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casey campbell | Gazette-Times
Oregon State’s Yuki Lamb and Megan Devencenzi cheer on teammate Kera Bolen as she competes on the floor exercise on Friday night at the Salbasgeon Suites Invitational. The Beavers made up a lot of ground on the floor exercise but came up a bit short and took second to Utah. |
By Kevin Hampton
Gazette-Times reporter
Oregon State gymnastics coach Tanya Chaplin was a little concerned when she noticed her team was taking it easy during warmups before the Salbasgeon Suites Invitational on Friday evening at Gill Coliseum.
True, the Beavers had been on the road for three weeks and were looking at finals coming up. But No. 7 Utah was in town, along with University of Washington and Seattle Pacific, and the Beavers couldn’t afford to slip up with a low score.
Maybe the Beavers knew something Chaplin didn’t. They trailed the Utes 98.650-98.050 after two events, but came back with big performances on beam and floor and nearly overcame Utah with a 196.600. The Utes finished first with a 196.675, Washington was third with 193.625 and Seattle Pacific finished with a 189.750.
Jami Lanz said practices were a little sluggish coming into the meet because it was dead week, but the No. 10 Beavers were ready.
“I think tonight we were just being a little extra cautious because we’re all a little tired and we all knew we had a big meet,” Lanz said. “I think when it comes down to it, we know what we’re supposed to do and we have the confidence and we know those routines.”
After two falls on beam hurt OSU’s score last week at BYU, the Beavers came back with a 49.175 as Mandi Rodriguez and Laura-Ann Chong got the team started with 9.825s and Tasha Smith and Jami Lanz hit 9.900s.
The Beavers had the crowd of 4,116 fans on their feet throughout the floor exercise. Yuki Lamb and Rodriguez both scored 9.850 and Kera Bolen landed a 9.875 before Lanz and Smith scored 9.900s once again.
“Yeah, we were a little sluggish, we were a little tired, but this is our house and when we’re here, we know we want it,” Lanz said. “So the last two events, beam, we’re a great beam team and we have a great floor team and when it’s time to go out on that floor, it’s showtime. It’s time for us to show what we can do.”
Lanz won the all-around title with a 39.475 and Smith was second at 39.450. Utah’s Ashley Postell finished third with a 39.425 and Rodriguez was fourth with a 39.125.
“It’s pretty amazing that our young athletes keep going out there and under pressure they almost do better,” Chaplin said. “The more pressure they get, they go out there and they thrive on it and they fight even harder. So it’s really good to see that.”
Rodriguez landed a big vault for the Beavers when it looked like the team might struggle. Her 9.900 gave OSU a 48.950 on the event and kept it within striking distance of 196.
She said vault has been shaky for her in the past few meets and she had been putting in extra work to get her confidence level back up.
“Tonight I just pretended I was in the gym and did my best and whatever score I got, I’d be happy with,” Rodriguez said. “It felt great. I knew I was running as fast as I could and I just tried to slow it down when I got to the table and when I saw the floor I just planted my feet.”
The 196.600 will mostly enable the Beavers to keep their ranking and should improve their regional qualifying score, with one dual meet and the Pacific-10 Championships left.
And it made for a good homecoming.
“It was really important to come back home and just show our home crowd again what we’re made of and prove that UCLA wasn’t just a one-time thing,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve been proving ourselves on the road and we just wanted to come back and hit and come back strong from last week.”
Salbasgeon Suites Invitational
TEAM SCORES: Utah 196.675; Oregon State 196.600; Washington 193.625; Seattle Pacific 189.750
VAULT: 1. Kristina Baskett, Utah, 9.950; 2. Ashley Houghting, UW, 9.925; 3. Mandi Rodriguez, OSU, 9.900
BARS: 1. Nicolle Ford, Utah, 9.950; 2. Kristina Baskett, Utah, 9.925; 3. Jami Lanz, OSU, 9.900
BEAM: 1. (tie) Tasha Smith, OSU and Jami Lanz, OSU, 9.900; 3. (tie) Nina Kim, Utah and Ashley Postell, Utah, 9.850
FLOOR: 1. (tie) Tasha Smith, OSU, Jami Lanz, OSU and Kristina Baskett, Utah, 9.900; 4. Kera Bolen, OSU, 9.875
ALL-AROUND: 1. Jami Lanz, OSU, 39.475; 2. Tasha Smith, OSU, 39.450; 3. Ashley Postell, Utah, 39.425
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