March 7, 2012
OSU at Denver meet notes 
MEET #9
The No. 9 Oregon State gymnastics remains on the road this week traveling to the state of Colorado for a tri-meet at No. 22 Denver Saturday, Mar. 10 at 6 p.m. MT. The meet, which also includes Texas Women’s University, will not be webstreamed. Live scores will be available on denverpioneers.com.
THE SERIES
OSU leads the all-time series with DU 8-2 but has only traveled to Denver once, losing 194.375-192.400 in the 2002 season opener. The Beavers topped the Pioneers twice in 2011 - first in a quad meet at Oklahoma in which OSU finished second (194.650) to the Sooners (195.300) but ahead of the Pioneers (194.300); the second in a quad meet at California when the Beavers took first with a score of 197.000 to Denver’s 194.625.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Next week, Oregon State will return to Corvallis for its home finale - the Comfort Suites Invitational - on Senior Night. OSU will host New Hampshire, a team that has never competed at Gill Coliseum, and Seattle Pacific. The meet will mark the final Gill Coliseum appearances for senior gymnasts Leslie Mak and Olivia Vivian, who will be honored following the meet ... The Comfort Suites Invitational will feature the Family 4-Pack that includes four hot dogs, four sodas and four tickets for $58. Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-GO-BEAVS, in person at the OSU Ticket Office located in room 107 of Gill Coliseum or by going online to osubeavers.com.
FOLLOWING THE BEAVERS
The Oregon State gymnastics program has its own Facebook (OregonStateGymnastics), YouTube (osgym) and Twitter (@OregonStateGym) accounts, which are frequently updated with all of the latest news and happenings surrounding the squad.
2012 E-MAGAZINE
The 2012 Oregon State Gymnastics e-magazine is available online at: www.iamorangemags.com.
LAST TIME ON THE FLOOR
Oregon State (8-1-1, 4-1-1 Pac-12) suffered its first loss of 2012 at No. 7 Utah last Friday night. Superior scores on vault and floor exercise propelled the Utes to victory in Salt Lake City. Despite a poor start for the Beavers in the first half of the meet on vault and bars, the team showed resiliency coming back to perform some of their best floor routines of the season despite tight scoring. Melanie Jones posted matching scores of 9.875 on beam and floor to finish second and fourth respectively on those events ... Makayla Stambaugh aggravated a lower leg injury during pre-meet warm-ups and was held out of the beam and floor lineups. It was the first time this season Stambaugh has not performed in the all-around.
IN THE RANKINGS
All four lineups and several gymnasts rank among the best in the NCAA. OSU’s uneven bars is ranked No. 7 in the nation (49.215 RQS) while the balance beam and floor exercise lineups are each ranked No. 8 in the country with RQS’s of 49.115 and 49.165 respectively. The vault squad is 16th (49.040). Leslie Mak is ranked No. 7 in the all-around (39.400), is No. 3 on the beam (9.915), tied for No. 12 on the bars (9.880) and is tied for 19th on the floor (9.870). Makayla Stambaugh is tied for 15th on the floor (9.880), tied for 21st on the bars (9.860) and is 15th in the all-around (39.280).
MAK AND “MACK” ATTACK IS BACK
Leslie Mak and Makayla Stambaugh (“Mack”) have been teaming up to beat the competition for more than two years and both rank among the top 10 in event titles in OSU history. In 2011, Mak, won 22 event titles, which tied for sixth on OSU’s single season list. Overall, Mak has tallied 48 event titles - including 15 this season - in her career moving her into a tie with Jami Lanz (2006-09) for fourth in OSU history. Meanwhile, Stambaugh, a junior, has notched 32 wins in her career - including 11 this season - moving past Tasha Smith (2006-09) into eighth in the OSU record books.
