Beavers Bound for Athens, Seek Spot in Super Six
BEAVERS TRAVEL TO ATHENS FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Oregon State gymnastics team ends the 2008 season, April 24-26, at the NCAA Championships at Athens, Ga. ... The meet will be held at the University of Georgia’s Stegeman Coliseum ... The meet is sold out ... Competition begins Thursday with the preliminary rounds of the team competition; Oregon State competes in the afternoon preliminary ... The excitement continues Friday with the Super Six team finals and concludes Saturday with the Individual Event Finals ... This is Oregon State’s 19th trip to the NCAA Championships and 22nd total to the gymnastics national championships ... This is the third straight appearance at the NCAA Championships for the Orange & Black ... The Beavers will be vying for their third-ever Super Six appearance and first since 1996 ... The meet will be televised by CBS via tape delay ... It will air on Saturday, May 10 at noon (PT) ... The CBS talent will be Tim Brando and Amanda Borden ... Live stats of all of the competition will be available online at www.GeorgiaDogs.com and www.ncaasports.com.
LAST TIME ON THE FLOOR
Oregon State earned its third straight trip to the NCAA Championships and 19th overall when it earned the title of NCAA West Regional Champion last week in Corvallis. The Beavers, who hosted the regional event for the 14th time in history, tallied a score of 197.100 to secure the NCAA berth. OSU scored over 49-points on each event en route to a convincing win over second-place Michigan (196.375). Individually, an assortment of orange and black clad gymnasts worked to claim all four event titles as well as the all-around. Jen Kesler set a career-high on the bars (9.95) and Yuki Lamb (9.925) and Jami Lanz (9.95) tied career-best scores to secure event titles on vault and beam respectively. Tasha Smith and Mandi Rodriguez added scores of 9.9 on the floor to share the title. Lanz graced the top step of the awards podium to collect her all-around title (39.575) as well.
OSU’S HISTORY AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
2008 marks the Beavers’ 19th appearance at the NCAA Championships ... In addition, this is the third straight trip to nationals ... This is also the sixth trip to nationals under the guidance of 11th year head coach Tanya Chaplin ... OSU’s best finish at NCAAs was a fourth place finish in 1996 at Tuscaloosa, Ala. ... The Beavers finished tied for 11th (Michigan) in 2007 ... OSU’s most recent top 10 finish came in 2000 when the Beavers finished 10th.
LAST YEAR AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Beavers finished the afternoon preliminary session in Salt Lake City knowing that their performance wasn’t as good as expected. The 11th place finish was the same as they had earned in 2006, but this time they had entered the competition ranked No. 8. Individually, three OSU gymnasts earned All-America accolades, the most since 2000. Mandi Rodriguez and Tasha Smith each earned first team honors on the vault and Jami Lanz was a second team recipient on the bars. Performing on Saturday, Rodriguez held the lead through the first flight of vaulters and finished fifth overall. Smith meanwhile, nailed her first vault to post one of the highest scores of the day, but fell on the second to finish 11th overall.
RETURNING TO NATIONALS
Oregon State returns an experienced group to the NCAA Championships. Ten current OSU gymnasts competed at Salt Lake City in 2007 consisting of 23 out of 24 routines ... In addition, six gymnasts were also in the competitive lineup at the 2006 championships meet in Corvallis that included 15 routines.
RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
OSU returns all three of its All-Americans from 2007 and four All-America honors in total. Tasha Smith is a two-time All-American on vault earning first team in 2007 and second team in 2006. Mandi Rodriguez finished fifth in the individual vault competition in 2007 and Jami Lanz earned second team on the uneven bars.
