Beavers Shine in Orange & Black Exhibition

Thursday, November 17

Corvallis, Ore.

7:00 PM

Oregon State

Orange & Black Exhibition

Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics

November 17, 2016 | Women's Gymnastics

OSU at Auburn results

By: Oregon State Athletic Communications

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State gymnastics team took another step in preparation for the 2017 season Thursday night with the annual Orange and Black Exhibition at Gill Coliseum. More than 600 fans showed up seeking their first glimpse of this year's squad and dozens of youngsters got to mingle with the gymnasts in a post-meet dance party on the floor mats followed by autographs from their idols.

"It was a fun evening," head coach Tanya Chaplin said. "It's always great to see our fans and to show off some new routines. There was a good energy from our team and the freshmen that showed today did a really good job. I think the fans saw that we'll be an exciting team this year."

Three gymnasts, Madeline Gardiner, Mary Jacobsen and Sabrina Gill, performed in the all-around while three others, Destinee Davis, Kaytianna McMillan and Taylor Ricci each executed three events.

In all, four of the Beavers' nine freshmen took their first turns in front of the Gill Coliseum faithful, while veterans Erika Aufiero and Dani Dessaints made triumphant returns to action after missing the vast majority of the 2016 season due to injury.

The gymnasts performed routines in pairings of head-to-head matchups on each event. Guest judges then decided which gymnast had performed the best routine by indicating the winner with an orange and black card.

The exhibition was a free event and concluded with a dance party for children and the gymnasts on the floor exercise mat and then autographs by the entire gymnastics team. Public address announcer, Brian Brooks, added to the entertainment as he went around the gym interacting with the guest judges.

Among the guest judges were student-athletes from the OSU men's rowing, track and field and wresting teams. In addition, retired Oregon State professor Raymond Brooks, a former student-athlete himself, joined local media members as judges including the voice of OSU women's basketball Ron Callan, Gina Mizell from The Oregonian, Jonathan Style from KEZI-TV and Travis Teich from KMTR-TV.

The Beavers' season opens Jan. 6 when they travel to SEC country to face Auburn. OSU's first home meet is set for Saturday, Jan. 21 in a three-team meet with Northern Illinois and Seattle Pacific.