Beavers Look to Rock Cleveland at NCAA Championships
April 12, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The Oregon State gymnastics team (28-5) finishes the 2011 season, April 15-17, at the NCAA Championships at Cleveland, Ohio hosted by Kent State and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission ... The meet will be held at the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State ... Competition begins Friday with the semifinal rounds of team competition; Oregon State is the second seed in the evening session beginning at 6 p.m. ET. The top three finishers in each session moves on. ... The excitement continues Saturday with the Super Six team finals and concludes Sunday with the Individual Event Finals ... This is the 22nd trip to the NCAA Championships for Oregon State and 25th national championships appearance (including AIAW) ... The Beavers' trip to Cleveland marks the sixth straight appearance at the NCAA Championships ... Oregon State will be vying for its third-ever Super Six appearance and first since 1996.
MEDIA
The 2011 NCAA Championships will be televised by CBS via tape delay ... The CBS talent will be Tim Brando (play-by-play) and Amanda Borden (analyst) ... Live stats and a live webcast of the entire competition will be available at www.NCAA.com ... OSU Athletics will provide live coverage of the Beavers throughout via Twitter - @OregonStateGym.
ROTATION ORDER
For the second meet in a row Oregon State begins the meet on the floor exercise. OSU will follow fifth-seeded Nebraska all evening while top-seeded Alabama will follow the Beavers. This rotation draw means the Beavers will finish the meet on a bye with Utah, while Florida will be on the uneven bars and Alabama will be on the balance beam with Kent State on the vault and Nebraska on the floor. See the table below for more details.
LAST TIME ON THE COMPETITION FLOOR
Oregon State cruised through regional competition to qualify for its sixth straight berth at the NCAA Championships. The top seed of the Corvallis Regional, OSU scored 197.025 to top the elusive 197-mark for the third time in 2011 and second meet in a row en route to winning all four events. Leslie Mak scored 39.475 in the all-around to win the title and tallied 9.90's on the bars and beam to earn those titles as well. Britney Ranzy scored 9.875 on vault to tie for the title and tied with Makayla Stambaugh for the floor title with a 9.90.
LAST YEAR AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
In 2010, Oregon State finished fifth in the afternoon semifinal and ended up eighth overall. The Beavers didn't have to count a fall in the meet but missed routines in the middle of the beam and floor lineups cost the team momentum. Mandi Rodriguez scored 9.925 on the vault to finish second in the session and Makayla Stambaugh tied for second on floor with a 9.90 advancing both gymnasts to the Individual Event Finals. Rodriguez earned a third place finish overall at Event Finals and Stambaugh was 12th and both were first team All-Americans. In addition, Laura-Ann Chong earned second team All-America honors on the bars and beam.
RETURNING TO NATIONALS
Oregon State once again returns an experienced group to the NCAA Championships. Seven current OSU gymnasts competed at Gainesville, Fla. in 2010 competing 17 out of 24 routines ... In addition, four gymnasts were also in the competitive lineup at the 2009 championships meet at Lincoln, Neb. making up seven routines ... Further, Jen Kesler performed in the all-around as a freshman at the 2008 championships in Athens, Ga.
RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
OSU returns two gymnasts who have combined for three All-America honors. Makayla Stambaugh earned first team All-American recognition on the floor exercise in 2010 and finished 12th in the Individual Event Finals. Jen Kesler is a two-time second team All-American on the uneven bars earning accolades in 2008 and 2009.
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.
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.
ALL-PAC-10 TEAM
Seven Oregon State gymnasts combined for 10 All-Pac-10 Conference honors when the awards were announced last Wednesday. OSU's all-conference gymnasts are Kelsi Blalock, Becky Colvin, Jen Kesler, Leslie Mak, Britney Ranzy, Makayla Stambaugh and Olivia Vivian ... Mak earned first team All-Pac-10 in the all-around after earning all-conference on beam in 2010 and on beam in 2009. Stambaugh received first team recognition on the floor for the second year in a row and on the bars for the first time. Kesler earned second team honors on the bars and beam - she previously earned first team on bars in 2009. Colvin garnered second team all-conference on the vault for the second year in a row ... These are the first all-conference awards for Blalock, Ranzy and Vivian. Blalock and Ranzy earned first team honors on the vault while Vivian received first team on the bars and beam.
ALL-ACADEMIC
Four Oregon State gymnasts were recognized for their work in the classroom when the Pac-10 All-Academic team was announced last week. Stephanie McGregor earned first team All-Academic honors for the second year in a row while Leslie Mak and Olivia Vivian were named to the second team. Vivian was a first team selection in 2010 and Mak a second teamer. Melanie Jones was named honorable mention.
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 ... recently 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 273-161-1 (.629). Turpin tallied 317 victories from 1986-97.
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.
