| OREGON STATE ROSTER 2018 | ||
| Seniors | ||
| Dani Dessaints |
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| Shireen Khamedoost |
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| Juniors | ||
| Mariana Colussi-Pelaez |
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| Lacy Dagen |
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| Mary Jacobsen |
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| McKenna Singley |
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| Sophomores | ||
| Halli Briscoe |
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| Destinee Davis |
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| Sabrina Gill |
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| Lena Greene |
BB |
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| Jaime Law |
BB |
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| Maela Lazaro |
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| Isis Lowery | VT UB BB FX |
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| Alyssa Minyard |
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| Freshmen | ||
| Savanna Force |
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| Lexie Gonzales |
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| Niya Mack |
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| Colette Yamaoka |
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| Kaitlyn Yanish |
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Recent History
2017 – 11th
2016 – 14th
2015 – 12th
2014 – 13th
2013 – 16th
2012 – 12th
2011 – 8th
2010 – 8th
It’s a year of transition for Oregon State. The departure of an army of contributors—15 of the 24 routines from the national semifinals last season—means that the Beavers will be relying on a number of gymnasts who did not make lineups last year to contribute not only lineup routines but the most important scores in those lineups.
Whenever that’s the case, expectations are not especially high, and they won’t be for Oregon State this season. Repeating last year’s 11th-place result (a disappointing finish then) would be a victory this year. It also means that putting together lineups is a fun little puzzle because there are so many unknown factors, so let’s get to it, shall we?
Vault
Lineup locks
Dessaints (9.900), Jacobsen (9.855), Yanish (FR)
Lineup options
Gill (9.785), Khamedoost (9.775), Singley (9.775 in 2016) Lowery (-), Force (FR), Mack (FR), Davis (-)
Concerns about which gymnasts can fill competitive roles this season are highest on vault, where the Beavs find themselves somewhat short of 9.8-level options. The team returns just two gymnasts who have ever scored higher than 9.825 on vault.
The Y1.5 from Dessaints was essential last season, but it will be essential this season. She’s the 9.9 on this team. Jacobsen‘s Tsuk 1/1 is typically good for 9.850 and gives OSU a second 10.0 start, while the freshman Yanish has quite a powerful full and will be relied upon weekly for similar numbers. Those are your locks. Paired with 9.8s in the other three spots, OSU could get 49.2s, but if those other scores are in the 9.7s as they look like they might be, vault will be more 49.0ish.
I anticipate Gill and Khamedoost getting into the action again this season since both are typically on the higher end of the 9.7s. Beyond that, it may get tough to fill out a six at times. I’m still holding out hope for Lowery on vault—she had a Y1.5 in Australian elite days—but we haven’t seen even a whiff of her on vault, so I’m not counting on it. Singley was also right around that high 9.7s level in 2016, but hasn’t vaulted since, so we may be looking at freshmen like Mack, who had a full in JO, or Force, who also has a full, though vault is not her strong piece.
Bars
Lineup locks
Singley (9.830), Jacobsen (9.815)
Lineup options
Yanish (FR), Khamedoost (9.780), Colussi-Pelaez (9.460), Gill (9.250), Dessaints (9.850 in 2016), Lowery (-), Minyard (-), Yamaoka (FR), Davis (-)
Bars is expected to take a scoring hit in 2018 without Aufiero and McMillan bringing their 9.9s at the end of the lineup. OSU will have a project on its hands to create some new bars routines.
In that regard, Gill. Bars is Gill’s best event, so it was somewhat surprising to see her compete just twice last season, struggle, and then disappear. Gill has lovely execution on bars, and Oregon State no longer has the luxury of that routine not coming along. It needs to be a thing, and it needs to be the best thing in the lineup.
OSU will also want a little more from Jacobsen this year. Jacobsen was solid for around 9.800 in 2017, but she was a lineup leader for higher 9.8s and occasional 9.9s in 2016, which would be a welcome return. Singley should be there again, and I’d like to see Yanish as well. Bars is the weak event for Yanish, but if she adds a little more content, she has the execution to be a top-six bars worker.
