Olivia Vivian didn’t start the way she wanted, but she expects that to change.

The senior Oregon State gymnast battled a leg injury and prolonged illness the first three weeks of the season.

She’s healthy now with renewed confidence as the Beavers head to Seattle today for a Pacific-12 Conference contest at Washington.

“After the first two meets I was a little worried,” Vivian said. “It didn’t feel the same as last season, when I had a really good season.”

Vivian was an all-American as one of the top uneven bars competitors in the nation last year, and was standout on the balance beam and floor exercise.

She’s only ranked No. 13 on the bars now, and has been slowed on the floor and beam because her legs have been bruised from falls in practice.

Assistant coach John Carney helped boost her confidence in the last two weeks, and she feels better.

“Last Friday I felt a lot more normal on bars,” Vivian said. “Hopefully, I got that all out of me and I feel like myself. I’m excited and looking forward to my last season. I’m going to do everything I can to make the most of it.”

The illness issues are something gymnasts typically deal with at some point in the season. Fellow senior Leslie Mak has also been sick. 

However, veterans know how to overcome them quickly, coach Tanya Chaplin said. The freshman are figuring it out.

“It’s important to get your rest and eating right to overcome sickness the best you can,” Vivian said. “Last week was really, really hard. I didn’t train one day. When you are sick you lose your orientation. That’s a big one. That’s when you rely on the training and all the hard work we did in the fall. I relied on my muscle memory to get through.”

Rankings update

The Beavers moved up to No. 8 in the nation with last week’s victory over Stanford. The Beavers have an average score of 196.050.

Pac-12 rival Utah is No. 1 with a 196.992 average. Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Alabama and UCLA are between them.

Mak is No. 8 in the all-around (39.392), first on the balance beam (9.917), tied for No. 8 on the uneven bars (9.867) and tied for 12th on the floor exercise (9.875)

Makayla Stambaugh is No. 17 in the all-around (39.242) and tied for 12th on the floor (9.875)

Melanie Jones is tied for No. 12 on the floor (9.975), and Vivian is No. 13 on the bars (9.858).

The team’s floor team is No. 3 nationally (49.192), as is the uneven bars squad (49.217), the beam group is No. 10 (48.775) and vault is still down at No. 18 (48.867).

Road changes

The lesson learned last road trip was how the lineups are set for the beam and floor. When on the road the OSU does the floor first and then beam.

Stambaugh goes last on the floor and leads off on the beam. She can score big at the end of the floor and scores solidly to set the tone on the beam.

However, those are two physically draining events. She struggled to be ready for the beam on the last road event. Chaplin plans to move Stambaugh back on the beam when traveling so she can rest.

Injury update

Freshman Chelsea Tang is cleared to return to the lineup after an elbow injury in practice forced her out of three lineups last week, Chaplin said.

“She’s cleared to progress as tolerated, so we’ll ease her back into things on some events,” Chaplin said. “I doubt she’ll be in the all-around.”