Deep breath. We have a lot to get through.
Oregon State has missed nationals three of the last four seasons and has decided that the newest and best solution is to throw freshmen at the problem. Lots of them. Ten.
| Returning Routines – Oregon State | |
| VAULT Dessaints – 9.900 Gardiner – 9.855 McMillan – 9.825 Jimenez – 9.815 Jacobsen – 9.810 Ricci – 9.775 Singley – 9.775 Khamedoost – 9.750 |
BARS McMillan – 9.925 Jacobsen – 9.850 Dessaints – 9.850 Gardiner – 9.835 Khamedoost – 9.835 M Colussi Pelaez – 9.825 Singley – 9.588 S Colussi Pelaez – 9.567 |
| BEAM Gardiner – 9.905 McMillian – 9.860 S Colussi Pelaez – 9.835 Jimenez – 9.790 M Colussi Pelaez – 9.780 Ricci – 9.500 Singley – 9.175 |
FLOOR Gardiner – 9.870 McMillan – 9.867 Ricci – 9.795 Singley – 9.750 Jimenez – 9.644 Jacobsen – 9.567 |
OSU does return a number of routines from last season, so the 70 billion freshmen will not exactly have a ridiculous amount of work to do. They won’t have to be all-around stars, but it’s critical that the Beavs aim higher than simply replacing last year’s routines. Last year wasn’t good enough. They’ll need to improve by several tenths, particularly on vault and floor where the 2016 team ranked a dismal 21st.
Operation Soaring Power Linebacker will be led by two of the prominent scholarship members of this class, Bri McCant and Isis Lowery.
Let’s begin with McCant and the concept of a Yurchenko 1.5 because she has one. That should be of tremendous interest to a team that did not really enjoy the change in vault SVs last year and was just holding its breath and petting a therapy dog for 9.825s. This particular edition of her 1.5 is not super high, but I’ll take it. Definitely. OSU might actually have some vaults! McCant is going to be expected to slide into those vault and floor lineups as part of the effort to change Oregon State’s recent reputation as an underpowered team.
We’re less likely to see McCant go on bars and beam. In spite of a fab full-twisting double tuck bars dismount, the legs and handstand positions can get rough, as can the dance elements on beam, typically too much to get a high score in JO. Continue reading 2017 Freshman Preview: Oregon State