Realistically, we’re looking at Khamedoost and the remaining Colussi-Pelaez getting back into the lineup and going between 9.775-9.825, with the hope being that Dessaints can get back to bars at some point as well. She’s quite nice on bars but has competed it just three times in three years. Also keep an eye on Minyard, who didn’t compete last year. OSU is hoping to get a bars routine out of her this time around. Some of the people in this paragraph really need to show they can go 9.800 for the rotation to get comfortably into the 49s. Otherwise, we’re looking at a similar situation to vault.
Beam
Lineup locks
Dessaints (9.895), Gill (9.795), Yanish (FR)
Lineup options
Colussi-Pelaez (9.780 in 2016), Davis (9.650), Jacobsen (-), Dagen (-), Singley (-), Force (FR) Lowery (9.375), Law (-), Lazaro (-), Minyard (-), Greene (-) Gonzales (FR)
Dessaints was among the star gymnasts who made beam the event for Oregon State last season, but she’ll have to add some new partners in 2018 to keep that going, the most likely nominees being Gill and Yanish. Gill was a little up and down last season, but many of OSU’s hopes this year rest on Gill becoming…well basically the new Maddie Gardiner. She has the ability. Those three should be able to keep the scores on the healthy side of the 9.8s and verge into 9.9s.
Beyond that, there’s not a lot of proven beaming, and the spots could go any which way among about 9 or 10 different options, none of which we’ve ever seen before. So…who’s hitting today? Can your knees get a 9.8? Colussi-Pelaez did beam in 2016 and made the final lineup with 9.8s, so there’s that. Upperclasswomen Jacobsen and Singley have not been beamers before, but they’re both trying to add beam to their repertoires in 2018 to give the team a few more options. And what’s the deal with Dagen? If she’s only doing bars and beam now, beam seems the most realistic lineup for her to make.
Davis had a lot of beam potential in JO, and a number of her sophomore classmates like Law, Lazaro, and Greene also had their JO high scores come on beam. OSU needs a couple beam routines from this big crop of sophomores that didn’t at all last season. They can’t just be hanging around in the background again.
Floor
Lineup locks
Yanish (FR), Force (FR), Lowery (9.860)
Lineup options
Jacobsen (9.775), Gill (9.763), Singley (9.750 in 2016), Davis (-), Lazaro (-), Mack (FR)
Theoretically, you’re supposed to be the most worried about floor, but I’m not. The worry stems from Lowery being the only routine returning from last year’s postseason lineup, which is not great, but floor is also the best event for the two strongest gymnasts in the freshman class, Yanish and Force. Both have E-passes (DLO and full-in, respectively) and should slot into the end of the lineup to keep things reasonable.
The first few spots in the lineup, as on the other events, will remain a bit of a mystery for the moment. There are fewer options on floor than on beam, but we’ll expect the AA from Gill this season, and Jacobsen has always been in and out of the floor lineup during her career getting countable scores. Both should compete in 2018, with a couple other double pike routines contending for the remaining spot. Singley has gone before, Mack had a reasonable floor routine in JO, and both Davis and Lazaro are looking to add floor for this season. As on vault, the early lineup may end up looking precariously 9.7ish, but the scores should be there at the end of the six to pick things up into the 49s.
Oregon State does not have many sure-thing routines in 2018. Each event has about half a lineup and then some hopes, which may or may not work out.
This still looks like a 196 team, but it’s not the 197 team that it was last year. That will be a vulnerable position in terms of making nationals, but far from an impossible one. Nationals is still a realistic hope. Recall last season, Oregon State qualified out of regionals with a 196.150, a score this year’s roster will be very capable of recording, especially if Gill and Yanish come through to be the new Gardiner and McMillan. Their contribution is pivotal to keeping Oregon State within sight of last year’s level.
Why did the coaches rank Oregon State four spots ahead of Georgia? This was my main “what the hell” thought when I saw the rankings.
I’d take UGA’s lineups over OSU’s lineups any day.
Same. I definitely wouldn’t be shocked if OSU somehow ended up making nationals, but I don’t think it’s a real enough possibility at this point (based on what we can see) to justify putting them in the top 12 in the preseason poll.
If Kaytianna and Madeline were still here, I would agree with their ranking. However I’m just not confident with their lineups. They lost the majority of their depth and routines and there’s really no room for any injuries.