Recruiting Breakdown: Beavers Add Yanish, Force, Gonzales, And Dagen

Recruiting Breakdown: Beavers Add Yanish, Force, Gonzales, And Dagen

Oregon State gymnastics adds four new recruits -- Savanna Force, Kaitlyn Yanish, Alexis Gonzales, and transfer Lacy Dagen, who was previously at Florida -- to replenish their outgoing class.

Jul 26, 2017 by Lauren Green
Recruiting Breakdown: Beavers Add Yanish, Force, Gonzales, And Dagen
The 2018 NCAA gymnastics season is still months away, but it's never too early to get to know the incoming freshman class for each team. Here's a breakdown of the new additions Oregon State has made for next year.

Oregon State had an impressive season in 2017 in which they finished second at the Pac-12 Championships behind Utah. The Beavers returned to the NCAA championships after missing out in 2016. They put up a solid performance, but were unable to crack the top three in their semifinal session. In the regular season, Oregon State's biggest win arguably came against Utah, when they edged the Utes on February 11 at home by 0.025.

Outgoing: Erika Aufiero, Silvia Colussi-Pelaez, Madeline Gardiner, Megan Jimenez, Kaytianna McMillan, Taylor Ricci
The Beavers will be hit hard with the departures of six seniors who were all fixtures in their 2017 lineups. Of the 24 competitive routines, 15 came from seniors. On both vault and bars three routines were from Aufiero, Gardiner, and McMillan. Balance beam and floor exercise, though, are where the Beavers will suffer the biggest loss. Four routines on beam were from seniors -- Silvia Colussi-Pelaez, Gardiner, Jimenez, and McMillan. On floor exercise, five of six routines came from Aufiero, Colussi-Pelaez, Gardiner, McMillan, and Lucci. With plenty of competition for spots in the lineup, expect Oregon State to look much different in 2018.

Incoming: Savanna Force, Alexis Gonzales, Kaitlyn Yanish, Lacy Dagen (transfer)

Savanna Force

Reno, Nevada
Trained at Deltchev's Gymnastics
Coached by Stoyan Deltchev and Aneta Damianova

Force took bronze on floor exercise and tied for seventh on balance beam at the 2017 Region 1 championships. She was the Nevada state champion on floor three weeks earlier. She finished sixth in the all-around, tied for fourth on vault, and placed sixth on bars and beam at states. She missed the entire 2016 season while recovering from an injury suffered in the postseason during the 2015 season. She earned eighth in the all-around, third on balance beam and vault, seventh on floor, and ninth on uneven bars at the 2015 Nevada state championships.

Video courtesy of Savanna Force

Impact event: Floor exercise

Kaitlyn Yanish

Chandler, Arizona
Trained at Arizona Dynamics
Coached by Michelle Strang, Kim Graves, and Jessica Wolf

Yanish is a four-time JO national championship qualifier. She finished tied-second in the all-around at the 2017 JO nationals, where she also earned fourth on both vault and floor and fifth on uneven bars. She was the 2015 JO national champion on floor exercise in 2015. Yanish is a two-time Region 1 all-around champion (2016, 2017) and a regional champion on floor (2017) and vault (2016, 2017). She second on uneven bars and third on balance beam at the 2017 regional championships. Yanish was the Arizona state champion in the all-around, on uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise.

Video courtesy of USA Gymnastics

Impact event: All-around

Alexis Gonzales

Newport Beach, California
Trained at Wildfire Gymnastics
Coached by former Oregon State gymnast Whitney Watson-Dames, Rick Watson, Tom Wakeling, and Stephanie Calvert

Gonzales took third on balance beam at the 2017 Region 1 championships. She earned fifth in the all-around at the 2017 Southern California state championships. She also took second on both balance beam and vault and was fourth on floor. She qualified for the Southern California state championships in 2016.

Video courtesy of wildfirecollegiate

Impact event: Balance beam

Lacy Dagen

Pleasanton, California
Trained at San Mateo Gymnastics
Coached by Armen Astoian and Oksana Bystrova

Dagen spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons with the Florida Gators. After tearing her ACL, Dagen missed the entire 2016 season. She returned to competition for the Gators in 2017. Dagen competed on vault in the first weekend of the season against NC State where she scored a 9.850. The injury bug struck again, though, and Dagen missed the remainder of the season with a torn meniscus. She had surgery to repair the meniscus on February 8. She was the 2014 JO national champion on balance beam and finished third in the all-around and fourth on beam. She was the all-around champion at the 2014 Region 1 championships and earned regional titles on vault, beam, and floor. She competed as junior elite in 2012 where she finished eighth on vault at the Secret U.S. Classic, and seventh on vault at the Visa U.S. National Championships.

Video courtesy of USA Gymnastics

Impact events: Vault and balance beam


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