Oregon State Gymnastics Camps
Coaching Staff

Michael Chaplin, Associate Head Coach

Associate head coach Michael Chaplin is in his 13th 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 some 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 while Tasha Smith finished 11th. Those performances marked only the second and third times OSU has had two first team All-American vaulters in the same season.

In 2009, Rodriguez and Jami Lanz earned the seventh and eighth All-American honors under his supervision. Rodriguez, who advanced to event finals for the second time in her career, finished seventh overall. In addition, Rodriguez and Tasha Smith also became the third and fourth gymnasts to earn All-America honors on the floor exercise since his arrival at OSU. Rodriguez also became the fourth gymnast to win the Pac-10 title on vault and fifth to win on floor under his tutelage.

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.

Chaplin, a native of Albuquerque, N.M., graduated from UCLA in 1990 with a degree in political science. His wife, Tanya, is also in her 13th season at OSU. The Chaplin's have one daughter, Alana.

 John Carney, Assistant Coach

Assistant coach John Carney is in his second season at Oregon State. Carney, who is well known for his technical expertise at the club level for the previous 15 years, coaches the uneven bars for the Beavers and assists with tumbling and conditioning and is a primary recruiter. In addition, Carney has extensive technical knowledge that he uses to coach through video review.

In Carney's inaugural season at OSU, his bars squad set the school's single meet record of 49.575, breaking the previous record of 49.525 which had stood since 2003. In addition, Jen Kesler earned second team All-American for the second time in her career and earning the distinction of being his first All-American.

The respect in coaching circles for Carney's knowledge and teaching ability was evidenced last summer when he was invited to be a USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic National Team Training Camp staff member in 2009.

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.

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.

Kera Bolen, Volunteer Coach

Kera Bolen a four-year letter winner for Oregon State is in her first season as a volunteer coach at Oregon State.

Kera assists the team with its strength and conditioning assignments and provides assistance with coaching on all four events.

Prior to taking on this new role with the Beavers, Kera was a crowd favorite throughout her career at Oregon State performing on the bars and floor exercise. She arrived at OSU as a walk-on and earned a scholarship after her freshman season. She later became a team captain for the Beavers in 2008.

A native of Lake Oswego, Ore., Kera earned a Bachelor's of Science in Exercise and Sport Science, with a minor in Psychology in 2009 from OSU. She was a three-time Pac-10 All-Academic selection and earned honors as a Scholastic All-American.

Kera also works as the head coach of the optional and compulsory gymnastics program at PEAK Elite in Corvallis.

Dick Foxal, Director of Special Projects

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

Dick's current 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 continues to oversee equipment maintenance for both Gladys Valley Gymnastics Center as well as the competition equipment at Gill Coliseum. He also assists 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. 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 sixth season at Oregon State and fifth 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.