Tuesday, February 23, 2010

“Sports briefs: Women's gymnastics regains No. 1 ranking (The Oklahoma Daily)” plus 2 more

“Sports briefs: Women's gymnastics regains No. 1 ranking (The Oklahoma Daily)” plus 2 more

Sports briefs: Women's gymnastics regains No. 1 ranking (The Oklahoma Daily)

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 10:04 PM PST

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

Women's gymnastics regains No. 1 ranking

The OU women's gymnastics team regained its No. 1 ranking this week, marking the first time a Big 12 program has been ranked in the top spot for multiple weeks in one season.

Redshirt freshman Natasha Kelley was named Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week on Tuesday afternoon.

Kelley, who is competing with a torn ACL, led the Sooners to their highest road score of the season against Missouri with three routines of 9.85 or higher and a career-high 9.9 on vault.

Ricketts named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week

Freshman pitcher Keilani Ricketts was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and USA Softball's National Player of the Week, and senior infielder Amber Flores received Big 12 Player of the Week honors.

Ricketts pitched 19 innings last week and recorded a 0.37 earned run average. She pitched two complete-game shutouts in her four appearances.

Flores earned conference player of the week honors for the sixth time in her career. She batted .573 in Las Vegas over the weekend, scoring eight runs, five RBIs and three home runs over the Sooners' five games.

Men's track & field climbs up rankings

The OU men's track and field team jumped four spots in the latest United States Track and Field and Cross Country Association rankings released Tuesday.

The Sooner men are now ranked No. 12 in the nation. They were boosted by K.P. Singh, who is now eighth in the nation after breaking his own school record at the Sooner Open over the weekend.

Other top-10 OU teams and athletes include the men's 4x400-meter relay, Ronnie Ash and Malcolm Anderson who are ranked second and sixth respectively in the 60-meter hurdles.

The Big 12 Indoor Championships begin Friday in Ames, Iowa.

-Daily Staff Reports

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Coldwater to compete in gymnastics state tourney (Battle Creek Enquirer)

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 06:52 AM PST

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

Many of us don't see the determination, hard work, and sacrifice that define what it means to compete in high school gymnastics.

But Kim Nichols, of the Coldwater High School gymnastics program, assures that it's all there.

"It's not as popular as football and basketball. We know that." Nichols said. "But we're a very hard working team and we're starting to see the fruits from that work."

Nichols has been the head coach of the Cardinals gymnastics program for three years, watching her girls every flip and tumble toward success.

And this season, success means performing well at the upcoming Michigan High School Athletic Association gymnastics team regional finals next week starting on Feb. 26.

Coldwater is the only area team that competes in the MHSAA gymnastics state tournament and one of less than 60 schools in the state that have the sport.

"We are just performing phenomenal right now," Nichols said. "The skill level for the team has grown over the years so we're now able to put together routines faster. It's so exciting to see the seniors who have grown up with me doing so well."

To earn a spot in the team regionals, a team must accumulate 120 points at least four times throughout the year. Coldwater made that mark in its first five meets.

"I think that's one of the main reasons why we're doing so well this year," Nichols said. "After we got that taken care of, it really took a lot of pressure off the girls so they could focus on developing better routines for late in the season."

Nichols said she has also been pleasantly surprised at some of the other accomplishments the team has had this season.

"Our success is kind of unexpected," Nichols said. "We hit 130 points in early January and I done think the school hasn't done that for 20 years."

However, Nichols also is mindful that the team's success won't mean much without a stellar performance at regionals and admitted that the team has struggled in recent year on that stage.

"Now I really hoped that we can peak at regionals," she said. "I think part of the reason why we hadn't done so well was because we struggled to make it there. We didn't have to do that this time."

Another unique note about the team is that Marshall High School junior gymnast Bailey Redman trains and travels with Coldwater, but competes as an individual representative of the Redhawks.

The Coldwater gymnastics team, active since 1979, competes in the South Central Gymnastics League (SCGL) which, in addition to Coldwater, includes Tecumseh, Saline, Adrian and Parma Western.

