February 4, 1999
No. 9 Arizona State (3-0) vs. No. 14 Oregon State (1-3)
February 5, 1999 - 7:30 p.m.
Gil Coliseum - Corvallis, Ore.
TEMPE, ARIZ. - The No. 5 Arizona State women's gymnastics team, winners of three consecutive meets to start the 1999 season and 10 of its last 11 meets going back to last season, hits the road for the second straight week for a Feb. 5 assignment against the Oregon State Beavers. This week's meet is the first of three consecutive Pac-10 dual meets the Devils will encounter over the next three weeks. Following their meet with the Beavers, ASU will face a UCLA Bruin team (Feb. 12) that is only two years removed from a national championship and a Stanford squad that won the Pac-10 Championship last year (Feb. 19).
Series: Since 1978, Oregon State has dominated the regular-season series with a 14-6 record against the Devils in dual meet/tourney meetings ... ASU has lost five consecutive meetings to the Beavers in Corvallis, Ore. ... the last time ASU defeated Oregon State in Corvallis was in 1983, when ASU took first in the Shanico Inn-vitational ... the Sun Devils won four consecutive meetings from 1981-84 ... OSU had a string of nine consecutive victories over ASU from 1987-93.
Last Meeting: Arizona State 194.7-Oregon State 193.275, February 6, 1998, Tempe, Ariz. The No. 11 Arizona State women's gymnastics team continued its winning ways as it defeated the No. 14 Oregon State Beavers, 194.7-193.275, before 912 fans at the University Activity Center. The Devils started off the evening on the right foot as every competitor registered a season high in the vault. By the conclusion of the event the Devils had four -Amy Shelton (9.9), Carie Courtney (9.85), Lisa Vincijanovic (9.85), and Meagan Wright (9.8) - of the top-five finishers. Leading the way was Shelton whose 9.9, tied Oregon State's Lara Degenhardt for first place. Courtney and Vincijanovic finished third and Wright finished fifth. In the Devils ensuing event, the uneven parallel bars, Wright took the top honors finishing with a 9.9. Right behind Wright was Elizabeth Reid who scored a 9.875. Also placing in the top five for the Devils was Wendy Ellsberry who scored a season-best 9.775. ASU's fortunes turned sour in its following event, the balance beam, as the Devils had three competitors fall which led to their second-lowest score of the season, 47.875. Tempering ASU's troubles on the beam were Reid and Ellsberry who recorded scores of 9.9 and 9.85, finishing first and second respectively. The Devils overcame falls in their final event of the evening, the floor exercise, and clinched the meet by virtue of sophomore Elizabeth McNabb's 9.95 and Vincijanovic's 9.9, which placed them in first and second respectively. In addition, both scores also tied career benchmarks. For the Devils it was their ninth straight win at home, a streak that goes back to 1996.
Last Week: Arizona State 191.875-Oregon State 191.850, January 30,, 1999, Cedar City, Utah For the second time in three meets this season, the Sun Devils encountered four falls on the balance beam, however still had enough left to barely get by Southern Utah 191.875-191.850. "I think that we competed well for the line up that we put out on the floor," said ASU coach John Spini. "I was pretty happy with the performance overall." For ASU, the meet represented its 10th victory in its last 11 meets going back to last season. ASU was led by junior all-America and 1998 team MVP Elizabeth McNabb who won the floor exercise for the third time in three meets this season (9.875). Also placing in the top five for ASU in the floor exercise was senior co-captain Wendy Ellsberry, who scored a 9.75 and finished in a four-way tie for third. Also turing in a solid performance was freshman Lea Carver, who followed up last week's 9.875 with a first-place finish of 9.8 on beam. Two spots behind Carver in third place was fellow Sun Devil freshman Rhonda Robinette, who recorded a 9.65. In the vault competition, ASU took three of the meet's top-five spots. Sophomore Kim Skinner and junior Michelle Hess tied for third place with a 9.6 while freshman Megan Carey finished with a fifth-place score of 9.575. ASU's victory over Southern Utah marks the first time since 1994 that the Devils have won their first three meets to start the season.
