Oregon State Gymnasts Provide Preview for Coming Season

(Corvallis, Oregon) - Oregon State gymnastics fans were entertained Thursday night when the Beavers hosted the annual Orange and Black Exhibition at Gill Coliseum.

“This is always an important night for our team,” head coach Tanya Chaplin said. “Getting the opportunity to get out of the practice gym and perform in front of a crowd and the judges with pressure is vital to preparing for the season. We’re still seven weeks from our first competition but this sets the bar and we know what needs to be fixed before we face LSU in January.”

The meet, which was free of admission and concluded with autographs from the entire squad, also included interviews with a judge as public address announcer Brian Brooks helped to educate the crowd in the basics of judging gymnastics.

The Beavers, who have battled a series of minor injuries during the past month, were short-handed Thursday night with several gymnasts limited or held out entirely. Among the missing was 2010 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Makayla Stambaugh (knee), who posted the team’s highest score on bars with a 9.825 and also performed on the beam, and highly recruited freshman Britney Ranzy (elbow), who sat out the meet, both of which are potential all-around performers this season.

Fans had the opportunity to see the most of two relative unknowns on Thursday with sophomore Kelsi Blalock and freshman Brittany Harris the only gymnasts to compete in the all-around. Blalock, who missed most of the 2010 season due to an ankle injury and appears to have returned to health, and Harris showed enormous promise and will be expected to push for spots in all four lineups.

“We were a little cautious tonight and played things safe,” Chaplin said. “We didn’t want to risk aggravating any injuries and have anybody set back. We wanted to get the experience of performing in a meet atmosphere but still needed to walk away healthy. We’ll get back to the gym and work on cleaning up the missed connections we saw tonight and will continue to work in pressure situations and we’ll be ready when the season comes around.”

The Beavers, who have reached the NCAA Championships each of the last five seasons and finished eighth in 2010, are scheduled to open the 2011 season at home Jan. 7 when they host SEC powerhouse LSU.

Source: Oregon State University