No. 3 Gymnasts Seeks to Extend Run with Regional Title at Gill Saturday
March 29, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THE MEET ... The Oregon State gymnastics team (23-5), ranked No. 3 in the nation, is set to compete at the 2011 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Corvallis Regional this Saturday at Gill Coliseum beginning at 4 p.m. ... The Beavers enter the meet as the top seed of the Corvallis Regional. They’ll be joined by No. 10 Nebraska, No. 15 Iowa, No. 31 Southern Utah, No. 34 San Jose State and No. 36 Michigan State ... The two teams with the top score in the regional will advance to the NCAA Championships held in Cleveland, Ohio April 15-17 ... Saturday’s regional meet marks the 14th time Oregon State has hosted a regional meet. OSU last hosted the 2008 West Regional which the Beavers won ... Oregon State’s all-time records against the other five teams in the meet are: 44-14 (8-12 vs. Nebraska; 3-1 vs. Iowa; 4-0 vs. Southern Utah; 19-1 vs. San Jose State; 10-0 vs. Michigan State.
BIG CROWD EXPECTED ... Oregon State officials expect a large crowd for Saturday's regional meet and encourage fans to arrive early. The Gill Coliseum Ticket Office will open at 2 p.m. for both will call and sales. Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-GO-BEAVS, online at osubeavers.com or in person at the Gill Coliseum Ticket Office. Reserved seats are nearly sold out.
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE ... The Corvallis Regional will not be televised. Fans unable to attend the meet can go to www.osubeavers.com to view live stats and a free live webcast at www.osubeavers.com. Former OSU All-American Heather (Bennett) Faucera will call the action of all six teams. Live stats will also be available at osubeavers.com ... Fans are also encouraged to follow the Beavers via Twitter - @OregonStateGym.
ROTATION ORDER ... For the second year in a row Oregon State begins the meet on the floor exercise at the regional meet. OSU will follow sixth-seeded Michigan State all evening while third-seeded Iowa will follow the Beavers. This rotation draw means the Beavers will finish the meet on a bye with Southern Utah, while Nebraska will be on the uneven bars and Iowa will be on the balance beam with San Jose State on the vault and Michigan State on the floor. See the table in the attached pdf for more details.
LAST YEAR AT REGIONALS ... Last year, Oregon State was sent to the South Central region as the No. 2 seed at the Columbia Regional at Missouri. The Beavers needed their first 24-for-24 performance of the year to keep their season alive and advanced to the NCAA Championships after a tiebreaker was needed to sort out second place. Missouri, the host team, put together its best meet of the season to win the regional leaving OSU to battle with five-time defending national champion Georgia for the other spot at the national championship meet. In the end the difference was a single fall for the Bulldogs sending the Beavers to the NCAA Championships for the fifth year in a row ... Laura-Ann Chong tied for the regional title on the uneven bars.
OSU HISTORY AT REGIONALS ... 2011 marks the 40th straight season that Oregon State has reached the regional round of competition. The Beavers have won regional championships nine time with the most recent coming in 2008 when OSU hosted the NCAA West Regional.
PAC-10 CHAMPIONS ... Oregon State hit all 24 of its routines at the final Pac-10 Championships meet en route to a dominating performance and a season-high score of 197.200. The Beavers earned the highest marks on the bars (49.425), beam (49.350) and floor (49.125) and tied for the top score on the vault (49.300). In addition, OSU gymnasts Leslie Mak, Makayla Stambaugh and Kelsi Blalock went 1-2-3 in the all-around to lead the Beavers to their first conference title since 1996 and fifth overall ... as UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field put it, “Oregon State was the best team in the house tonight. We got beat by a beat team tonight.”
PAC-10 CHAMPIONS II ... Junior Leslie Mak enjoyed a career-night at the Pac-10 Championships posting career-best 39.525 in the all-around to win the Pac-10 title and added a career-high 9.95 on the beam to win the event title as well. In addition, Mak tied teammates Olivia Vivian and Makayla Stambaugh as well as three other gymnasts with a 9.90 on the bars to share the Pac-10 title on the apparatus ... it is the second time Mak has tied for the Pac-10 title having done the same in 2009 when she tied Jen Kesler ... it is the third time in four years an OSU gymnast has won the conference beam title (Laura-Ann Chong - 2010 & Jami Lanz -2008).
