MEET OF THE SEASON: Annette Taylor had her best meet of the year at the Pac-10 Championships on March 18. She tied her season-best of 9.85 on both bars and beam at the conference meet. She had scored a 9.85 on both events one other time this year, but not at the same meet. Taylor is averaging 9.714 on bars, good for second best on the team, and has scored 9.825 or better at the last three meets. She's also averaging 9.614 on beam, with three scores of 9.80 or better. She recorded her first collegiate victory at California on Jan. 28 when she tied for first on bars with a 9.80.
LOPEZ LEADING THE WAY ON FLOOR: Jerra Lopez boasts OSU's best average on floor (9.843). She's competed on the event seven times this season and has scored no lower than 9.775. She's scored 9.85 or better in her last four outings, highlighted by a career-best and first-place 9.95 on March 3. She's competed on bars nine times, highlighted by two 9.875 routines and five scores of 9.80 or better. Lopez has also made the vault lineup seven times and has a season-best of 9.775 twice. She's averaging 9.639 on vault and 9.617 on bars. Lopez, who competed as an all-arounder in three meets as a freshman, has not made the beam lineup this year. She was voted the team's Rookie of the Year last season.
BRUCH'S NEWS: Marissa Bruch has stepped up to the challenge on floor more than once this year. Three weeks ago versus Utah, she was thrown into the lineup at the last minute after a teammate went down with an injury earlier in the meet. Bruch responded with a career-high 9.825 routine. It wasn't the first time she ended up making the lineup unexpectedly. She was also the alternate at UCLA on Feb. 20, but ended up competing and scored a then-season-high 9.750. She's competed on floor six times in 2000 (eight including exhibitions) and is averaging 9.697. Most recently, she scored a 9.80 at the Pac-10 Championships two weeks ago.
SEVERIN ONE OF OSU'S MOST CONSISTENT GYMNASTS: Katrina Severin is the only Beaver gymnast to average 9.65 or better on three different events this season. She's averaging 9.797 on vault, 9.789 on floor and 9.672 on beam. Severin is ranked 19th in the nation on vault and has scored a 9.80 or better in eight of the 10 meets she's competed on that event. She scored a career-high 9.95 on vault on March 3, and she's added three other 9.90 scores this season. Severin has won the event twice this year. In addition, she's scored 9.80 or better on five floor routines and two beam routines this year as well. Her averages on vault and beam are both second-best on the team.
FINAL GILL COLISEUM COMPETITION FOR TWO SENIORS: Saturday's NCAA Region I meet will mark the final competition in Gill Coliseum for two OSU seniors. Bea Tistu-Whisenhunt has competed on beam at eight meets this season (10 including exhibition routines) after missing all of last season with an achilles injury. Tistu-Whisenhunt is averaging 9.545 on the event this season, highlighted by a career-high 9.875 on Feb. 11. Corrie Young has competed on vault and beam nine times in 2000. She's averaging 9.775 on beam, with a season-best of 9.90 at the season opener. She's also averaging 9.561 on vault, with a season-high 9.75 on March 3.
HEAD COACH TANYA CHAPLIN: Tanya Chaplin is in her third season as head coach of the OSU gymnastics program. Her career record is 28-15 for the regular season and 48-24 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.
