The Barometer Online

Issue date: 2/2/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Cory Reed Sophomore Jen Kesler scored a 9.8 on beam in Oregon State's loss to No. 2 Utah. OSU scored a season high of 196.65.

The No. 11 Beavers scored their season-high 196.65 Friday, but No. 2 Utah scored even higher, posting a 197.05 and handing Oregon State their first home loss since March 16, 2007.

"It is a great score for the fifth meet of the season," junior Mandi Rodriguez said. "Our goal was just to keep building on our last performance, which we did. Even comparing this week to last week, the performances were more confident and aggressive and that is what really matters, then the scores are out of our control."

The meet started off tight as the teams began their first rotation: Utah on bars and OSU on vault. The Beavers led after the first apparatus despite dealing with losing a competitor on the event. During the gymnasts warm up touches, junior Whitney Watson pulled up short of the springboard and it was soon announced that she was out for the event. With Watson out, OSU head coach Tanya Chaplin bumped her lineup one spot up and inserted senior Kera Bolen as the team's anchor.

"I think we have continued to build and get stronger," Chaplin said. "We still need to make sure we nail our landings, but we got some great performances."

Oregon State was strong on the vault, as original anchor Rodriguez scored a team high 9.925. With OSU on vault scoring a 49.150, the Utes were up on bars. A 2006 National Champion on the uneven bars, senior Kristina Baskett fell on a handstand, hurting the Utes' score early on the night.

Baskett would rebound on the next rotation, winning the vault with a score of 9.950. On bars, OSU would field the individual winner and would beat the Utes head-to-head on the event. However, Oregon State's score of 49.150 was not enough to catch up with the huge leap ahead that Utah took with a vault score of 49.450.

Watson's night of struggles continued on bars as she lost momentum on the apparatus, which meant the Beavers needed to be flawless the rest of the rotation. OSU was about as flawless as they could be as three Oregon State gymnasts scored 9.825s on the event, with sophomore Jen Kesler, junior Mandi Rodriguez and senior Jami Lanz all hitting the score.

Continued...

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