PAC-10 GYMNAST OF THE YEAR ... At the conclusion of the Pac-10 Championships Leslie Mak was announced as the Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year. The award is determined by a vote of the conference’s head coaches. Mak, who was an outstanding three event athlete for the Beavers in her first two years, added vault to her repertoire in 2011 and has performed in the all-around in all 11 of OSU’s meets this season. To date, Mak has hit 43 our of 44 routines and has established or matched career-highs on all four events plus the all-around. Mak has won 19 event titles in 2011 including a dominant performance in the all-around at the Pac-10 Championships scoring a career-best 39.525 ... Mak is the fourth gymnast in OSU history to garner Gymnast of the Year honors joining Beaver icons Joy Selig (1991), Chari Knight (1992 & ‘94) and Mandi Rodriguez (2009) ... With the Pac-10 expanding to the Pac-12 Conference next season, Mak will go down as the last Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year. Ironically, head coach Tanya (Service) Chaplin was the original Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year in 1987.
PAC-10 COACH OF THE YEAR ... AGAIN ... Head coach Tanya Chaplin was chosen by her peers as the Pac-10 Coach of the Year for the second year in a row and the fifth time in her career. Chaplin’s team, which battled a variety of minor injuries during the fall, rounded into shape at midseason and is peaking at the right time of year. In the weeks leading up to the Pac-10 Championships the Beavers defeated three top 10 teams including then-No. 10 UCLA, then-No. 2 Stanford and then-No. 6 Utah - the first time OSU has accomplished the feat since 1992. Chaplin’s Beavers continued their hot streak with a season-best performance at Pac-10 Championships and won the conference title for the first time in her tenure.
IN THE RANKINGS ... All four of Oregon State’s lineups are ranked in this week’s top 10. The Beavers are ranked 8th on vault (49.215 RQS), 1st on the uneven bars (49.380), 7th on the balance beam (49.115) and are 10th on the floor exercise (49.160). In addition, several OSU gymnasts are ranked among the top 25 in the nation: Leslie Mak is tied for No. 1 on the beam (9.910), No. 9 on the bars (9.900) and is tied for No. 8 in the all-around (39.385); Olivia Vivian is tied for No. 3 on the bars (9.920); Britney Ranzy is tied for 6th on the vault (9.905); and Makayla Stambaugh is tied for 13th on the bars (9.885) and is tied for 22nd on the floor (9.875).
WE'RE NO. 1 ... The Oregon State uneven bars lineup is ranked No. 1 spot in the nation for the third week in a row. The Beavers’ bars lineup has a regional qualifying score (RQS) of 49.380. Three OSU gymnasts are ranked among the top 15 in the nation on the event. Olivia Vivian is tied for third (9.920), Leslie Mak is ninth (9.900) and Makayla Stambaugh is tied for 13th (9.885) ... in addition, Mak is tied for No. 1 in the country on the beam for the second time this year.
CHAPLIN REACHES MILESTONES ... Head coach Tanya Chaplin earned the 200th regular season win of her career early this season against Ohio State with a 195.925-193.300 victory over the Buckeyes ... last week, with the win at Pac-10 Championships, Chaplin moved past Jim Turpin to become the winningest coach in OSU history during the regular season with a record of 217-106-1 (.670). She remains second in school history in overall wins with an overall record of 268-161-1 (.624). Turpin tallied 317 victories from 1986-97.
“LES” IS MORE ... Leslie Mak has won 19 event titles in 2011 - which ties for eighth on OSU’s single season list. In addition, Mak has moved into seventh place on OSU’s career wins list with 30. See the table inside the attaced pdf.
2013 NCAA REGIONALS ... The NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Committee announced Tuesday the regional and championship sites for 2012 and 2013. Oregon State has been selected to host an NCAA Regional at Gill Coliseum, April 6, 2013. The 2013 regional will mark the 14th time in history that Oregon State has hosted the event.
