Feb. 21, 2013
What’s Up:
No. 15 Arizona gymnastics travels to Corvallis, Ore. for a tri-meet against No. 11 Oregon State and Seattle Pacific. Competition will take place Friday, February 22 at 7:00 p.m. PT (8:00 p.m. MST).
Live video action via the Pac-12 Network and live stats will be available the day of the meet.
Scouting the Opposition:
No. 11 Oregon State: Last week Oregon State posted a team 196.725 in their home arena to defeat previously unbeaten (then No. 4) UCLA. This improved Oregon State’s record to 8-5 and 3-0 in the Pac-12. Performances from this week’s Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week Makayla Stambaugh as well as Kelsey Blalock and Melanie Jones helped seal the deal. Stambaugh posted the winning all-around score of 39.550 as well as tied for first on bars with a 9.90 and took first on floor with a 9.950. Blalock took the vault title with a 9.90, and Jones took first on beam with a 9.90.
Full Recap
Seattle Pacific: The Falcons totaled their second highest score in the final home meet of the season, posting a 192.125 to take second to UC Davis (194.300). Senior Stephanie Wagner was the standout for SPU, posting a new career high 9.850 to take first place overall. This score was also the highest beam score posted by Seattle Pacific since 2011.
Full Recap
The Series:
Oregon State leads the all-time series against the Cats 49-26. In the last two match-ups, the Beavers have defeated the Wildcats, winning in Tucson in 2012 194.825-194.375 and then again at the Pac-12 Championships 197.025-195.900. The last time Arizona won against OSU was a 196.325-194.600 victory at the McKale Center in 2007.
Last Week:
A number of Wildcats stepped up to contribute to a 195.400 to take second to the then No. 8 Nebraska Huskers.
To begin, the absence of sophomore Allison Flores due to injury left a gap in the vault lineup. Swapping sophomore for sophomore, Danielle Buchanan entered the vault lineup for the first time in her career and posted the meet’s third highest score of 9.800.
Despite dealing with injuries, junior Jordan Williams and Flores pushed past the pain to compete bars for the team. Williams posted a 9.600 and Flores earned a 9.650.
Beam was the event of the freshman, as once again Williams and Flores’ absences left gaps in the lineup. Sisler joined the lineup for the second time in her career, freshman Lexi Mills entered for the first time in her career, and freshman Shelby Edwards competed a new series all in efforts to contribute to the 48.675 beam total.
Finally, the entire floor team stepped up for a 49.275 to finish out the meet only tenths behind top ten Nebraska.
Full Recap
In the Rankings:
Nearing the beginning of rankings by RQS, Arizona holds steady at No. 15 with a total season average of 195.586. Consistent with last week, the Wildcats hold the No. 5 spot in the Pac-12 conference behind No. 5 UCLA, No. 7 Utah, No. 10 Stanford and No. 11 Oregon State.
Holding two top ten event rankings, the team is currently No. 25 on vault, No. 17 on bars, No. 17 on beam (up one spot from last week), and No. 9 on floor (up one spot from last week).
Individually Cristello is making her mark in the rankings: the senior is currently No. 20 in the all-around, and No. 24 on beam.
Full Rankings
Look Out for New GymCats:
Arizona added a number of new faces this season, including Lexi Mills hailing from Frisco, Texas, Sloughouse California native Jessie Sisler, and Krishna Yemany from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. All of these gymnasts were top J.O. or Canadian Elite competitors and should make a dent in the lineups this season.
Pre-season Rankings:
The Arizona gymnastics team heads into the season ranked No. 19 in the 2013 Women’s Pre-Season Coaches poll. The Wildcats are one of six Pac-12 schools to place within the top 25, including No. 2 UCLA, No. 5 Utah, No. 6 Stanford, No. 9 Oregon State and No. 17 Washington.
Stacked to the Max:
The Arizona gymnastics team is going to complete an extremely difficult season in 2013. Of the 12 regular season meets and 20 regular season opponents, the Cats will face 11 ranked teams during eight meets (six of which within the top 10). Those opponents include No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 5 Utah, No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 9 Oregon State, No. 13 Auburn, No. 17 Washington, No. 18 Illinois, No. 21 Missouri, and No. 25 Kentucky.
Ryden’s Record:
Head Coach Bill Ryden bolsters an overall record of 203-192-3 after falling to the Huskers in last week’s “Flipping for the Fight” meet.
What’s Coming Up:
The Cats head home to compete against in-state rival Arizona State. The meet will be the first live meet to be televised at the McKale Center through the Pac-12 Networks, and it will take place Saturday March 2 at 3:00 p.m. MST.
