Spring Break
No seniors, no problem
Even with youthful lineup, head coach Tanya Chaplin has kept her program going strong with another successful season on national scale
Sami Redmond
Issue date: 4/12/07 Section: Sports
Without a doubt, the Beavers' teamwork is paying off. OSU placed third this season at the Pac-10 Championships, falling to UCLA and Stanford. The team also qualified for the NCAA Regional competition for the second year in a row after a previous three-year run of missing the regional qualification by a matter of tenths.
"We will set the tone and tell them what our expectations are," coach Tanya Chaplin said. "They are very good at helping each other through assignments and supporting each other, but not coddling each other. That is a great thing to see."
Although the lack of senior experience on the team may have been a struggle at the beginning of the season, Oregon State has found a way around it. Every gymnast on the team feels an equal amount of pressure to perform at their best, but they also have the support of their teammates to back them up.
The Beavers' goal for the upcoming regional competition will be to place in the top two. This would ensure them a trip to their second straight NCAA national competition, taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah this year.
"I think we have a great chance," Rodriguez said. "We are a second seed team right now, so we just need to do our job and we should be fine."
Despite the mountains that the Beavers have had to scale while finding leadership and unification as a team, they acknowledge there is a perk with having such a young team. They are set to return all six routines on each event for the 2008 season as well as the addition of three incoming freshmen that competed at the Junior Olympic national level.
The OSU gymnasts have found success early in many of their collegiate careers and hope that they will continue to improve on the road to the 2007 NCAA Regionals and the national championships, as well as in seasons yet to come.
"We will set the tone and tell them what our expectations are," coach Tanya Chaplin said. "They are very good at helping each other through assignments and supporting each other, but not coddling each other. That is a great thing to see."
Although the lack of senior experience on the team may have been a struggle at the beginning of the season, Oregon State has found a way around it. Every gymnast on the team feels an equal amount of pressure to perform at their best, but they also have the support of their teammates to back them up.
The Beavers' goal for the upcoming regional competition will be to place in the top two. This would ensure them a trip to their second straight NCAA national competition, taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah this year.
"I think we have a great chance," Rodriguez said. "We are a second seed team right now, so we just need to do our job and we should be fine."
Despite the mountains that the Beavers have had to scale while finding leadership and unification as a team, they acknowledge there is a perk with having such a young team. They are set to return all six routines on each event for the 2008 season as well as the addition of three incoming freshmen that competed at the Junior Olympic national level.
The OSU gymnasts have found success early in many of their collegiate careers and hope that they will continue to improve on the road to the 2007 NCAA Regionals and the national championships, as well as in seasons yet to come.
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