No. 8 OSU Seek Second Straight Berth at Nationals This Week

Oregon State's eighth-ranked gymnastics team returns to the desert for the second time in two weeks this time seeking to earn its second straight berth at the NCAA Championships. Competition of the NCAA South Central Regional, hosted by the University of Arizona, begins at 6 p.m. at McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.

The Beavers look to continue peak as the season winds down to its conclusion this month. OSU has chalked up a series of impressive outings including scores of 196 or better in six of the last seven meets. Recently the Beavers broke the 197-point barrier for the first time since 2004 as the Beavers outperformed Cal State Fullerton 197.100-192.750 in OSU’s home finale. Oregon State followed that performance with yet another solid outing as the Beavers finished third at the Pac-10 Championships at ASU two weeks ago with a score of 196.300. Sophomores Tasha Smith and Jami Lanz paced the Beavers combining for four 9.9+ scores as Smith finished second in the all-around (39.475) and Lanz tied for third (39.450).

Oregon State, which enters the regional competition as the second seed, needs to finish first or second to advance to the NCAA Championships being held in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 26-28. The Beavers are competing against No. 4 Stanford, No. 15 Arizona, No. 20 Illinois, Arizona State and Illinois-Chicago for the right to advance.