Head Coach John Spini: The women's gymnastics program at Arizona State has come to be synonymous with words like excellence, tradition and winning, and the person largely responsible for that is John Spini. Now entering his 19th season as head coach at Arizona State, Spini has established the Sun Devils as a program that is annually among the nation's best teams. With a career record of 232-78-1, Spini's winning percentage is tops among active coaches at Arizona State (.746). During his previous 18 years at the helm of ASU gymnastics, the Sun Devils have captured four conference championships and have placed among the top eight at the NCAAs 11 times. With its second-place finish at NCAAs two years ago and its sixth-place finish last year, Arizona State posted its best back-to-back effort at the NCAAs since 1986-87, when it finished second and fifth in 1986 and '87, respectively. Spini's '98 club earned even more acclaim after becoming the lowest-seeded team (No. 11) to ever qualify for the Super Six at the NCAA Championships.
Comments From ASU Coach John Spini:
On last week's victory against Southern Utah: "I think that we competed well for the line up that we put on the floor. I was very concerned with going to balance beam and having some mental errors there in the last event, but it doesn't concern me as much as what we did well. I thought we took one event at a time and did the best we could and I was pretty happy. It makes me happy that the kids are working better and that we are trying to be consistent one event at a time. It was really impressive to see two freshmen -Lea Carver and Rhonda Robinette- step up on balance beam under pressure and nail their routines. And then we get another freshman Michelle Waldram who comes in and does a big vault for us and so the freshmen are stepping up. I am really impressed with the sophomores too, especially Becky Acker and Kristin Fanning doing such a good job on bars for us and also on floor as well."
On competing against Oregon State: "I think that it's really big for an away meet score. I think it is one of the few places where we are going to go where we can come up with a decent score. This is proably very important. If we don't do well then we are going to be hurting for the numbers (away meet scores)."
On ASU's inability to win at Oregon State in the past: "I think that when we have gone up there that we have never really put some full line ups on the floor, plus it's very hard to beat that team in their house and so we are going to go up there and have our hands full. Hopefully we are going to have Elizabeth Reid and Wendy Ellsberry at 100 percent because that is all we are going to get. After you get past all-American Liz McNabb, we are really inexperienced."
On his team's execution in its first three meets of the season: "I think that mistakes are ok as long as the kids are going hard. Falls are mistakes that happen. The mistakes that I don't want to see now are execution mistakes. I want them to execute better. We want to start to see improvement on landings. I don't ever mind a fall, because if you are executing and you are tight then you are going to still come out with a 9.3 or 9.4, which we've proved we can do that. Against a top-five team that will kill us. But right now what I would like to see them do better is execute better - leg form, positions and landings."
About The Beavers: The Beavers have lost three of their first four meets to begin the season. All three losses have come at the hands of Pac-10 and nationally ranked teams - No. 9 UCLA, No. 10 Stanford and No. 16 Arizona. Last week the Beavers posted their second-highest score of the season in a 195.350-193.375 setback to the Cardinal in Palo Alto, Calif. For the Beavers, sophomore Lara Degenhardt finished in the top two in the vault competition for the fourth time this season with a second-place finish of 9.775. Also turning in a solid performance for the Beavers was freshman Jerra Lopez, who scored a 9.8 on floor. For Lopez, it was the third time this season in whcih she scored a 9.8 or higher in the floor exerceise. The Beavers are coached by Tanya Chaplin, who is 12-7 in her two years with Oregon State.
ASU Notes Entering This Week's Meet: If the Devils win this week's meet, it will be the first time since 1994 they have won their first four meets to start the season ... senior all-America Lisa Vincijanovic is sidelined indefinitely with a back injury ... joining Vincijanovic on the Devils' walking wounded list is junior all-America Amy Shelton who is week to week with an inured elbow ... ASU floor exercise performers Elizabeth McNabb and Elizabeth Reid are currently the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 floor exercise performers, respectively.
McNabb On Fire: Junior Elizabeth McNabb has been setting the floor ablaze for the Sun Devils thus far this season. In her first three meets, McNabb has had scores of 9.95, 9.975, and 9.875 and has won the event in each of the Devils' first three meets. Going back to last season, McNabb has now scored a 9.9 or better in the floor exercise in 10 of her last 12 competitions.
Home Cooking: The Sun Devils have won their last 14 meets at the Wells Fargo Arena going back to the 1996 season. The last time the Devils were upended at home was when then-defending national champion Utah defeated ASU 193.875-193.250 on February 2, 1996.
Interesting Numbers: This season's ASU gymnastics squad has seven freshmen - Britnee Bowden, Megan Carey, Lea Carver, Ruth Gill, Rhonda Robinette, Ashley Stewart and Michelle Waldram - which is the highest number since 1987, when that team had seven freshmen as well. The 1980 squad had eight freshmen. This season, the Devils have a 17-member roster, which is the highest number since the 1980 squad, which had 20 student athletes.
