Australia is yet to have a gymnast score coveted silverware at an NCAA National Championship but we must absolutely applaud Melanie Jones for her efforts over the weekend.
Now in her third year at Oregon State University, Mel made it to the floor final (her first ever apparatus final at a collegiate nationals) in front of a parochial Georgia crowd. She displayed a stunning routine which you can watch below, scoring a 9.925 for equal 4th place. The amazing thing is, verdict among fans and spectators was that not only was it a great routine, it deserved first place! It's not every day you have an overseas audience clamouring for one of your own. Buuuuuuuut you can't fight the system, and she got a nifty trophy out of it anyway (not to mention the acclaim of the crowd).
Onya, Jonesy!
"Mel did a fabulous job, I'm really proud of her," head coach Tanya Chaplin said. "She's done a wonderful job for us this season and put in a lot of hard work and it is great to see that pay dividends today."
There is a second West Australian I'm sending my love to this weekend.
Olympian Olivia Vivian is undertaking her last year at Oregon State University, her senior year as a member of their women's gymnastics team.
Liv has gone from a one-event specialist to a hardcore, consistent triple threat with crowd-pumping antics to boot! Last year she spent a short time ranked as the #1 bars gymnast in the nation (the first Australian collegiate to do so) and made the NCAA national championships apparatus final on that event. This weekend, though it was by no means her last competition for the season, Olivia and her fellow senior Leslie Mak were celebrated by the university's team and crowd on Senior Night. The evening was topped off by OSU winning the competition.
Here's video of Olivia talking about the competition and her collegiate experiences overall, and then there is video of one of my favourite routines of hers.
Liv has hinted that she'd like to try out for Cirque when all is said and done. It has been a pleasure and privilege to watch her grow into such a dynamic and reliable member of the OSU lineup, and I wish her the very best for the future. Now GO GET THAT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!
Thanks so much to those who passed on positive feedback after my little video address. It means a lot, and you're the reason I keep doing this.
While things are a bit quiet on the national front, I thought I'd update you once more on how our Stateside competitors are going.
Melanie Jones and Olivia Vivian at Oregon State:
Mel is relishing competing all-around for the first time since starting at OSU. One of her most recent flooor routines scored a 9.950, with a 10 from one judge, earning her a Pac-12 conference Special Performance of the Week honour. Watch Mel's lovely routine in the video below.
Olivia is still going great guns on bars and entertaining the crowd on beam and on floor. She was very lucky and proud to have her parents travel to Corvallis for the first time last weekend, to see her compete at the annual Pink Out competition that raises funds for breast cancer. Oregon State tied for first with UCLA on the night. Watch Olivia talk about the experience below. She has also admitted that if she had to cook her teammates dinner... she'd give them Vegemite toast!
Shona Morgan at Stanford:
Shona is all class on beam, floor and bars. Unfortunately Oregon State topped Stanford at a meet over the Australia Day weekend, but Stanford were best in show at their most recent competition against Bridgeport and Brown Universities (home of Alicia Sacramone). Shona won beam with a 9.925, a personal best!
Monique Blount at George Washington:
Monique's team does not come with the high-profile winning streaks of the above schools, but their spirit is just as big. She continues to shine on beam and on floor although, as far as scarce coverage tells me, is yet to see a first-place finish on either. She is consistently singled out as a strong performer in competition reviews and I hope to see more of her smiling face on the medal podium!
Aah, it's good to be home, and even better to be home to gym news!
In an interesting match-up over the weekend, collegiate Aussies Mel Jones and Olivia Vivian (Oregon State) took on conference rivals Stanford, where one of their stalwarts is fellow Beijing 2008 squadder Shona Morgan.
Competing in front of a home crowd, OSU came out on top, with Olivia scoring an awesome 9.925 on bars. More great reviews are flooding in for Mel's floor (I still haven't seen video of it?) while Shona competing without major error on beam and floor. I do so love her choreo!
(ETA: If you would like to watch an archived stream of the meet, go here.)
In all the excitement of Worlds team announcements, we can't forget that another batch of Aussies have been making us proud across the pond, and will continue to do so in 2012.
Soon-to-be Oregon State senior (!) Olivia Vivian celebrated All-American honours for her bars work last season, and has had some pre-2012 season fun with her team on a rafting trip.
And, after a long period of injury, Monique Blount has been made a captain(!!!) for the upcoming season over at George Washington University. Onya girls. Australia is so proud of you.
A hearty congratulations to Perth's own Olivia Vivian for top-scoring on bars in Oregon State's competition against LSU this weekend, taking home the individual title with 9.875 - a first for any Aussie within the NCAA ranks. In doing so, she also helped the OSU Beavers to a team win over their rivals. What a way to kick off the season!