BEAVERS REAPING PAC-12 AWARDS
Oregon State gymnasts have garnered “best of the week” status six times in 2012. Leslie Mak has earned Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week awards twice and Makayla Stambaugh once, while Mak has twice earned Pac-12 Special Performance of the Week honors twice and Melanie Jones once ... Mak, who is making a run at becoming the first athlete in conference history to repeat as Gymnast of the Year in consecutive years, earned GOW (Jan. 9-15) following the Beavers’ season opening upset of then-No. 4 Oklahoma after scoring 39.400 in the all-around ... Mak added SPOW (Jan. 16-22) honors the following week after tying her career-high of 9.95 on the beam in a win at then-No. 13 Arizona ... Mak received her second GOW award (Feb. 6-12) of the season after she added a second 9.95 on beam and scored 39.675 in the all-around - the second-highest score in OSU history - in a tri-meet at UC Davis. In addition, Jones received the first SPOW (Feb. 6-12) of her career for scoring a career-high 9.95, including a 10.0 from one judge, on the floor exercise ... Stambaugh received her first GOW of the season (Feb. 13-19), and third of her career, following OSU’s Pink Out. Stambaugh led the Bearvers scoring 39.425, including a 9.925 in the meet’s final routine to secure a tie against then-No. 7 UCLA ... Mak tied her career-high for the third time this season scoring 9.950, including a perfect 10.0 from one judge, on the beam against UCLA to earn her second SPOW (Feb. 13-19) of the season, and fifth of her career.
LOOK WHAT I CAN DO
For the second consecutive season a veteran OSU gymnast is unveiling a new talent ... and not just a new skill but an entirely new event! Melanie Jones had not trained much on the uneven bars at Oregon State due to previous injuries. That is until this autumn. Jones, who OSU coaches say is a phenomenal gymnast on the bars, returned to the apparatus this fall and is close to joining the lineup. It is feasible that the former Australian Olympic alternate could be an all-arounder for the Beavers by the end of the season ... In 2010, Leslie Mak returned to the vault runway for the first time in four years and performed in the all-around all season eventually earning Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year honors.
TO BE THE BEST, YOU’VE GOT TO BEAT THE BEST
Once again the Beavers’ schedule will provide tough challenges week-in and week-out. Head coach Tanya Chaplin’s philosophy of competing against the best competition possible each week will help to prepare her squad for the stresses of high caliber competition in the postseason. OSU is slated to face 14 opponents over the course of the season leading up to the Pac-12 Championships and the postseason. Of those opponents eight were ranked in the NACGC/W Preseason Coaches’ Poll and three others received votes.
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BEAVERS IN 2012
OSU started the season ranked No. 7 in the GymInfo preseason coaches poll, one spot higher than its finish at the 2011 NCAA Championships. The Beavers received one first place vote in the poll ... At no point this season (through Feb. 22) have the Beavers been ranked outside of the top 10 in the nation ... The Beavers added six newcomers for 2012 and returned 19 out of 24 routines from the 2011 NCAA Championships lineup, including five All-America performances ... Leading OSU’s veterans are three-time All-American Makayla Stambaugh, two-time All-American and 2011 Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year Leslie Mak as well as Olivia Vivian, a 2011 All-American on the uneven bars ... In addition, to 19 routines returning from the NCAA Championships lineup, junior Melanie Jones, who was injured late in the season returns to the beam and floor lineups and will provide further depth on vault and bars ... The Beavers have dealt with adversity since before the season beginning with the loss of senior Stephanie McGregor, who was being counted on as a key contributor to three lineups. McGregor suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in early December and plans to return for a fifth year in 2013. The loss of McGregor left a void at the top of the vault and bars lineups from 2011 and as an alternate to the floor lineup.
WEBCASTS ON BNO
Once again in 2012, all five of Oregon State’s home gymnastics meets will be webcast live via Beaver Nation Online, the audio/visual home of osubeavers.com, for a fee. Returning to provide the play-by-play will be former gymnastics All-American Heather (Bennett) Humphrey and joining her is injured senior gymnast, Stephanie McGregor joins the webcast to provide analysis. Fans unable to attend OSU’s home meets are encouraged to follow the action on the Internet at osubeavers.com.
