(Photo: Nick Wicksman/WCSN)
Four of the eight Pac-12 gymnastics teams competed in the 2015 NCAA Gymnastics Championships taking place this weekend in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Pac-12 representatives included Utah, Stanford, Oregon State and UCLA. The competition opened on Friday with 12 teams hitting the floor for the semifinals. The finals, otherwise known as the Super Six, are scheduled for Saturday, while Sunday is reserved for individual event finals.
The Pac-12 sent two teams to the Super Six – Utah and Stanford.
UCLA entered the 2015 championships hoping for its first NCAA title since 2010. Led by senior and former Olympian Samantha Peszek, the Bruins won their regional competition after a disappointing performance in the Pac-12 Championship in March.
Coming into the championship meet, the Bruins had a streak of 37 scores of 49 or over across all events. In what ended up being a foreshadowing moment, the streak was broken on the opening rotation Friday. The Bruins finished the rotation with a score of 48.950 on floor as sophomore Angi Cipra stepped way out of bounds while performing a double tuck on her opening pass leaving her with a score of 9.700.
The high point of the day for the Bruins was a consistent performance from Peszek, who scored 9.900 on every apparatus. Peszek finished the day for the Bruins on the beam with a clean routine to lead her team on every apparatus. Peszek’s consistency wasn’t enough in the team competition as the Bruins final score was an unofficial 196.400, leaving them in last place in the opening session and ending their hopes for a seventh national title.
Utah came to Fort Worth with a stacked team led by Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year and AAI recipient Georgia Dabritz. The Utes won the Pac-12 Championship in their home gym in March, but since then had to learn to overcome the loss of senior Tory Wilson, who left the conference championship with a ruptured achilles.
“When Tory went down we had to rally and so many girls stepped up,” Dabritz said. “It was great to see them able to do that.”
Dabritz got off to a rocky start as she fell off the beam halfway through the first rotation and finished with a 9.325, her second-lowest score of the season. In the second rotation, Dabritz came soaring back with a 9.925 on her floor routine to lead the team.
Freshman Kari Lee added a 9.900 with a clean routine on floor and continued with another strong performance on the vault, putting up a 9.950 to lead the Utes on the third apparatus. On the last rotation, Utah took to the uneven bars and put up its highest score of the day, a 49.500 with the help of Dabritz who earned a 10.000. Dabritz’s 10.000 was the only perfect score awarded in the session. The Utes finished with an unofficial score of 197.475, good enough for a first place tie with Florida and earning them a spot in Saturday’s Super Six.
The Stanford Cardinal has been steadily improving throughout the latter part of the season, finishing second in both the Pac-12 Championship and the Morgantown Regional. With early season injuries behind the team, Stanford came to Fort Worth with a real chance to make its seventh Super Six appearance since 2002.
Stanford started the day with a bye on the first rotation and entered the competition on rotation two at the uneven bars. Freshman Elizabeth Price led off, sticking her dismount and receiving a 9.950. Price was supported by Sami Shapiro and Ivana Hong with a pair of 9.925’s as Stanford got off to a strong start with a 49.575, which would be its highest score of the day.
Next, Stanford moved on to the beam where Hong led the Cardinal with a 9.900, supported by Rebecca Wing who scored a 9.875, while Nicolette McNair and Taylor Rice who scored 9.850 apiece. The Cardinal took to the floor for the third rotation where Rice scored a 9.900. On the last rotation, Price had another impressive performance earning a second 9.950 on vault after sticking her landing. Overall, Stanford tied its second-highest score of the season, ending with an unofficial score of 197.175 and clinching the final slot from Session I to move on to the Super Six.
When asked about the intensity of the Pac-12, Stanford head coach Kristen Smyth said, “[The] Pac-12 is extremely strong, there’s other really strong teams out there too. But I don’t know if we get the same amount of hype as others and again I think that’s because we didn’t make it here last year.”
Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year Toni-Ann Williams competed for the California Golden Bears as an individual competitor after taking the regional vault title with a high score of 9.950. On Feb. 13, she broke Cal’s all-around individual record, receiving a score of 39.700; she earned a perfect 10.000 on vault that day as well.
Williams rotated with University of Florida and started off with a bye before her floor routine, where she received a 9.850. In her second rotation, she earned a 9.825 on the vault, continuing the pattern with a 9.850 on her floor routine in the third rotation. She finished the session on the bars with a 9.800 accumulating a 39.225 points on the day for eleventh place in the individual overall competition.
In the individual all-around competition, five Pac-12 gymnasts ended Session I in the top-15. UCLA’s Samantha Peszek ended in first place with an overall score of 39.600, tied with Florida senior Kytra Hunter. Utah senior Carrie Lothrop tied for seventh with Stanford’s Taylor Rice, each scoring 39.275. Toni-Ann Williams,finished in eleventh place with a 39.225. Despite her perfect 10.000 on bars, Dabritz finished in fourteenth after her fall from the beam with a 39.150.
The Oregon State Beavers are no stranger to championship competition, making their 24th trip to the NCAA championships after securing their place in the finals in a regional thriller that came down to the final rotation where the Beavers put together a winning showing on the vault.
Oregon State was the only Pac-12 team to participate in session two, and it entered the session looking to make its first appearance in the Super Six since 1996. The Beavers started off with a bye and then opened the competition on the uneven bars in the second rotation. The Beavers posted a 49.225 on the bars led by junior Erika Aufiero with a 9.900.
In their next rotation, the Beavers took to the beam. They had multiple small wobbles on this apparatus leaving them with an overall score of 48.875. Junior transfer Risa Perez scored a 9.825 on her floor routine and senior Madeline Gardiner fell on her last pass leaving her with a score of 9.100.
After several key mistakes, Oregon State came up short, finishing in last place with an unofficial score of 195.875.
At the end of the day, two Pac-12 teams had earned their way into Saturday’s Super Six at the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena. The other teams competing in the Super Six will be Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Auburn. The meet will be recorded and televised on ESPNU on April 22.
You can reach the author via email at mrwitt@asu.edu
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