NCAA Gymnastics Championships: Practice Day - Oregon State University Athletics

OSU’s eighth-ranked gymnastics team arrived in Salt Lake City Tuesday afternoon in preparation for the NCAA Championships April 26-28.

Today (Wednesday) has proved to be a busy day as the team has set about getting comfortable in new surroundings. Having reached the NCAA Championships in 2006, OSU’s gymnasts were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sleep in their own beds, attend class as usual, and compete on their own, familiar home floor.

This time will be different. Most of the Beavers kicked off the morning by jumping on a bus for the short ride to the Jon M. Huntsman Center for the morning practice session with Alabama, Nebraska and Georgia. But ’s morning was a bit more complicated by an exam that was required to be taken at the same time as her classmates back on campus in Corvallis. Upon completion of her test, she hurriedly joined her teammates on the waiting bus and began practice preparations.

The OSU gymnasts enjoyed a spirited practice session getting used to the relatively small and crowded floor space of the Huntsman Center. Several gymnasts practiced a few upgrades to routines for the first time outside of Gladys Valley Gymnastics Center. Judging by the results from this morning those upgrades can be expected to be performed during OSU’s afternoon team preliminary session.

“Practice went well. The team was relaxed, energetic and focused today,” said head coach . “We’re just all excited to compete tomorrow. Those upgrades were needed to compete with these teams and I was very happy with how those adjustments looked this morning.”

Following practice and a break for lunch, Chaplin and team captain returned to the Huntsman Center for the NCAA Championships press conference (quotes are available below). With the press conference complete and the return of Chaplin and Lamb, the team once again headed out, this time for dinner at the Red Rock Brewery (see photo) for a relaxing early dinner. A leisurely stroll back to the hotel capped off the evening and should leave the Beavers well rested and ready for tomorrow afternoon’s competition.

The Beavers are seeking a top three finish in their 1:00 p.m. session, tomorrow and a berth in the Super Six along with it. However, Oregon State’s session is stacked with talent including No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Alabama, No. 6 Nebraska and No. 10 Oklahoma. Fans can follow the scoring live via . The NCAA Championships will be broadcast via tape by CBS, May 12 at 1:00 p.m.

Individual Finals take place Saturday, April 28 at 7 p.m.

Quotes from the NCAA Championships press conference:

Oregon State Head Coach

Question: "Oregon State's appearance at last year's championships was its first since 2002. Do you think the recent experience at nationals will be helpful to this year's team?"
Answer: "Definitely. Any time you make it to the national championship, the experiences you have at that championship help you the next season. It's always a continual building process. It's something that definitely made a difference with this year's team right from the beginning. As soon as we were finished competing in the first session at last year's nationals, our athletes made sure that they watched the Super Six and took notes all the way through the evening. They met the next week and constantly throughout the spring, because we don't get out of school until June so we're at school a little bit longer than a lot of these other teams. But it made a big difference over the summer and fall. I think that drive and determination that they had from last season made a big difference in this season's team. So I'm really excited. That's the other thing, too. Last year, it felt like the way we got in to nationals was Stanford made some mistakes and the door opened. We were able to walk through that door. This year, we felt like this is meant to be. We should be here. We're very excited about this opportunity and they're ready to go after it. This team's ready to go and we're thrilled to be here."

Oregon State Student-Athlete

Question: "Are your expectations different this year than last, when OSU was somewhat of a surprise qualifier?"
Answer: "Absolutely. I believe so. I think we are coming in this year a lot more confident and we do have higher expectations for ourselves this year. I think that we're wanting to come in and better our finish from last year. We did finish 11th last year and I think all of us believe we can do much better. As long as we do what we have been doing all season, we’re capable of doing just that. I think we've worked very hard this year and we are capable of finishing better than we did last year. I think our routines are cleaner. We've got bigger skills. We have experience as well. Most of us have been on the national championship floor and I think that makes a big difference."