The BSU freshman class. Photograph: Tessa Otuafi/Twitter
Boise State had an outstanding 2017 season. They finished thirteenth overall in the national
ranking, and posted the highest score in school history, a 197.675 during the regular season against Denver. The Broncos also
had an outstanding academic year,
with fourteen out of their fifteen gymnasts earning scholastic All-American
honours, and with four gymnast finishing the year with a perfect 4.0 GPA. The four women were Mary Frances Bir (health sciences), Sandra Collantes (psychology), Courtney
McGregor (health sciences) and Abby
Webb (biology).
The Broncos said goodbye to three
outstanding seniors: Mackenzie Bennion,
who was the 2016 MRGC vault champion and, in her senior year, competed in all
eleven meets for the Broncos on vault, bars and floor; Diana Mejia, who contributed to the team especially on bars, and
was the 2017 MRGC Event Specialist of the Year and uneven bars champion; and Paige Urguhart, who competed mostly on
beam and floor, and scored a 9.800 or better in eight of her nine beam routines
in 2017.
Boise State has welcomed five new
promising freshmen: Gabriela Bouza-Lazo,
from Rio Rico, Arizona; Tatum Bruden,
from Peoria, Arizona; Emily Muhlenhaupt,
from Castle Rock, Colorado; Rachel
Obmann, from Roseville, California; and Tessa Otuafi, from Reno, Nevada.
GABRIELA
BOUZA-LAZO
Gabriela
Bouza-Lazo
trained first at Gym-Max and later
at Arizona Dynamics Gymnastics. She
is a 2017 Junior Olympic qualifier,
and finished twenty-sixth in the all around. Also in 2017, at the Arizona State
championships she won bronze on vault and bars and was sixth in the all around.
And at the 2017 Region 1 championships, she tied for third place on balance
beam and was seventh in the all around. Her best meet of 2017 was the Long
Beach Open, where Bouza-Lazo won the beam title, as well as bronze on vault and
in the all around.
Bouza-Lazo is strong on all
apparatuses, but she shines particularly on beam, where she presents some very clean, strong and pretty work,
which included a free-walkover into split jump and a BHSO + LOSO series. On floor, another strong apparatus for
her, she competes a double pike, a front layout into front full and a double
tuck. Bouza-Lazo is also good on vault,
where she competes a strong FTY.
TATUM
BRUDEN
Tatum
Bruden
did her club training at Arizona Sunrays.
She is a four-time Junior Olympic
qualifier (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017). In 2013 she was twentieth in the all
around; in 2015 she was twenty-first; in 2016 she tied for twelfth in the all
around and for ninth on floor; and in 2017 she was thirteenth in the all around
and tied for ninth on bars. Bruden is a two-time Arizona State champion on
floor (2016 and 2017, both times tied), and in 2017 she was also second on
vault and third in the all around. Also in 2017, she had an outstanding
regional competition. At the Region 1 championships, she won gold both in the
all around and on beam, tied for bronze on vault and floor and was fourth on
bars.
Bruden is another strong all arounder. Her best apparatuses
are beam and vault. On beam, she has
a lot of difficulty, including a side somi, a BHSO + BHSO + back layout series,
a switch ring, a sheep jump, and a double twisting dismount. On vault, she competes both a Yurchenko
Arabian, which starts from a 10.0 D-score, and a FTY. Bruden is also strong on
floor and bars. On floor, she
performs a full-in, a half twist into full twist into front pike and a double
pike, and is training a double layout. And on bars, she can perform a full pirouette and a double layout
dismount.
EMILY
MUHLENHAUPT
Emily
Muhlenhaupt
trained at Colorado Aerials Gymnastics
Center. She competed as an elite gymnast at the Secret U.S. Classic in 2013 in
the junior division. As a Level 10 gymnast, she is a two-time Junior Olympic qualifier (2013 and 2015). In 2015 she tied
for bronze on bars and finished eighth in the all around. In 2017 she competed
at the Colorado State championships, where she won the bars title and was
fourteenth in the all around. Her best meet of 2017 was the Denver Winterfest
Classic, where she won gold both on bars and on beam.
Muhlenhaupt is another fantastic all arounder and is clean and
precise on all apparatuses. On bars,
she competes a Jaeger to shoot-over and a double tuck dismount. On floor, she performs a double tuck, a one-and-a-half
twist into front pike and a double twist. On beam, she competes a BHSO + LOSO series, a switch leap into back
tuck, a sheep jump, a free-cartwheel and a double twisting dismount. Finally,
on vault she competes a beautiful
FTY.
RACHEL
OBMANN
Rachel
Obmann
did her club training at Byers
Gymnastics Center II. She is the 2017
Region 1 bronze medallist (tied) on vault, the 2016 bronze medallist on
floor and the 2015 silver medallist on floor. Since she started competing as a
Level 10 in 2015, Obmann has always won at least one medal at the Northern
Californian State championships. In 2015 she tied for gold on floor exercise;
in 2016, by far her best competition, she won gold in the all around, on vault
and on bars, silver on floor and bronze on beam; in 2017 she competed only on
bars and won a bronze medal.
Obmann is also a strong all arounder, but stands out on floor, because she is a real performer. She competes a double
twist into back tuck, a full-in, a double tuck and a double spin, but she
excels in her presentation and choreography. She will become a crowd favourite! Obmann is also very
strong on vault, where she competes
a very high FTY. She also excellent on beam and bars. On beam she competes a BHSO + LOSO series, a free-cartwheel and side full-twisting
dismount. And on bars she performs a
Tkatchev, shoot over and a double tuck dismount in combination. Already during
her club career, she seemed to feel the team
spirit – she will be fun to watch next year!
TESSA
OTUAFI
Tessa
Otuafi
trained at Flip USA Gymnastics, and
started competing as a Level 10 gymnast in 2014. She competed at the Region 1 championships in 2014, 2015
and 2016 and improved steadily every year. In 2014 she was seventeenth on floor
and twenty-fourth in the all around; in 2015 she tied for eleventh on vault and
was twentieth in the all around; and in 2016 she was sixth on vault, tied for
sixth also on floor and was sixteenth in the all around. Otuafi won a silver
medal on vault at the 2014 Nevada State championships and tied for another
silver medal on balance beam at the same competition.
Outafi is very strong on vault, beam
and floor. On vault, she competes a
very high and precise half-twisting Yurchenko. On beam, she performs a free-cartwheel and a BHSO + LOSO +
full-twisting dismount. And on floor,
she performs a double pike, a half twist into full twist and a double tuck.
Good luck to the future Broncos!
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