She now performs a piked jaeger and apparently showed off much-improved form on handstands and her double front.
I am also told her floor routine for 2011 is another crowd-pleaser, chock full of personality! I look forward to seeing some videos from the meet.
Congratulations, Olivia!
(Edit - You can take the girl out of WAIS...
Not content with just one title, Olivia also won the bars title the very next night at the Pac-10 Showcase, an event that included regional rivals Stanford, Arizona and UCLA. She scored a phenomenal 9.950 to win the title! Oregon State ended up in third place overall.)
Read about Olivia's recent personal and competitive escapades here.
The "Routine of the Year" nomination post isn't quite ready yet (there was residue on my cake tester) so in the interim, check out how Shona Morgan's looking over at Stanford as the team prepares to take on rivals this weekend (including Aussie haven Oregon State!)
Edit - Apparently Shona's been training while coping with a knee injury, so while we will most likely not see her at this competition, we can expect to see her competing beam very soon. Best of luck, Shon!
Aussie expats Melanie Jones and Olivia Vivian competed in Oregon State's annual "Orange and Black" exhibition competition last night, giving fans a teaser of their 2011 season.
Check out this engaging picture of Mel... (click for larger)
(photo credit Ethan Erickson/Oregon State Athletic Dept)
News from the Stanford women's team is that Aussie freshman Shona Morgan is fitting in very well and having a whole lot of fun in her new surrounds, having
a) amused everyone on the team's 80s-themed day with a "sassy Betty Boop dance" on beam b) performed some impressive bars and beam work in training; her bars releases have been positively remarked upon a number of times c) dressed in a Superman costume, along with her fellow freshmen, for the team's Halloween party!
Over in Washington, 2-year absentee Monique Blount remains on the George Washington University roster and hopes to finally, fully, represent her school this year in competition.
Best wishes to Olympian Shona Morgan who, it was announced today, has decided to retire from elite gymnastics here in Oz and concentrate on her commitment to Stanford University. Read the news and a statement from Peggy Liddick here.
I am sure Shona will be an exceptionally valuable asset to the Stanford class of 2011, and I hope she has as enjoyable a time with them as we have seen our other collegiate Aussies have with their schools. I had the pleasure of meeting her at an event outside of gymnastics and she was as pleasant as I'd always presumed she would be. As a competitor, she boasted difficult skills performed with elegance, and a calm demeanour to boot. With multiple state and national medals under her belt, it is no surprise that Shona's name has appeared in the Australian lineup for two world championships (three, if you count her reserve role in 2006) and an Olympics.
Shona was a Rotterdam contender and listed as a reserve for the Commonwealth Games team but, in retirement, has relinquished both positions. You can read about the rest of the Delhi team lineup here.
AGB HAS ALWAYS, AND WILL CONTINUE TO, FRIGGIN' LOVE SHONA MORGAN.
Something I've been waiting to break for a while and now, at last, can!
It's been confirmed by Stanford University that Aussie Olympian and head ginger at Waverley Gymnastics Centre, Shona Morgan, will be heading there for the new collegiate season!
“I am so excited that Shona will be joining us this fall. She rounds out a stellar class for 2010. Shona is a world-class athlete with extensive international experience,” said Stanford head coach Kristen Smyth. “She is fantastic on all four events but really shines on vault and beam. She is a confident competitor and her routines are packed with difficulty. She brings maturity and international flavor to our program and the collegiate gymnastics community.”
She joins fellow Commonwealth gymnast (and other other other AGB favourite) Kristina Vaculik of Canada in heading to the Big S for the new season.
Best of luck, ShoMo, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time! We'll miss you!
Congrats to the Aussie quartet who did a clean sweep of their age group's all-around standings at the Pre-Olympic Youth Cup! Georgia-Rose Brown topped the field, followed by Angela Donald, Emma Nedov and Pacific Rim rising star AmeliaMcGrath. Grace Claringbold managed a commendable 9th. Read a competition report from MLC here and one from gymmedia.com here. See a couple of other cracking photos at the VWHPC page here.
Alex Eade finished 5th overall in the 12-13 age group.
The SE Queensland Senior Regionals and State Team Trials were also on this weekend, and the following observations come from a source on the scene.
