clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Oregon State Gymnastics is Heading to Nationals; Here’s What You Should Know

The Beavers are back at Nationals, here’s a quick rundown.

NCAA Gymnastics: Women’s Gymnastics Championships Joe Puetz-USA TODAY Sports

Oregon State’s Gymnastics team is set to compete in the NCAA Championships this weekend. The team punched it’s ticket at the Regionals, hosted in Corvallis, against Denver, Oregon State, and Florida. The Gators had a championship pedigree, and were the favorite to take the meet.

But then Denver University, currently ranked 5th in the country took the top spot in the regional with a score of 197.375, and the Beavers pulled off a big upset to grab the second spot, finishing just ahead of the Gators.

Both Denver and Oregon State advance to the NCAA Gymnastics Championship which hosts 8 finalists, split into two groups of four. The top two teams in each of those groups will advance to the final. The Beavers will be in the same bracket as Denver, Georgia, and overall number one seed Oklahoma. The other semifinal features UCLA, Utah, LSU and Michigan.

Here’s what you need to know before the meet gets started.

Meet Oregon State Gymnastics

The biggest name on this Oregon State team is Sophomore Kaitlyn Yanish. Yanish competes in the all around, but she’s a star on floor exercises, for which she was named to the Pac-12 First Team. In the NCAA Regional, Yanish nailed a 9.9 routine on the floor. She also grabbed a 9.8 on the vault.

Another Beaver to keep an eye on is Isis Lowery. Lowery, another All Around competitor, was the Beavers MVP at Regionals, where she scored 9.9 on Floor and Bars, and a 9.825 on the Beam.

Who They’ll Be Facing

Oklahoma is the big name here. The Sooners won back to back championships in 2016 and 2017, and were the favorites to repeat last year. But then, UCLA won one of the closest NCAA finals of all time. The Sooners have reloaded, and are heavy favorites to grab another championship.

Senior Brenna Dowell is the team leader. During the Sooners’ regional, in Georgia, she scored an impressive 39.550 to win the all around. She seems hungry for another championship.

Denver is a smaller school, but they have a history of success in Gymnastics. This is the sixth time they’ve been to nationals, and this year they won the Corvallis Regional, and Pioneer Maddie Kerr took the All Around. That included an incredible 9.950 on the Bars, and

Georgia finished second in the Athens Regional, behind Oklahoma. There appearance in the Championships was powered by a perfect 10 on the Bars from Marissa Oakley. That was just enough to give the Bulldogs a regional win over Oklahoma, but they’ll need another historic performance to get to the final round.

If you want to check out the action for itself, the event gets started today at 10:00 PT. That’s for Semifinal One, which doesn’t feature the Beavers. Semifinal Two, which does, will start streaming at 4:00 PM PT. You can find streaming information here.

Good Luck Beavers!