Beyond the Lines runs weekly and features stories that go beyond the bats and balls of the sports world. If you have a story idea for Beyond the Lines, please contact Aaron D. Harris at 966-0677 or email him at bcesports@battlecr.gannett.com.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Gymnastics: Stillwater finishes fourth at section meet (Stillwater Gazette)

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 09:10 AM PST

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

OAK PARK HEIGHTS - The Stillwater gymnastics team crushed its previous season-high team score while placing fourth at Saturday's Section 4AA Meet at Stillwater Area High School.

The Ponies (4-5 SEC, 4-6) easily eclipsed the 140-point mark while posting a score of 141.575 - bettering their previous high score of 138.825.

Four-time reigning state champion Roseville repeated as section champion with a score of 147.375 - more than four points ahead of runner-up Mahtomedi (143.15) and third-place White Bear Lake (142.925).

Stillwater will be represented by senior Kristina Krenz and sopohomore Alicia Doerr at the individual state meet, which will be held on Saturday at the University of Minnesota Sports Pavilion on Saturday.

This will be the fourth trip to state for Krenz, who advanced with a third-place showing in the bars after scoring a 9.475. Doerr will make her first trip to state after placing fourth in the beam and tying for fourth place in the floor exercise.

Doerr (37.0) and Krenz (36.9) also placed fifth and sixth in the all-around to narrowly fall short of qualifying in that event. Krenz and Abby Skaar, who competed in the vault, were the lone seniors from Stillwater's section lineup.

"The section meet is often difficult for seniors, as they can easily get caught up in the emotions of finishing their careers," Swenson said. "It was wonderful to see Abby and Kristina have wonderful routines. Kristina had some disappointments during the day, but I was so proud of how she graciously dealt with the small errors and how she supported her teammates and congratulated her competitors at the end of the day. She's truly a class act and a role model for the younger gymnasts on our team."

Krenz competed at state in the bars and all-around a year ago and placed as high as third and second in the beam as a freshman and sophomore.

Doerr led the Ponies in the floor exercise with a tie for fourth place at 9.45. The top four finishers automatically advance and in the case of a tie for the fourth spot it is the superior judge score that determines the qualifier. In this case, Doerr also matched superior judge score of Mahtomedi's Allie Bartholomew so they both advance.

Krenz finished seventh in the event with a score of 9.35 while Sami Matschi (8.575) and Sidnee Ronsberg (8.375) completed the scoring.

"Sidnee had one of her best routines of the season," Swenson said. "As the first routine of the meet, her score was a bit conservative, but her performance was outstanding. Sami followed with another lovely routine. She has clean lines and great dance and her tumbling has improved all season.

"Alicia had her best floor performance of the season. Her first tumbling pass was done as well as I have ever seen her perform it. She had so much height on her front-full, she was able to step out easily into her front handspring. Her dance was sharper than she has performed it and she had great landings on her other skills."

Prior to Saturday, Krenz had been unable to compete in the floor since tearing ligaments in her foot on Jan. 28.

"She had amazing height on her first tumbling pass and, unfortunately, had a step out of bounds for a .1 deduction. Her dance series was much improved and the rest of her routine was clean. She showed how tough she is, coming back so quickly from her injury to compete on all four events at the section meet.

Stillwater's team score of 35.75 in floor was its highest of the season.

Doerr led the Ponies in the vault with a score of 9.225, which was good enough for eighth place in the individual standings. Ronsberg followed with an 8.95 for the Ponies while Krenz (8.775) and Skaar (8.55) weren't far behind.

"Abby finished her gymnastics career with the best vault of her career," Swenson said. "She has been working on a handspring-full vault all season and she completed the full twist on both her vaults with solid landings.

"Alicia anchored our vault as she has all season. Her second vault was outstanding, scoring 9.225 from a start value of 9.4."

Krenz received a score of 9.475 to finish third and qualify for state in the bars while Doerr followed in seventh place at 8.925. Ronsberg (8.225) and Sami Matschi, who finished 13th in the all-around with a score of 33.875, were next for the Ponies in what was their lowest scoring event of the meet at 34.775.

"Sidnee had her best routine of the season," Swenson said. "She successfully completed her drop-kip combination at the start of the routine, which was very exciting. She finished with a great uprise combination and a great landing on her dismount. Alicia followed with another strong routine. She made a change to the start of her routine, allowing her to eonnect her routine more cleanly, without touching the floor on her low bar.