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Senior International:
The senior all-around competition was won by Larrissa Miller, who competed on all four events for the first time since last year’s state championships, albeit with significantly reduced difficulty on most events and quite a few falls, too. Her vault was tidy layout Yurchenko (she has a nice full-twisting Yurchenko, but her foot won’t allow it yet). On floor she showed an elegant new routine featuring a layout front to layout front-full, layout and 2.5 twist – a far cry from the much more difficult tumbling she did before her injuries. Her beam set was marred by three falls (front aerial, double turn, L turn) and rather a lot of wobbles. It’s a nice routine, though, which can only get better over the next few months. Her bar routine looked good until the stoop-through-half (fall). The Stalder-full at the end didn’t go as planned either, but even so, Miller looked better here than she did a few weeks ago at Pac Rim. It will be interesting to see whether she will be able to pull out a bit more difficulty on all events at states.
Second place went to new QAS recruit Sophie Budack, who showed a good Yurchenko-full, albeit with a deep landing. On bars she only barely hang on to her Jaeger, and her casts seemed rather muscled, but the routine showed some promise. Her beam routine was one of the more stable ones of the evening, the only serious wobbles coming after a punch front and a wolf turn. Her floor routine (double tuck, double twist, layout front to layout front-full, double pike) had good music and nice dance. Budack is definitely one to watch.
The all-around bronze went to Bridget Beattie, who was sporting a brace on her left knee. She vaulted a good layout Yurchenko and hit a nice piked Jaeger on bars before coming off on a blind change. She also counted three falls on beam, including a weird one where she put a foot back after a half turn to feel for the end of the beam, only to lose her balance and fall off. (The other falls came on a back salto and a side aerial.) On floor she showed a slightly overrotated double pike, 1.5 twist to layout front, double full and a double tuck, the latter after a fourteen-second pause in the corner (I kid you not). It wasn’t her best competition, but she’s promising, all right.
The final competitor in the senior competition was Karina Brooks, who vaulted a Yurchenko-full with a very deep landing, then went on to have a nightmare on bars, where she fell on a cast to handstand, hit her feet on the floor after a bail-half, took a scary fall to her back after blanking out on what was probably supposed to be a giant-full, and fell once more on her double pike dismount. The mistakes were all the more unfortunate as Brooks is actually a very good bar worker, with nice technique, great form and good skills (hecht, piked Jaeger). On beam she hit a solid punch front but fell on a back salto, side somi and side aerial. She also landed very low on her double tuck on floor, taking two steps backwards. Despite her many mistakes, though, it was good to see Brooks back in action. Hopefully she’ll fare better at states.
Medals:
All-around: 1) Miller, 2) Budack, 3) Beattie
Vault: 1) Budack, 2) Beattie, 3) Miller
Bars: 1) Miller, 2) Beattie, 3) Budack
Beam: 1) Budack, 2) Beattie, 3) Miller
Floor: 1) Beattie, 2) Miller, 3) Budack
Peggy Liddick attended the competition and seemed to be in a cheerful mood, chatting with all the IDP girls and cheering for many of them. Chloe Sims was also in attendance and was seen snapping funny pictures of her former coach Sasha Beloousov and chatting at length with Peggy.
Junior International:
Four girls competed in the Junior International competition: Natalia Joura and Katie Wurth (both QAS) and Amaya King-Koi and Shar-lee Clark (both MBC). In the end, the all-around gold went to Amaya King-Koi, who wasn’t faultless but made fewer mistakes than her rivals.
On vault, King-Koi showed a decent layout Yurchenko. Her beam was solid but for a fall on her full turn and a big wobble on her wolf-half. All the acrobatic skills (punch front, ff to tucked back salto, front aerial, side aerial, side somi, double tuck dismount) were stuck, as they usually are; give the girl a few more connections and a little more choreography and she’ll have a very competitive routine. King-Koi also did a good job on floor, where she has a new, Middle-East-inspired routine which is an improvement over the old one (double tuck, 1.5 twist to layout front full, double twist, double pike). Her one great weakness is bars, where she has improved considerably since she transferred to MBC but still shows bad handstands and bent legs on the Jaeger. She also fell on her back on her double front dismount. Still, it was a pretty good competition for King-Koi, who reportedly has a beautiful double Arabian and 2.5 twist in the works on floor.
The silver went to Katie Wurth, who is an elegant gymnast in the grand Queensland tradition, well worth keeping an eye out for. Wurth has beautiful lines and excellent presentation on beam and floor, and her skills aren’t bad either (side aerial to ff, front aerial to sheep jump, side somi on beam; double pike, 1.5 twist to layout front, double twist, 2.5 twist, all hit). Sadly, she fell on an Onodi (the only one in the competition) on beam, but it was a beautiful routine nonetheless. Her bars need a bit of work. She had loose legs on quite a few handstands, and the double tuck dismount will have to be upgraded. Nice Delchev, though. She vaulted a somewhat piked Yurchenko-full.
Natalia Joura placed third. Having started with a good layout Yurchenko, Joura Jr moved on to bars, where she had a bit of trouble holding her handstands and only just hung on to her Jaeger (after having missed it by about half a metre in warm-up). She probably showed the hardest beam routine in the competition, with several valuable connections: punch front to sheep jump; side aerial to tucked back salto (fall); front aerial to tucked back salto; side somi; change-leg leap to full-twisting change leg. Her floor exercise sadly came with a couple of falls (double tuck, 2.5 twist). Her style is very reminiscent of her elder sister’s, which is obviously a good thing. Here’s hoping she will hit all her routines at states.
Shar-lee Clark, who didn’t compete floor, finished fourth. She vaulted a rather tucked Yurchenko and on bars suffered a fall on her second toe-shoot to the high bar and a near-fall on her full-out dismount. She hit her Jaeger, though, and generally had very good form, but for a leg separation on the bail-half. Unfortunately, beam was a splatfest for Clark, who fell on a front aerial, ff-layout step-out and side aerial and missed the connection on her normally solid change-leg to gainer layout step-out. It’s a pity she didn’t get to show her floor exercise, as she is a nice floor worker.
Medals:
All-around: 1) King-Koi, 2) Wurth, 3) Joura
Vault: 1) Wurth, 2) Joura, 3) King-Koi
Bars: 1) Joura, 2) Wurth, 3) Clark
Beam: 1) King-Koi, 2) Joura, 3) Wurth
Floor: 1) King-Koi, 2) Wurth, 3) Joura
IDP Level 10:
The IDP 10 competition belonged to MBC’s twelve-year-old Georgia Godwin, who proved that her success at last year’s national clubs was no fluke by taking the all-around gold as well as all four apparatus titles. Godwin vaulted a good Yurchenko-full (a little piked) and showed good form on bars, although she was frequently short of handstands and had a rather late turn on her giant-full. Her beam routine was marred by falls on the side aerial and side somi, but she did show a nice punch front and confident leaps. She also performed the most difficult floor exercise of the day: double tuck, layout front full to front 1.5 twist, 2.5 twist, double pike. What with a double layout, piked full-in and double Arabian in the works, Godwin will be a major contender for a floor position in a few years.
Yasmin Budack (QAS) came second. She vaulted a Yurchenko-half with a bad landing and had a lot of trouble on bars, where she fell twice on a front giant, finished her transition in a dead hang and generally suffered poor leg form. She did better on beam (fall on punch front, wobble on side aerial) and floor (fall on double tuck, bent legs on double twist), where she showed some nice work.
Tianye Boorman placed third. Boorman had a difficult competition. Her bar routine was characterised by a fall on a clear hip to handstand and dead hangs on her transitions. She also had two falls on beam (the first one on a punch front, on which she initially balked, and the second one on a side aerial). She did, however, show the most interesting mount of the competition: a press to handstand, lower down to shoulder stand into an Eremia-like pose. On floor she showed a double tuck (fall), 1.5 twist to punch front and 2.5 twist to techno music.
Brittany Boffo only competed bars, where she had serious problems on a toe-shoot and fell on a giant-full. Brittany George didn’t compete at all, having injured her elbow. MBC’s Brianna Wong didn’t compete either.
Medals:
All-around: 1) Godwin, 2) Budack, 3) Boorman
Vault: 1) Godwin, 2) Budack, 3) Boorman
Bars: 1) Godwin, 2) Boffo, 3) Boorman
Beam: 1) Godwin, 2) Budack, 3) Boorman
Floor: 1) Godwin, 2) Boorman, 3) Budack
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And, further to the vault video I posted the other day, check out Olivia Vivian competing on all four events at the OSU team instrasquad event.
A nice haul of hardware came Team Australia's way in recent days, with two male disciplines seeing our gymnasts shine.
* Prashanth Sellathurai won(!) pommel at the Dityatin Cup; Pacific Rim medallist Luke Wiwatowski followed suit with a 1st place on floor and on P-bars. He also managed 3rd on high bar, closing out his best overseas performance yet. Elliott Cook placed 3rd on pommel behind Prashanth.
* Sport aerobics athlete and multiple international medallist Kieran Gorman won the Individual Male division at the FIG World Series event in italy.
Nice job, boys!
And, in other good news: After one season limited to bars and a second season competing just 3/4 events, look who's training vault!
Keep your eyes peeled when watching Channel 10 over the coming weeks, as Lauren Mitchell's Commonwealth Games commercial has gone to air (and been spotted by a few of you!)
Now, don't go saying our collegiate Aussies don't have fun in their downtime!
Olivia Vivian and her Oregon State teammates oversee part of the annual student athlete talent show, having some fun with a coach from the school's rowing team.
Very best wishes from back home to Melanie Jones and Olivia Vivian who will represent Oregon State tomorrow in the cut-throat Pac-10 Conference Championships in Arizona, a stepping stone towards the NCAA National Championships.
OSU have some stiff competition from fellow conference schools UCLA and Stanford (both sitting above the Beavers on the current team ranking list) but also have to tough it out against another 4 colleges in the event. Good luck to the team!
(Here is part of Olivia's uneven bars performance at last year's Pac-10 Championships)
Australia named its Pacific Rim rhythmic gymnastics team after yesterday's trial in Victoria:
Senior Individuals: Naazmi Johnston, Janine Murray and Enid Sung (reserve: Morgan Lewis) Junior Individuals: Taylor Tirahardjo, Marian Barer and Samantha Lim (reserve: Neisha Rizzo)
Congratulations to all the young ladies named to the team, I know they will do us proud in Melbourne!
In other congratulatory news, Melanie Jones scored yet another 9.9 on floor over the weekend to help Oregon State to, yup, yet another team win (this time over Arizona) I know you've all probably seen the routines several times over by now, but the video below shows Mel's best performance yet from a very good angle. There is also sweet moment where fellow freshman Leilani mirrors her choreography. Look at that smile! How can anyone deny that this girl's destined for big things in NCAA gymnastics?
You can see more footage of Mel and Olivia against Arizona at OSU's channel here.
Foxtel subscribers, don't forget Make It Or Break It continues tonight!
As Oregon State University's competitive season trucks along, there have been mixed fortunes for the two Australians in their gymnastics lineup.
Olivia Vivian is getting better and better on beam, floor and bars and contributing weekly to The Barometer. Olivia was lucky enough to recover from a finger injury and a bout of sickness recently.
Mel Jones, superb on floor last week, hasn't been so lucky, according to this extract on the team's progress from the Gazette Times:
Freshman Melanie Jones was forced into action on the vault last week for [injured teammate Kelsi] Blalock. Jones has been slowed by a long-term left shoulder injury.
Most of her scoring contributions have come on the beam three times. Her 9.675 vault and stellar 9.900 floor exercise at Cal were the first time she scored on those events. She performed exhibition before.
"Melanie is doing very well," Chaplin said. "She came in and did an OK vault. She just needs her chest a little higher. She's scoring a little higher and needs to continue those improvements. Her confidence is getting better."
Jones injured her shoulder more than a year ago in Australia and waited until after the Olympics for surgery. There was another setback in the fall at OSU on the bars.
She won't be able to do a bars routine this season. Chaplin has doubts she'll ever do one again.
"It's been a slow start getting back onto everything," Jones said. "Hopefully, I can get back on everything next year. Back in Australia (training) was more intense with more hours and harder skills. Here is more relaxing and less intense. So it's easier to cope with."
That's a bit of a downer. But Mel, like Olivia, has been able to stay strong for her adopted team and compete as best she can despite niggling setbacks. Both wear the orange and black as proudly as they wore the green-and-gold and their perserverance is to be commended.
I'm not yet commenting on the business that's going on the previous post's comments until something more official is made public.
In further green-and-gold news, the Winter Olympics opening ceremony is on now (1pm), I thought it was to be midnight! I spotted Dave so I'm happy.
After four weeks of US collegiate competition, Perth's own Olivia Vivian is now tied for 10th in the nation on uneven bars!
Last week she scored a 9.90 on the event, her highest yet. You can see video of the routine here. Check out the stuck dismount! At the same competition, fellow Aussie Beaver Melanie Jones showed off an impressive exhibition floor routine to the delight of her teammates and fans.
You can see video of Olivia's floor (with an unfortunate fall at the end) and Mel's exhibition floor below.
Here is a sweet little article on the Aussies and Canadians who help make up the Oregon State gymnastics team.
The Australians are fun-loving and outgoing. They are a source of comedy and lighten the mood during tense training sessions.
U.S. teammates love to mimic their accents, just as much as the Australians loved to spoof the Valley Girl accent.
"I found they found me as a bit of a novelty at first," Vivian said. "They repeated me, trying to say the funny words we say. So I was able prepare them for Mel."
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This blog wishes, with all sincerity, to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people; the original andongoing owners of the land upon which this author lives and upon which these words are collated.
