Photo by: Katherine Baile
2021 Preseason Notebook
January 21, 2021 01:50 PM | Gymnastics
The West Virginia University gymnastics team was looking ahead to the postseason with only one regular season meet left in 2020, before the whole year came crashing down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Mountaineers won six of their last eight competitions, building momentum to set the team up to host the 2020 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship for the first time since 2014. Since then, it has been a long 10 months filled with uncertainty about the upcoming campaign.
Now, we are finally at the start of the 2021 season. While some questions remain about how the season will play out, we do know that this year's squad is ready to give it their all.
"Once the summer Olympics were canceled, I read an article where a track athlete said, 'we are not owed our dreams,'" Mountaineer coach Jason Butts said. "That resonated with me. It was a reminder to me that life doesn't always deal the cards that we think we are going to get. We are not owed anything other than what we work for. When you get thrown a curve ball, you just have to go with it. That resonated with our team over the summer, and it has been the theme moving forward. We have to keep working. We can have dreams, but we have to work for them."
WVU officially opens its 2021 campaign this weekend with a dual meet against 2019 NCAA National Champion and reigning Big 12 champion Oklahoma on Friday, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m., inside the WVU Coliseum, in Morgantown.
"We are extremely excited to get back into the gym," Butts said. "Last year ended on such a devastating note for every sport that was in season at the time. As bitter as that was and still feels sometimes, the team is very excited to get back out there and show what they have been working so hard on."
Here's what you need to know heading into the new campaign:
The Mountaineers won six of their last eight competitions, building momentum to set the team up to host the 2020 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship for the first time since 2014. Since then, it has been a long 10 months filled with uncertainty about the upcoming campaign.
Now, we are finally at the start of the 2021 season. While some questions remain about how the season will play out, we do know that this year's squad is ready to give it their all.
"Once the summer Olympics were canceled, I read an article where a track athlete said, 'we are not owed our dreams,'" Mountaineer coach Jason Butts said. "That resonated with me. It was a reminder to me that life doesn't always deal the cards that we think we are going to get. We are not owed anything other than what we work for. When you get thrown a curve ball, you just have to go with it. That resonated with our team over the summer, and it has been the theme moving forward. We have to keep working. We can have dreams, but we have to work for them."
WVU officially opens its 2021 campaign this weekend with a dual meet against 2019 NCAA National Champion and reigning Big 12 champion Oklahoma on Friday, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m., inside the WVU Coliseum, in Morgantown.
"We are extremely excited to get back into the gym," Butts said. "Last year ended on such a devastating note for every sport that was in season at the time. As bitter as that was and still feels sometimes, the team is very excited to get back out there and show what they have been working so hard on."
Here's what you need to know heading into the new campaign:
- The Mountaineers return to competition following an 11-win season. WVU registered four top-50 scores last year, including a season-high 196.425 in wins over Pitt and Rutgers on March 1, 2019, at the WVU Coliseum.
- All nine returning Mountaineers earned time in at least one lineup, with eight reaching the podium. Classmates Abbie Pierson and Kianna Yancey paced WVU with 10 podium finishes each in their first season as a Mountaineer.
- Pierson led the squad with 264.175 points last season, followed by junior Kendra Combs with 263.3. Pierson, a native of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, also ranked second on the team with four event wins (two on vault and one each on balance beam and floor exercise).
- The Mountaineers will follow the lead of two veterans this season: McKenna Linnen and Michelle Waldron. Combined, the duo has competed in 61 career meets.
- Linnen is the most experienced Mountaineer on the roster, having competed in 37 meets in three seasons at WVU. The Canton, Michigan, native surpassed the 500 career-point threshold on Jan. 26, 2019, and now shows 671.225 points.
- Additionally, classmates Esperanza Abarca and Rachel Hornung will look to eclipse the 500 career-point mark as juniors. Abarca is 42.675 points away from hitting the milestone, while Hornung is 42.925 points shy.
- Six freshmen look to make their Mountaineer career debuts this season: Chloe Asper, Ellen Collins, Gillian Fletcher, Agatha Handono, Kiana Lewis and Nicole Norris.
- West Virginia is scheduled to compete in six conference meets and will conclude its regular season with a trio of head-to-head competitions against Pitt.
- WVU will open its season at home for the first time since Jan. 5, 2018, when WVU played host to No. 2 Florida. The Mountaineers are 6-10 in season-opening meets under Butts, who enters his 10th season as WVU's head coach.
- The Mountaineers' postseason slate starts with the 2021 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship, set for March 20, at the WVU Coliseum, in Morgantown. WVU was set to host last year's event, but its season was cut short just before the conference championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- West Virginia previously hosted the event in 2014, with Hope Sloanhoffer becoming the first Mountaineer gymnast to win a Big 12 title in the all-around event.
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