Oregon State Gymnastics Camps - Oregon State University

Oregon State Gymnastics Camps

Michael Chaplin, Associate Head Coach

Associate head coach Michael Chaplin is in his 12th year at Oregon State. After spending his first seven seasons at OSU as an assistant coach, Chaplin was promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2005 season. Chaplin serves as OSU's vault and tumbling coach and is the Beavers' recruiting coordinator.

OSU's vaulters have had a wealth of success since his arrival. Chaplin has coached the Beavers to a couple of their best-ever finishes on vault at the 2001 and 2007 NCAA Championships. On both occasions two Beavers earned first team All-America honors on the event. In 2001, Katrina Severin's second-place finish on vault is the best ever by an Oregon State gymnast, while Lara Degenhardt's sixth place finish is OSU's fifth best performance. In 2007, Mandi Rodriguez vaulted to a fifth place finish. Their performances marked only the second and third times OSU has had two first team All-American vaulters in the same season.

In 2008, Yuki Lamb became the sixth vaulter to gain All-American status earning a spot in the individual event finals. In addition, in 2008 Smith also became the third vaulter and the fourth gymnast on floor in his tenure at OSU to become a Pac-10 champion, when she won both events at the 2008 Pac-10 Championships for the second time in her career.

Chaplin was named the West Region Co-Assistant Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2003, sharing his most recent honor with former Oregon State assistant Dick Foxal. In 1999, the Beaver vaulters tied the school record with a 49.475 at the Pacific-10 Championships and ranked 10th in the nation as a team. Three of his vaulters scored a 9.925 or better that year, and the Pac-10 and NCAA Region 1 vault champions came from OSU.

The 2003 vault team was ranked among the nation's best. Six vaulters competed a 10.0-valued vault, and the Beavers scored a 49.00 or better nine times after doing so just twice in 2002.

Chaplin arrived at OSU after spending three years as an assistant coach at Seattle Pacific, where he primarily coached bars and vault. During his three years, SPU had two national champions on bars and one on vault. In 1997, SPU won the USAG Division II national championship, making Chaplin part of a second national championship team.

Chaplin earned his first national championship as a student-athlete at UCLA. A two-time All-American and four-year letterman, he was a member of UCLA's 1987 national championship team. In 1989, he was the Pac-10 champion on the still rings and finished fifth in the nation on the event. During his collegiate career, Chaplin also made the U.S. Senior National team and represented the United States in meets in England, Brazil, China and against the former Soviet Union. Chaplin was an alternate on the 1987 World Championship team and he place 13th in the all-around at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials.

In 1990, Chaplin began coaching men's and women's gymnastics at the club level. In 1992, he served as gymnastics program director and head men's coach at the Tacoma/Pierce County YMCA. During his three years at the YMCA, he had several athletes qualify for the U.S. Junior National championships.

In high school, Chaplin trained at Gold Cup gymnastics in his hometown of Albuquerque, N.M., and was a member of the U.S. Junior National team his junior and senior years.

He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from UCLA in 1990.

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John Carney - Assistant Coach

With 2008-09 comes a new face to the Oregon State staff. John Carney begins his first year as assistant coach at Oregon State. Carney, who has coached at the club level for most of the last 15 years, will concentrate mostly on the uneven bars, assist with tumbling and provide his expertise in conditioning.

"John is an excellent technician and brings wonderful enthusiasm to the gym," head coach Tanya Chaplin said at the time of his hiring in September. "His familiarity with the Pacific Northwest gives him built-in ties to many of the student-athletes on our team. As a nationally known coach, John will be a tremendous asset as a recruiter."

Since 2001, Carney has been head coach at Gymnastics East in Bellevue, Wash., where he designed and implemented training plans and led the staff in technique and spotting skills for developmental athletes. In his position as co-head coach he helped guide the club's competitive team to many individual and team championships at the state, regional and national levels. While at Gym East, Carney coach current OSU gymnast Jen Kesler to five Level 10 national championships (two all-around, two vault, one bars). He also worked on the production of educational videos for staff training.

"I'm really excited for the season and am really enjoying the challenge of coaching these athletes," Carney said. "Oregon State is the ideal situation for me because of the culture that Tanya and Michael have cultivated, pushing their student-athletes to not only be champions in the gym but also to be great citizens."

This is Carney's second stint at the collegiate level after spending the 2000-01 season as an assistant coach at Seattle Pacific. During his time at SPU, Carney was charged with coaching the uneven bars and vault. Prior to SPU, Carney spent 1993-2000 as the head coach at Northwest Aerials in Kirkland, Wash.

In all, over the course of 25 years of coaching Carney has guided his teams to eight Junior Olympic national team titles, while his gymnasts have claimed five J.O. individual titles and one J.O. Western National title. Nine of his gymnasts went on to earn scholarships to compete at the college level. Carney has been named USA Gymnastics Washington Coach of the Year five times and Region 2 Coach of the Year four times.

As a gymnast, Carney competed at the club level before ending his career after one season at Cal State Fullerton.

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Dick Foxal, Director of Special Projects

Dick Foxal enters 2009 in a new part-time role for Oregon State gymnastics. After 21 years at OSU and more than 30 years in the coaching profession, Dick retired following the 2008 season.

Dick's new title of Director of Special Projects entails a variety of jobs including the organization of set up and tear down for OSU gymnastics meets. In addition, Dick will continue to oversee equipment maintenance for both Gladys Valley Gymnastics Center as well as the competition equipment at Gill Coliseum. He'll also continue to assist in directing summer camp.

During his tenure as a coach at OSU, Beaver gymnasts combined to earn 59 All-America honors -- including 11 on the uneven bars, his primary area of coaching. OSU added its latest All-American on bars in 2008, when Jen Kesler earned second team honors. The Beavers claimed four individual titles on various events during his coaching career.

He coached four gymnasts who scored a total of eight 10.0's on bars, with the most recent coming in 2003 when Elizabeth Jillson was perfect to win the Pac-10 title. With Jillson winning in 2003, five Beavers won a total of seven Pac-10 championships on bars during his tenure.

Dick received West Region Assistant Coach of the Year honors five times with the most recent award coming in 2008.

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Bea Whisenhunt, Director of Operations

Bea is in her fifth season at Oregon State and fourth as the program's Director of Operations. Bea assists the coaching staff with coordinating team travel, hosts coordinates judges' travel for home events, organizes special events and fundraisers, assists in hosting summer camp, is the program's liaison with the 10.0 Booster Club, hosts meets and organizes the team's apparel.

In 2006, Bea played a major role in hosting the NCAA Championships as well as the Pac-10 Championships and in 2008 she assisted in hosting the NCAA West Regional Championships.

In 2005, Bea served as the volunteer coach concentrating her efforts on the balance beam.

Bea competed for the Beavers from 1996-98 and again in 2000 after missing the 1999 season due to injury.

The native of Romania was most known for her skills on the beam. In 2000, she tied her career-high of 9.875 on the event at the NCAA West Regional Championships to help earn the Beavers a trip to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1996, when she was a freshman.

A former Romanian junior national team member and national champion on bars, Bea moved to the United States as a teenager, living with another former Beaver gymnast Heather Justus' family while training at the Oregon Gymnastics Academy.

Bea graduated from Oregon State with a degree in Exercise and Sport Science in 2000. Formerly Bea Tistu, she is married to former OSU wrestler Josh Whisenhunt. They have two children, Gabe and Lylianna.