Gymnastics Wrap Up 2013 Season with Annual Banquet
May 3, 2013
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State gymnastics team, staff, family and fans gathered for a final time Thursday evening for the program’s annual banquet to put the finishing touches on the 2012-13 season. The annual event is an opportunity for the team and coaches to recognize and be recognized by family and boosters and to look back on the accomplishments of the past season.
Chelsea Tang, a sophomore, was honored with the Joy Selig Award, an award that annually goes to the gymnast who most distinguishes herself academically and athletically and exemplifies courage and leadership, both on and off the competition floor. In 2013, Tang enjoyed a breakout season working her way into the all-around and qualifying to the NCAA Championships as an individual and was an All-Pac-12 First Team selection on the balance beam.
Senior all-around competitor Makayla Stambaugh received the Most Valuable Gymnast award. Stambaugh’s senior season was decorated with numerous awards including four-straight Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week honors to set the conference record. She won 22 individual titles, tying for the sixth most in OSU single season history, including a Pac-12 title on the uneven bars and a regional title on the floor exercise. Stambaugh was named as an NACGC Regular Season All-American on vault, bars and floor.
Senior Stephanie McGregor was awarded the team’s Outstanding Scholar. It is the fifth straight year that McGregor, who studies Bioengineering within OSU’s Honors College has earned the award. After missing the 2012 season due to injury, McGregor returned for her fifth year to perform some of the best gymnastics of her career earning All-Pac-12 First Team honors for the first time in her career.
Cerise Witherby was chosen as the Most Improved Gymnast in 2013. Witherby, a sophomore, was rarely used as a freshman in 2012 performing on vault three times and in exhibition on vault, beam and floor. In 2013, she earned a spot as the leadoff for the floor exercise lineup showing improvement throughout the season registering a career-best 9.825 in each of the last two meets of the season. She also served as the alternate to the balance beam lineup.
Two gymnasts – Stephanie McGregor, who battled back from an Achilles that wiped out her 2012 season, and Katelyn Ohlrich, who fought through a nagging injury throughout the 2013 that eventually required postseason surgery – shared the Most Inspirational Award, an award voted on by the team.
For the second straight year, Brittany Harris was recognized for Most Consistent Gymnast honors. Harris led the team “hitting” 45 out of 47 (95.7%) routines in 2013.
Erika Aufiero and Hailey Gaspar shared the Newcomer of the Year award. Gaspar, a senior transfer, struggled through a series of nagging ankle injuries that limited her to the vault in 2013, but her performance on the event was outstanding and integral to the improvement of the lineup. Gaspar was named Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Week in just her second meet at OSU and earned All-Pac-12 Second Team on vault. Aufiero, who was recovering from an Achilles injury when she arrived at OSU, earned a spot in the bars lineup that she refused to relinquish and earned second team all-conference honors on the event.