Welcome Amanda Borden: This season the Sun Devil gymnastics program is happy to welcome Amanda Borden as its team manager for the 1998-99 season. Borden was captain of the first-ever Gold Medal team for U.S. Women's Gymnastics in 1996 ("The Magnificent Seven"). "It thrills us to have Amanda Borden at Arizona State," says ASU coach John Spini. "She is a tremendous athlete and a tremendous person." In addition to her responsibilities with the team, Borden is also a student at Arizona State where she is pursuing a degree in communications.
Up Next: ASU returns home for a Fri., Feb. 12 Pac-10 meet against No. 10 UCLA. The meet is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.
The following marks represent the 1998 season bests as well as career bests for the Sun Devil Gymnastics squad. Season bests are listed at the top with career bests followed at the bottom.
GYMNAST VAULT BARS BEAM FLOOR ALL AROUND
Becky Acker 9.075 9.850 9.750
9.675 9.850 8.600 9.850 37.100
Britnee Bowden 9.675
Megan Carey 9.625
Lea Carver 9.000 9.875
Kelly Christensen 9.875@ 9.875@ 9.750@ 9.900@
Wendy Ellsberry 9.725 9.875 9.875 9.800 38.350
9.750 9.875 9.875 9.825 39.075
Kristin Fanning 9.750 9.500 9.825
9.750 9.500 9.825
Ruth Gill
Michelle Hess 9.725 9.700 9.775
9.950 9.700 9.775
Elizabeth McNabb 9.850 9.975
9.875 9.975
Elizabeth Reid 9.750 9.850 9.925 9.925 38.875
9.750 9.950 9.925 10.00 38.875
Rhonda Robinette 9.650 9.100
Amy Shelton
9.975 9.975 9.800 9.925 39.550
Kim Skinner 9.675 9.425
9.675 9.425
Ashley Stewart 9.675
Lisa Vincijanovic
9.950 10.00 9.950
Michelle Waldram 9.500
@ - with Brigham Young 1997-98
1999 ASU Gymnastics Highs and Lows
HIGHS
TEAM VAULT Vs. UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 22) 48.475 Vs. Washington (Jan. 22)UNEVEN BARS Vs. UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 22) 48.450
BALANCE BEAM Vs, UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 22) 48.975
FLOOR EXERCISE Vs. UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 22) 49.175 Vs. Washington (Jan. 22)
TEAM SCORE Vs. UC Santa Barbara 195.075
LOWS
TEAM VAULT At Southern Utah (Jan.29) 47.775UNEVEN BARS At Southern Utah (Jan.29) 48.025 Vs. Washington (Jan.15) 48.325
BALANCE BEAM Vs. Washington (Jan. 15) 47.175 At Southern Utah (Jan. 22) 47.45
FLOOR EXERCISE At Southern Utah (Jan. 29) 48.625
TEAM SCORE At Southern Utah (Jan. 29) 191.875 Vs. Washington (Jan. 15) 193.95
INDIVIDUAL HIGHS
VAULT Elizabeth Reid, vs. Washingon (Jan. 15) 9.75 Michelle Hess, Vs. Washington (Jan. 15) Wendy Ellsberry, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22) 9.725 Elizabeth Reid, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22) 9.7 Michelle, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22)For individuals who have accomplished score more than once, the most recent opponent is listed.UNEVEN BARS Wendy Ellsberry, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22) 9.875 Becky Acker, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22) 9.85 Elizabeth Reid. vs. Washington (Jan. 15) Wendy Ellsberry, vs. Washington (Jan. 15) 9.825
BALANCE BEAM Elizabeth Reid, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22) 9.925 Lea Carver, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22) 9.875 Wendy Ellsberry, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22) Elizabeth McNabb, vs. Washington (Jan. 15) 9.85
FLOOR EXERCISE Elizabeth McNabb, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22) 9.975 Elizabeth McNabb, vs. Washington (Jan. 15) 9.95 Elizabeth Reid, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22) 9.925 Elizabeth McNabb, at Southern Utah (Jan. 15) 9.875 Elizabeth Reid, vs. Washington (Jan. 15)
ALL-AROUND Elizabeth Reid, vs. UCSB (Jan. 22) 38.875 Elizabeth Reid, vs. Washington (Jan. 15) 38.825 Wendy Ellsberry, vs. Washington (Jan. 22) 38.35