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CLEAR Temp: 43 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Monday, February 3, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend February 3, 2003 Oregon State�s Meghan Jones, a 2001 graduate of Phoenix High, has been a major contributor this season for the 12th-ranked Beavers. Jones, who has been involved in gymnastics for 15 years, competes on the bars for OSU. Jones springs into spotlight The Phoenix High graduate is leaving her mark for the Oregon State gymnastics team By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune Meghan Jones literally vaulted onto the scene last year as a walk-on freshman on Oregon State’s powerful women’s gymnastics team. This year, she competes on bars and, as such, has set the bar a little higher. Before long, she hopes to be an accomplished all-around contributor for the Beavers, who are ranked 12th nationally, defeated No. 1 UCLA recently and are a perennial visitor to the national championships. That’s precisely the kind of excellence Jones sought upon graduation from Phoenix High School in 2001. She had competed for 15 years at the club level, qualifying thrice nationally for the Level 10 Junior Olympics. When it came time to choose a college and a gymnastics program, Oregon State seemed a natural, even though it didn’t offer her a scholarship. Jones took recruiting trips to Boise State, which did offer her aid, and to UC Santa Barbara before deciding on the Beavers and their exacting standards. "I like it better out here, and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do yet," says Jones, who has been nursing a sprained ankle this winter but nevertheless has been an integral performer for the Beavers. "I did know I wanted to do gymnastics. I would rather be on a better team, and I thought this was the best place for me." It hasn’t been too bad for OSU, either. As a freshman, Jones competed in 12 of 14 meets on vault, including the NCAA regionals and nationals, and stuck her routine each time out. That earned her the team’s co-most-consistent award for the event. She began this year training all four disciplines — bars, vault, balance beam and floor exercise — but the ankle injury in December forced her out of the latter two. In meets, OSU has six starters in each event whose scores count, and it can have a seventh team member perform an exhibition routine. Jones has shown steady progress on bars in the Beavers’ five meets, recording a high score of 9.825 in mid-January against Arizona, good for third place, and twice hitting 9.80, most recently Friday at Stanford. In that meet, the Beavers scored a season-high 196.275 points, finishing second in the four-way meet to ninth-ranked Stanford. "She continues to come close to new highs every time she goes out, which is exciting to see," says OSU coach Tanya Chaplin. While Jones has been a bars regular, she’s also exhibitioned on vault, training a more difficult version this year than the one she competed with last season. In scoring, gymnasts start with an available point total based on the difficulty of their routine. Points are then subtracted for flaws. For instance, the vault Jones performed last year started at 9.80. The one she now exhibitions and may debut in competition as early as this week, against Arizona State, starts at the maximum of 10 points. "So far, exhibitioning the new vault in competition has really helped me because there’s so much change in it," says Jones. "It helps me focus in that setting, so when I do get in the lineup, I’ll be ready for it." Called the "Yurchenko full," the new vault begins with a rounded entry to the horse, rather than the front handspring she did before. When her hands hit the horse, she springs into a straight-bodied full twist and lands on her feet. Against Stanford, she scored 9.75 with it, which would have been a career high had it been a counting routine. "Meghan has a tremendous amount of power," says Chaplin, a former six-time All-American at UCLA. Chaplin hasn’t risked training Jones on the beam or floor since her injury because she doesn’t want to compromise the events in which Jones provides immediate help to the team. "We focused on the events we knew she’d be on because she’s very valuable to us," says Chaplin. "When she gets her routines down on the beam and floor and gets her ankle stronger, she’ll be right there fighting for a position in those lineups." A scholarship appears to be on the horizon, also. "Meghan is doing an awesome job and making us take notice of her," says Chaplin, who has 12 full scholarships for her team but doesn’t have any available at the moment. One will be freed up after this year, but it’s earmarked for a recent recruit. In the meantime, Jones is intent on helping the Beavers go as far as possible this year. Last season, OSU advanced to the 12-team national championships for the 19th time in the 26 years the school has fielded a program, but injuries to two all-arounders right before the meet forced it to use a makeshift lineup. At nationals, only six teams vie for the crown, advancing from the original 12. Hopes again are high for the Beavers. "This is a top-10 team," says Chaplin. "Exactly where we are in the top 10 is not exactly clear to me, yet. We have an opportunity to get into the Super Six. As we progress, we’ll see how our athletes hold up the rest of the season. We’ll know a lot more in another month." By then, there’s no telling how high Jones will have raised the bar. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search M Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy web master feedback A D V E R T I S E R S