Beavers Finish 12th, Three Earn All-America
April 18, 2015 | Women's Gymnastics
FORT WORTH, Texas – The No. 12 Oregon State gymnastics team finished sixth in the evening session and 12th overall at the NCAA Championships Friday at the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena. Chelsea Tang led the Beavers with a strong performance scoring 39.350 in the all-around. In addition, Erika Aufiero (bars) and Madeline Gardiner (beam) qualified for Individual Event Finals on Sunday and earned first team All-America accolades.
Tang's all-around score coupled with a 9.850 on the beam earned the senior second team All-America honors on both events for the first time in her career. It is the third such honor for Gardiner and the first for Aufiero.
The Beavers entered the championships short-handed with sophomore all-arounder Kaytianna McMillan and junior Jamie Radermacher unavailable due to injury leaving head coach Tanya Chaplin with five routines to fill in Fort Worth. With McMillan out of action, it left OSU with just two gymnasts, Gardiner and Tang, who had ever performed a routine at the national championships.
Oregon State opened the meet on a bye before moving to the uneven bars for the second rotation. OSU's bars team went six-for-six giving the Beavers a nice start and a team score of 49.225. Erika Aufiero posted a 9.900, which at the time was the high score of the meet. Silvia Colussi-Pelaez and Dani Dessaints each recorded scores of 9.850. Gardiner scored 9.825 and Tang and Taylor Keeker pitched in tallies of 9.800. It was a career-high for Dessaints who was filling in for McMillan.
OSU sat in fifth place heading to the balance beam, but a couple significant bobbles cut down the overall team's beam score. Gardiner, who tied for third on beam at NCAA Championships in 2014, led the way with a 9.900 and Tang scored 9.850.
At the halfway point the Beavers were in sixth at 98.100 with Nebraska just ahead at 98.300, while Oklahoma led the field nearly a full-point ahead at 99.025 heading into the Beavers' final bye. Alabama and Auburn continued to score well to move on to the Super Six.
Coming out of their second bye, OSU went to the floor exercise where the Beavers used two gymnasts – Taylor Ricci and Megan Jimenez – who hadn't performed a competition floor routine in their career. Ricci led off with an impressive performance scoring 9.800. Tang posted a team-high 9.875 on the floor and Risa Perez tacked on a 9.825. However, a fall and an out of bounds deduction resulted in an event score of 48.775.
Oregon State finished with a strong rotation on the vault. Dessaints led off tying her career-high of 9.850, a mark that ended up leading the team. Tang performed her best vault of the season tallying a 9.825. Keeker scored 9.800 as the Beavers settled for an event total of 49.000.
The season continues Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Individual Event Finals where Aufiero will compete on the bars and Gardiner on the beam in pursuit of individual titles on their events..
Team Scores: Oklahoma 197.400; Alabama 197.100; Auburn 197.075; Nebraska 196.675; LSU 196.550; Oregon State 195.875.
All-Around: T1. Caitlin Atkinson (AUB), Rheagan Courville (LSU) 39.550; 3. Jessie Jordan (LSU) 39.525. OSU Scores: Chelsea Tang 39.350; Madeline Gardiner 38.575.
Vault (49.000): T1. Myia Hambrick (LSU), Ali Jackson (OU), Haley Scaman (OU) 9.950. OSU Scores: Dani Dessaints 9.850; Chelsea Tang 9.825; Taylor Keeker 9.800; Erika Aufiero 9.775; Madeline Gardiner 9.750; Megan Jimenez 9.750.
Uneven Bars (49.225): T1. McKenzie Wofford (OU), Brenna Dowell (OU) 9.950; 3. Rheagan Courville (LSU) 9.925. OSU Scores: Erika Aufiero 9.900; Dani Dessaints 9.850; Silvia Colussi-Pelaez 9.850; Madeline Gardiner 9.825; Taylor Keeker 9.800; Chelsea Tang 9.800.
Balance Beam (48.875): 1. Caitlin Atkinson (AUB) 9.950; T2. Madeline Gardiner (OSU), Kayla Williams (ALA), Jessie Jordan (LSU), Keeley Kmieciak (OU), Rebecca Clark (OU), Chayse Capps (OU) 9.900. Other OSU Scores: Madeline Gardiner 9.900; Chelsea Tang 9.850; Cerise Witherby 9.750; Risa Perez 9.725; Silvia Colussi-Pelaez 9.650; Katelyn Ohlrich 9.450.
Floor Exercise (48.775): 1. Haley Scaman (OU) 9.950; T2. Ashleigh Gnat (LSU), Hollie Blanske (NEB), Brenna Dowell (OU), Nina McGee (DEN). OSU Scores: Chelsea Tang 9.875; Risa Perez 9.825; Taylor Ricci 9.800; Cerise Witherby 9.725; Megan Jimenez 9.550; Madeline Gardiner 9.100.