LAMB, KESLER, LANZ, RODRIGUEZ, SMITH CLAIM REGIONAL TITLES
Five OSU gymnasts (pictured on this cover) combined to collect all of the individual titles from the NCAA West Regional Championships. Senior Yuki Lamb scorched her previously season-high and tied her career-best mark (9.925) to earn her first vault title of the season. Freshman Jen Kesler also set a career-high performing an outstanding bars set to score 9.95 and secure the fifth bars title of her career. Junior Jami Lanz, who is tied for the highest RQS on beam in the nation, recorded a career-high tying 9.95 on the balance beam for the third meet in a row and fifth time this season to win an individual title on beam for the eighth time this year. Sophomore Mandi Rodriguez and junior Tasha Smith scored matching 9.9’s on the floor exercise to notch the top scores on the event and shared the winners’ podium as the individual champions on floor. Lanz’s all-around total of 39.575 proved too much for the competition as she earned her sixth all-around title of the season.
OREGON STATE COACHES RECOGNIZED BY PEERS
Head coach Tanya Chaplin and assistant coach Dick Foxal have each been honored by their peers in recent weeks ... Chaplin received Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors for the third time in her career following the Pac-10 Championships, March 29. Chaplin also won the award in 1999 and 2005 ... Foxal was honored as the West Region’s Assistant Coach of the Year following the NCAA West Regional Championships last Saturday. This is the fifth time Foxal has received the award in his career at OSU, last earning the award in 2003.
OSU RANKED ON ALL FOUR EVENTS
Oregon State finished the regular season with all four of its individual lineups ranked among the top 10 in the nation. The Beavers are ranked No. 5 on balance beam and are No. 9 on vault, uneven bars and floor exercise.
LANZ BALANCES ATOP THE BEAM RANKINGS
OSU junior Jami Lanz finished the regular season tied with Utah’s Ashley Postell as the nation’s top-ranked gymnast on the balance beam. She has an NCAA-leading RQS of 9.935 and has scored a career-high of 9.95 on the event five times this season and in each of the last three meets. She has score 9.9 or higher in eight of the Beavers’ last 11 meets.
OTHER BEAVERS IN THE RANKINGS ...
Several other Oregon State gymnasts can be found among the top 50 in the nation. On vault Mandi Rodriguez ranks 13th in the nation (9.905 RQS) and Tasha Smith ranks 15th (9.900). Jami Lanz ranks 44th on bars (9.845) and Claire Pierce is 44th on beam (9.850). Smith (9.910) ranks 11th, Rodriguez (9.895) is 17th and Lanz (9.885) is 21st on the floor exercise. Lanz also ranks seventh in all-around (39.440).
BEAVERS’ BEAM TEAM TALLIES NATION’S TOP SCORE
The Oregon State beam team was remarkable at the Salbasgeon Suites Invitational against Boise State, Missouri and Sacramento State. All six OSU gymnasts notched or tied career-highs on the event to total a 49.525 ... The lineup that night was: Yuki Lamb, 9.875; Jen Kesler, 9.925; Laura-Ann Chong, 9.875; Tasha Smith, 9.900; Claire Pierce, 9.875 and Jami Lanz, 9.950 ... The school record on beam is 49.600.
KESLER PUTS IT TOGETHER IN TIME FOR POSTSEASON
Heralded freshman Jen Kesler (Kenmore, WA), a two-time Level 10 national champion in the all-around, cracked the vault lineup for the first time in her collegiate career at OSU’s annual Salbasgeon Suites Invitational, the final regular season meet of the year for the Beavs. The event also marked Kesler’s first all-around performance. She tallied a 39.350 to finish second in the all-around and added a career-best 9.925 on the beam that night ... Kesler went on to compete in the all-around at Pac-10 Championships, scoring 39.100 in front of her “home” crowd in Seattle ... She was not in the vault lineup at the regional meet but could return to the lineup at nationals.
CHAPLIN GETS 200TH CAREER VICTORY
Oregon State head coach Tanya Chaplin earned the 200th victory of her career when the Beavers tallied five wins at the NCAA West Regional Championships in Corvallis, April 12. Chaplin, who is in her 11th season directing the Oregon State gymnastics program, entered the season with an overall record of 180-124-1 (.592), which included a 144-84-1 (.631) regular season record. With 22 wins this season, Chaplin’s record now stands at 202-128-1 (.612).
