Beavers Take Down Washington, 194.925-192.875
CORVALLIS, Ore. - The Oregon State gymnastics team returned with a fire and beat visiting Washington at Gill Coliseum, Saturday afternoon.
The Beavers found their way to the top score on three events - vault, beam, floor - with two seeing scores of above 49 for the first time this season.
In addition to team success, OSU saw the individual title for every single event. Madi Dagen earned her second vault and beam titles, along with the all-around title for her first all-around competition. Kristina Peterson and Sydney Gonzales shared the title with Dagen on the balance beam while Kaitlyn Hoiland and Kayla Bird shared the top score on the uneven bars. Kaitlyn Yanish closed out the meet with the final floor routine and the floor title.
Starting on vault, Oregon State took control of the meet quickly posting a team score of 49.225. Dagen registered a 9.950, a personal record, to win the event while Gonzales posted a 9.850, a personal record of her own, for third place.
Leading by over a full point after the opening rotation, the Beavers moved on to the bars. Though the team has a few new faces on the bars lineup, Hoiland and Bird performed beautiful sets to share the event title with a 9.775.
Washington had started to close the gap at the halfway mark and with a 0.275 lead, OSU headed to the balance beam. Despite having a few hiccups throughout the rotation, Oregon State combined for four of the top five spots, including the top-three. Dagen, Peterson, and Gonzales completed gorgeous sets to share the title with a 9.800. Jane Poniewaz followed with a personal record to tie for fourth-place with a 9.750 score.
The Huskies had further closed the score-gap but the Beavers were headed to the floor, or as the gymnasts call it, show time. Niya Mack led off with an energetic 9.850 while Savanna Force, Bird, and Peterson all followed with the same score. Improving further, Dagen earned a 9.900 for second place. Yanish, earning the event title, closed out the meet with a 10.000 from one judge and a 9.900 from the other for a 9.950 score. Oregon State ran away with the win as they scored a 49.400 on the floor for the highest single-event team score this season.
Earning two individual event titles, one runner-up position and a personal record, Dagen completed a bars routine for the first time in collegiate competition to complete her first all-around with a 38.750 for the all-around title.
As a team, the Beavers earned nine personal records and finished four first-time routines. In addition to Dagen and Gonzales' vault PRs, Poniewaz (vault, bars), S. Gonzales (beam), Lexie Gonzales (beam) and Hoiland (bars) competed with the top score in their careers. Mack (floor) and Bird (vault) both matched their career bests against Washington. Ariana Young saw her first collegiate competition with routines on both bars and beam while Poniewaz (beam) and Dagen (bars) competed in new events.
Oregon State showed vast amounts of improvements since the first meet, especially on the balance beam and the uneven bars. The Beavers "have a lot of new faces [on the beam and the bars]," head coach Tanya Chaplin said. "You have to build a lot of trust and confidence in working together and we'll continue that. I know [the team] is excited to keep improving because there were big misses that we had but we know we can do even better."
OSU will begin Pac-12 competition with two road meets as the Beavers face Arizona State in Tempe, Az. on Friday, Jan. 29, before heading to Seattle for a rematch with the Huskies for its first television meet on Monday, Feb. 8.
Team Scores:
Oregon State 194.925; Washington 192.875
Vault: 49.225 (OSU); 48.775 (UW)
Bars: 48.000 (UW); 47.800 (OSU)
Beam: 48.500 (OSU); 47.425 (UW)
Floor: 49.400 (OSU); 48.550 (UW)
Individual Scores:
All-Around: 1. Madi Dagen (OSU) 38.750; 2. Skylar Willough-Kilhelm (UW) 38.575; 3. Geneva Thompson (UW) 38.525. Other OSU Scores: Kristina Peterson 38.225.
Vault: 1. Madi Dagen (OSU) 9.950; 2. Geneva Thompson (UW) 9.900; 3. Sydney Gonzales (OSU) 9.850. Other OSU Scores: Jane Poniewaz 9.825, Kaitlyn Yanish 9.825, Kayla Bird 9.775, Kristina Peterson 9.725.
Bars: T1. Kaitlyn Hoiland (OSU), Kayla Bird (OSU) 9.775; T3. Jane Poniewaz (OSU), Geneva Thompson (UW) 9.750. Other OSU Scores: Ariana Young 9.400, Madi Dagen 9.100, Kristina Peterson 8.850 (Exhibition - Niya Mack 9.550).
Beam: T1. Kristina Peterson (OSU), Madi Dagen (OSU), Sydney Gonzales (OSU) 9.800. Other OSU Scores: Jane Poniewaz 9.75, Lexi Gonzales 9.350, Ariana Young 9.275
Floor: 1. Kaitlyn Yanish (OSU) 9.950; 2. Madi Dagen (OSU) 9.900; 3. Amara Cunningham (UW) 9.875. Other OSU Scores: Kristina Peterson 9.850, Niya Mack 9.850, Savanna Force 9.850, Kayla Bird 9.800 (Exhibition - Julia Melchert 9.500).
For more information on the Oregon State gymnastics team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeaverGym, by Facebook at Facebook.com/BeaverGym or on Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverGym.