Lindsay Offutt, L10 at Oakland Gymnastics in Michigan, has accepted a scholarship offer from Pitt, according to her club's Facebook page. Offutt won floor titles at her state (3rd AA), regional (9th AA) and NIT (12th AA) meets during this past season.
NU incoming Jessie DeZiel posted a three-event qualifying score to advance to the Cover Girl Classic in a few weeks. She did not compete UB. Former Kentucky great Jenny Hansen fell just short of her attempt to qualify on VT and BB. She posted a solid 14.35 on a 5.3 SV vault but her two event total was 0.55 shy of what was needed to move on..
Link: July Qualifier Results
Two former Sooners (Jonathan Horton and Steven Legendre) and one current Sooner (Alex Naddour) helped the US to a silver medal in the team competition at the Japan Cup. Japan won the gold.
Link: Results
Former UCLA star Anna Li won the UB while former Arkansas standout Casey Jo Magee won the BB as the two NCAAers participated in the qualifying meet to the VISA (US) Championships. Li qualified to the VISAs in two events, and is on a short list of possible UB specialists for the US squad. Magee won the BB and qualified in three events. UGA commit Brandi Jay won the VT and placed third AA, and advanced in the AA. WOGA's Grace McLaughlin won the AA. The qualifying system allows specialists to qualify in two and three events, respectively. Bama commit Lauren Beers just missed a qualifying mark in four events, tying with Mageeo. Washington incoming frosh Jaclyn McCartin also competed.
Link: Results
UCLA announced the addition of Ti Liu as a walkon. The Canadian elite started school this summer.
Link: Release
Arkansas has named former Razorback gymnast Samantha Cortez to the post of Assistant Coach. Cortez competed for Arkansas from 2005-08 and worked as staff for the team following her graduation.
Illinois Head Coach Kim Landrus has announced the hiring of Rodney Gust as an assistant. He has served for the last two seasons at Yale. Prior to that, he coached at Flipz and GAGE.
Link: Illinois Release
Centenary will add three more gymnasts to the 2011-2012 incoming class: Noel Stubbs, Sylvia Keiter and Lissy Naylor. Naylor's commit was covered in a prior news item.
Stubbs trains at Gymnastics Unlimited in Florida. At the 2011 Region VIII L10 Regionals, she placed 14th AA in the Senior C division. She was 20th AA and 4th on BB in 2010. Link: YouTube.com Video
Keiter trains at Champions in Arkansas. At the 2010 Region III L10 Regionals, she placed 19th AA. Link: YouTube.com Channel
Link: Centenary Release
It's another summer of offseason work, and we've unfortunately had to say "goodbye" to some of our favorite seniors. On the women's side, we're going to lose some standout champions like 2011 NCAA AA Champion Kylie Botterman of Michigan, Bama's Kayla Hoffman and UCLA's Brittani McCullough. Although rosters for next season are not finalized, here's a quick summary of the status of Top 25 women's teams from this past season, with their key losses summarized and highlighted.
Rachel Schick, L10 at West Coast Elite, has given an early verbal to Georgia. Schick finished 2nd AA (1st BB) at the SoCal meet, 4th AA at regionals and 11th AA at JO Nationals this year.
Michigan State announce three additions to the 2011-2012 incoming class: Ellie Gosselin, Ashley Noll and Carson Tabiolo. The commit of Gosselin was covered in a prior news item.
Noll is a L10 who trains at the Artistic Sports Academy Plus in PA. She tied for 26th AA at the 2011 L10 Nationals, Sr. C division. She also qualified to L10 Nationals in 2010, where she tied for 36th AA. Link: YouTube.com
Tabiolo is a L10 who trains at HITS in Hawaii. At the 2011 L10 Nationals, she tied for 45th AA. She also qualified to L10 Nationals in 2010, placing 51st. Link: Recruiting Video
Link: MSU Release
New Cal Head Coach Danna Durante has hired Justin Howell as an assistant. Howell has coached over 40 NCAA gymnasts while serving as Head Coach and Program Director at Airborne Gymnastics.
Link: Cal Release
Jesse Williams, a L10 at Waller's GymJam, has committed to Sac State for 2012-2013. At the 2011 Region I L10 Regionals, she placed 15th AA in the Senior B division. She was 2nd in the SoCal Level 10 States in 2010, but competed only two events at Regionals.
Link: YouTube.com Channel
Oklahoma has hired Olympian and former BYU star Guard Young as an assistant. He has been most recently coached at Byers. Former OU assistant Rustam Sharipov is now the Head Coach at Ohio State.
Link: OU Release
Alaska Anchorage has confirmed the signing of Sariaye Jensen, as reported earlier.
Link: Alaska Anchorage Release