Oregon State gymnasts looking to advance to NCAA Championships

By Kevin Hampton

Gazette-Times reporter

The Oregon State gymnastics team is headed to Columbus, Ohio, as the No. 2 seed at the NCAA Central Regional on April 4.

Joining the Beavers will be No. 1 seed Louisiana State, No. 3 Ohio State, the host team, No. 4 Kent State, No. 5 Kentucky and No. 6 Michigan State. The top two finishers in each regional qualify for the NCAA Championships at University of Nebraska on April 16-18.

A strong performance at the Pacific-10 Championships on Saturday moved the Beavers from No. 10 to No. 8 in the national rankings and resulted in the regional matchup with No. 5 LSU and No. 17 Ohio State.

The Beavers made a late push to edge host Stanford for second at the Pac-10 meet with a 196.550. The score improved OSU's regional qualifying score and probably landed OSU a better spot than it would have gotten had the team stayed the same or slipped.

"As a team we've never competed at Ohio State before, but going in with the No. 5 team and the No. 17 team will be a good opportunity for us," junior Mandi Rodriguez said. "Nothing's ever for sure and nothing's ever safe, so we can't consider that our spot is secure before we go into it, but I think we got a really good regional in that Ohio State's 17, so that's more advantageous to us going into it as No. 8."

Tanya Chaplin said OSU's performance at the Pac-10 meet should give the Beavers a boost of confidence going into the NCAA meets.

"We started off a little bit rough, but they got stronger as they went along," Chaplin said. "They didn't let beam shake them up for the whole competition and it was a fight. So I'm hoping that will prepare us for the battle that's ahead in postseason."

The Beavers enter the regional meet on a roll with the second-place finish and three individual Pac-10 champions. Rodriguez won the vault and floor and Jen Kesler and Leslie Mak tied for the bars title.

Rodriguez said OSU's goal is to win regionals, leave no doubt about getting to nationals and keep the momentum going.

"We missed the Pac-10 championship by less than two-tenths and we're going into regionals to win, not just to qualify to nationals," she said. "I think it's very important not only to have a good performance and a good score, but to come out on top and to have that confidence going into nationals like we did last year, we went in as reigning regional champions, so that was really helpful and helped our team a lot with our confidence and mindsets going into the NCAA Championships."

The team will need big performances like the ones Rodriguez has been putting in all season. She was named Pac-10 gymnast of the year for her efforts.

"I knew that I had a chance at being it, but I assumed someone from UCLA or Stanford would get it, so it was a huge honor," she said. "(It was the) first time Tanya and Michael have coached someone to that award, so that made me feel really good. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way but to have it be with this team and this group of girls this year meant a lot to me."

The meet will be a new experience for the Beavers. Oregon State has never competed at Ohio State and the teams have not met since 2000.

The Beavers lost to LSU last year in the NCAA meet, but are confident they can compete with the Tigers. LSU finished fourth in the SEC Championships. Susan Jackson tied for the beam title with a 9.900 and Ashleigh Clare-Kearney tied for the floor title with a 9.950.

"We feel like we're right there with LSU," senior Kera Bolen said. "I looked up the scores from their championship and they scored the exact same thing as us, 196.550, which is kind of funny. They're a great team, they put up some great performances and I think we're definitely right there with them, so it'll be a good battle."