College Gym 101

The College Gym season is starting next week! I'm participating in the College Fantasy Gymnastics (Big 12) and decided that we can learn about college gymnastics together. I chose a few of my athletes from schools that I didn't know much about. Unfortunately, it is too late to enter the game but hopefully this helps you learn about college gymnastics.

Emily Vidmar	Brigham Young
Megan Whitney	Washington
Katy Nogaki	UC Davis
Nichole Fulton	Northern Illinois
Katy Dodds	Maryland
Caryn Kadous	Auburn
Stephanie McGregor	Oregon State
Anna Willette	Eastern Michigan
Brooke Evans	Ball State

Brigham Young University
Mascot: Cougars
Head Coach: Brad Cattermole, Asst: Dawn Cattermole and Shauna Mertz
Conference: Independent/Salt Lake City Regional
Athletes to Watch: In 2012, Cougars were just shy of making NCAA Regionals as they had a regional qualifying score (RQS) of 194.685 to place 37th when 36 teams qualify. Raquel Willman was selected to compete at regionals along with 2-then seniors. Her favorite event is bars where she boasts a career high 9.875. Look for the return of Megan Bain (VT, BB, FX) and Haylee Rollins who were sidelined due to Achilles and foot injuries, respectively. Watch Raquel Willman compete in the all around (9:33 VT, 29:40 UB, 44:20 BB, 1:22:28 - opens with whip 1/2, punch 1 1/2) here or below. Fun fact: They call her Raq pronounced as Rock.

My Athlete: Emily Vidmar is a freshman is the daughter of 1984 Olympic Champion Peter Vidmar. She last trained at Wildfire Gymnastics - home of Alyssa Pritchett of UCLA and Allyse Inshino of Stanford. Her best event is bars.


Washington
Mascot: Huskies
Head Coach: Joanne Moore, Asst: David McCleary, Elise Ray (Ray does choerography for beam and floor and helps with recruiting)
Conference: Pac-12
My Athlete: Megan Whitney, a senior, transferred to University of Washington (#udub) after competing at Utah her freshman year. She appears to be great on vault and beam but Coach Moore says that Whitney has come a long way on bars after recovering from and injury and may be one of the best for the Huskies this year.

UC Davis
Mascot: Aggies
Head Coach: John Lavallee, Asst: Tamara Ross
Conference: Mountain Pacific
Athletes to Watch: The Aggies had a very young team last year so they are returning with an experienced team - they only lost 1 person in their bars lineup. Their goal this season is to make it to NCAA Regionals as a team. Katie Yamamura (AA, senior), Tiana Montell (AA, sophomore), and Anna Shumaker (vault, junior) have all qualified to regionals as individuals.
My Athlete: Katy Nogaki also trained at Wildfire Gymnastics. She seems to be a great all-arounder but I'm not sure where she falls with this team. Video of her sticking a Yurchenko Full can be found here, 2nd bar routine at 30 seconds here. Katy is a freshman at UC Davis.
source



Northern Illinois
Mascot: Huskies
Head Coach: Sam Morreale, Asst: Nita Teague
Conference: MAC
Athletes to Watch: Tanya Rachan is a senior who qualified for NCAA Regionals on floor exercise. She appeared in the Huskies' lineup mostly on beam, vault, and floor. Kim Gotlund is a junior who qualified for NCAA Regionals as an all arounder.
My Athlete: Nichole Fulton is a sophomore. She did mostly vault exhibition her freshman year and scored a collegiate high of 9.500.

Maryland
Mascot: Terps
Head Coach: Brett Nelligan, Asst: Erinn Dooley, J.J. Ferreira
Conference: EAGL
Athletes to Watch: Abigail Adams, a senior, is the reigning EAGL All-Around Champion. She has career highs of 9.9 on vault and uneven bars and career highs of 9.925 for balance beam and floor. Another senior, Ally Krikorian, is the reigning EAGL Champion on vault and floor exercise. She has career highs of 9.950 and 9.925, respectively. Krikorian also competed on beam in all 13 meets last season.
My Athlete: Katy Dodds is a junior who competed on vault, bars, and floor in every meet last year (source). Of the three, she seems to be the weakest on bars with a season average last year of 9.712 with a career high of 9.8. She is great on floor with a season average of 9.825 and a career and season high of 9.9. Dodds opens floor with a full in tucked, has a front handspring-front full - front tuck as a 2nd pass, and closes with one of the highest double tucks I've ever seen. She is slightly better on vault, where she shows a Yurchenko full that she nearly sticks but always seems to do a little hop in place, with a season average of 9.848 and a career high of 9.925. She trained at Hill's Gymnastics and lists Dominique Dawes as one of her role models.
Watch FX, VT, UB here or below:


Auburn
Mascot: Tigers
Head Coach: Jeff Graba, Asst: Kurt Hettinger, Jenny Rowland
Conference: SEC
Athletes to Watch: Freshman Caitlin Atkinson will be joining the Tigers. She competed in 2008 US Nationals as a junior and was the 2012 JO Beam Champion (Senior B). Bri Guy is a sophomore and was 1 of only 2 athletes from Auburn to compete at NCAA Nationals. She competed in the all around while the other athlete, Kylie Shields who has now graduated, competed on vault.
My Athlete: Caryn Kadous is a sophomore at Auburn who comes from Aerial Gymnastics in Texas. She is listed as an all-around competitor but her best event seems to be floor - career-high of 9.825. I can't find an actual floor routine from her from college but here is one of Auburn vs. LSU at 1/2 speed to Chopin. Check out Auburn's 2013 Commercial here.

Oregon State
Mascot: Beavers
Head Coach: Tanya Chaplin, Asst: Michael Chaplin, John Carney
Conference: Pac-12
Athletes to Watch: The Beavers finished 3rd at Pac-12 Championships. They finished 2nd at NCAA Regionals and qualified to Nationals where they finished 12th. Melanie Jones finished 4th on floor exercise in the event finals, tied with Florida's Kytra Hunter. She competes mostly floor and beam but was added back to the vault and uneven bars lineups for the final half of the season to compete in the all-around. Watch for senior Makayla Stambaugh in the AA, senior Kelsi Blalock listed as an AA and great on vault, junior Brittany Harris in the AA and especially on UB.
My Athlete: Stephanie McGregor is listed as a red-shirt senior. She tore her Achilles during her senior year and is now competing as a 5th year. McGregor competed mostly on vault and bars in her previous 2 seasons and did floor exercise as a freshman. She is a bioengineering major in OSU's Honors College. Here is a feature on her with some clips of bars and floor. Watch here or below:


Eastern Michigan
Mascot: Eagle
Head Coach: Steve Wilce, Asst: Andrea Silk
Conference: MAC
Athletes to Watch: EMU finished 5th at MAC Championships at the conclusion of their season. Watch sophomore Paulina Millers on beam.
My Athlete: Anna Willette is a sophomore that competes in the lineup for vault, bars, and beam.

Ball State
Mascot: Cardinals
Head Coach: Nadalie Walsh, Asst: Chris Bogantes
Conference: MAC
Athletes to Watch: Ball State finished 7th at last years Mid-Atlantic Conference. Nicole Allen, now a senior, was the only athlete from Ball State to compete at NCAA Regionals. She competed in the all-around and finished in 14th place, improving on her 19th place finish the previous year. Allen is also the 2011 Vault and Floor Co-Champion.
My Athlete: Brooke Evans is a freshman from World Class Gymnastics in Virginia. She placed 2nd on vault and 5th on beam at 2012 JO Nationals.