29 Men qualified for the VISA Championships out of this past weekend's qualifier. Among collegians, Mel Anton Santander led the way in 3rd place while former teammate Chris Cameron as 2nd. Edward Mesa won the meet. Seung Tai Lee of Ohio State was 4th, while Kyle Bunthuwong of Cal was 5th.
Link: Results
Sheridan Metcalf, L10 at Desert Devils in Arizona, has committed to Washington. This past season, she swept her session at her state meet, winning the all around title and all events. She placed 6th AA at regionals and 10th AA at JO Nationals.
Auburn has added Dawn Schueller as Director of Gymnastics Operations. She is a former volunteer assistant.
Link: AU Release
UCLA has announced several changes to their coaching staff:
Randy Lane returns to UCLA after stints at MSU and UF.
Amy Smith joins the staff as a volunteer assistant. She was an assistant last at Missouri
Chris Waller has been promoted to Associate Head Coach from Assistant Head Coach.
Link: UCLA Release
Tamara Moten, a L10 at United Gymnastics in Illinois, signed with UIC, per her club's web page. At the 2011 Region V L10 Regionals, she placed 11th AA and 4th on FX in the Senior D division. She was 22nd at Regionals in 2010.
Kaytianna McMillan, L10 from National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics in Oregon, has verbally committed to OSU. She placed 3rd AA at her 2011 state meet and won vault and beam titles at her regional meet. At 2011 JO Nationals, she tied for 1st on floor and placed 5th in the all around.
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.