"Kristina finished our set with her best routine of the meet and her best bar routine of the season. She had some struggles with her routine on Friday in practice, but there was no evidence of that in the meet (Saturday). All of her connections were clean and solid and her form was exceptional. She has improved so much with her consistency on bars through the season."

Doerr's performance in the beam earned her another state entry after placing fourth with a score of 9.4 in her final event.

"She finished her meet with a confident performance on beam," Swenson said. "Her combinations were solid and her execution was exceptional."

Krenz wasn't far behind in sixth place with a score of 9.3, good enough for sixth place, and Matschi turned in a score of 8.8 while placing 11th. Kaleigh Eason also contributed to Stillwater's team score with an 8.05.

"Kristina's routine had only one error - a .2-.3 wobble on her dance combination - otherwise she was outstanding," Swenson said. "She has been so consistent with her beam routine in practice and the error was unfortunate, making the difference in placing."

n There were additional honors awarded on Saturday, including Section Academic awards for Doerr and junior Kelly O'Neill. The Section Academic Award is for gymnasts who rank in the top five percent of their class. The Ponies were also honored with an Academic Silver award for a grade point average of 3.74 based on 60 percent of the team.

n Stillwater's Dusty Dennis was also selected the Section Assistant Coach of the Year. Dennis, who also coaches tennis and soccer, has been with the Ponies the past few years.

"It was exciting to see him honored for his contributions to our team," Swenson said.

n The Ponies also enjoyed hosting the section meet, which Swenson said went smoothly thanks to the efforts of many.

"It was very exciting to have our culminating meet of the season at home," Ponies coach Traci Swenson said. "All of our team parents did an outstanding job to make the meet possible and successful for all of the gymnasts. Their efforts were extraordinary."

Team Score

1. Roseville 147.375; 2. Mahtomedi 143.15; 3. White Bear Lake 142.925; 4. Stillwater 141.575; 5. North St. Paul 132.475; 6. Tartan 123.4; 7. St. Paul Central 118.875; 8. St. Paul Johnson 108.675; 9. St. Paul Como Park 93.525.

Individual results

State qualifiers (top 4)

Vault (Stillwater 35.5) - 1. Kellie Dougherty (WBL) 9.5; 2. Emily Pascavis (Ros) 9.4; 3. Katie Quigley (Ros) 9.4; 4, tie, Amber Payne (Ros) 9.375 and Diana Albrecht (Tar) 9.375; Alicia Doerr (St) 9.225; Sidnee Ronsberg (St) 8.95; Kristina Krenz (St) 8.775; Abby Skaar (St) 8.55; Sami Matschi (St) 8.35.

Uneven bars (Stillwater 34.775) - 1. Allie Bartholomew (Mah) 9.6; 2. Kellie Dougherty (WBL) 9.55; 3. Kristina Krenz (St) 9.475; 4. Katie Quigley (Ros) 9.35; Alicia Doerr (St) 8.925; Sidnee Ronsberg (St) 8.225; Sami Matschi (St) 8.15; Maddie Steffl (St) 7.75.

Beam (Stillwater 35.55) - 1. Kellie Dougherty (WBL) 9.6; 2. Kalli Anderson (Mah) 9.425; 3. Katie Quigley (Ros) 9.4; 4. 4. Alicia Doerr (St) 9.4; Kristina Krenz (St) 9.3; Sami Matschi (St) 8.8; Kaleigh Eason (St) 8.05; Olivia Wyffels (St) 7.8.

Floor (Stillwater 35.75) - 1. Kellie Dougherty (WBL) 9.65; 2. Katie Quigley (Ros) 9.625; 3. Emily Pascavis (Ros) 9.55; 4, tie, Alicia Doerr (St) 9.45 and Allie Bartholomew (Mah) 9.45; Kristina Krenz (St) 9.35; Sami Matschi (St) 8.575; Sidnee Ronsberg (St) 8.375; Leia Felicilda (St) 7.6.

All-around - 1. Kellie Dougherty (WBL) 38.3; 2. Katie Quigley (Ros) 37.775; 3. Emily Pascavis (Ros) 37.625; 4. Allie Bartholomew (Ros) 37.575; 5. Alicia Doerr (St) 37.0; 6. Kristina Krenz (St) 36.9; 13. Sami Matschi (St) 33.875.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)