Destinee Davis is headed to the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.
The junior from Woodland helped Oregon State finish second on Saturday at the Corvallis Regional Final. The fourth-seeded Beavers edged top-seeded Florida for the last of two berths to the NCAA Championships on April 19-20 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Davis helped Oregon State hit all 24 of its routines for only the second time all season. That allowed the No. 15-ranked Beavers to edge out No. 4 Florida, which had a fall on the balance beam.
Davis got Oregon State off to a strong start in the first rotation, scoring 9.800 on the vault. She helped the Beavers close the meet with a bang, scoring 9.750 on the floor exercise in the final rotation.
It has been a long road to the NCAA Championships for Davis. She quit the sport for two years after her father left the family during her freshman year of high school.
“Everything just blew up,” she said in a story on OSUBeavers.com. “Everyone is all up in your business. … You show up to school and feel like, ‘Hey, yeah. My family is literally falling apart and my life is hell right now. I’m just trying to make it through the day.”
She eventually moved in with longtime family friends, who encouraged her to return to competing for the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland. She thrived under that newfound stability in her home life, eventually earning a spot on Oregon State’s team as a walk-on. By December of her freshman year, Oregon State had offered her a scholarship.
Now Davis has helped Oregon State reach the NCAA Championships, where the Beavers will join seven other teams in search of a national title.
Baseball
Preston Jones, a junior from Mountain View, hit a game-winning double in the 11th inning of Oregon State’s 3-2 win over Utah on Saturday. That gave the Beavers a doubleheader sweep to improve to 23-6-1 this season.
Cody Hawken, a senior from Skyview, homered in Portland’s 13-2 win over San Jose State on Monday. He went 2 for 5 with three RBI to break out of a slump.
James Brooks, a senior from Skyview, was Central Washington’s winning pitcher in a 10-3 win over Concordia on Sunday. He allowed five hits, one earned run and struck out four over six innings.
Track and Field
Alexis Fuller, a senior from Union, moved to third in the Boise State record book for the 800 meters. She ran 2 minutes, 05.57 seconds to place eighth in the premier heat at the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, Ariz., on Saturday.
Erykah Weems, a junior from Hudson’s Bay, anchored Central Washington’s 1,600 meter relay team to victory at the War XII meet in Spokane last weekend. She also placed second in the 400 hurdles.
Ethan Tonder, a sophomore from Mountain View, placed third in the shot put at the War XII meet with a mark of 52 feet, 6 3/4 inches.
Send updates on college athletes from Clark County to micah.rice@columbian.com
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