A&T Grows Stronger After Roller Coaster Season
by UO Athletic Communications
The final score showed 281.480-275.100 in a packed gym at Azusa Pacific, and the Oregon acrobatics and tumbling team was 1-0 to start the 2015 season. The Ducks had just earned their second-highest opening meet score in program history and also avenged last season’s loss to the Cougars that prevented a second-straight perfect season.
In short, first-year head coach Chelsea Shaw and the rest of the Ducks couldn’t have asked for a better start.
“Having such a good first meet and a really high score to start out set us off on the right foot,” said Shaw. “It built some momentum going into the season that we are Oregon, and that we are going to succeed.”
Then, the unthinkable happened.
The most vibrant, energetic athlete on the team, Lauren Jones, passed away suddenly on Feb. 17 from meningococcemia. Having just interacted and practiced with Lauren the previous day, the program and the entire Oregon community was stunned by the news.
“It was pure shock,” said junior base Shelby Armstrong. “She was here yesterday and was fine, and then the next morning she was gone.”
The team came to each other’s support and held a dinner and candlelight vigil at Alexis Cross’ home in town the following night to honor Lauren. In addition to the team’s personal remembrance, support and love poured out from all corners of the UO campus, paying tribute to Lauren’s memory in countless different ways.
With the home opener just a couple days away, the team drew the strength to compete knowing that it was what she would have wanted.
“We did it for Lauren, and we felt that gave us a purpose and a reason to compete,” said sophomore base Krista Phillips. “I always kept in the back of my mind – and everyone else did, too – to just do it for Lauren and do it for each other.”
With the rest of the season still to be played, the team embraced the idea of using her spirit as inspiration for the year, but simultaneously was forced to compartmentalize the emotion of the tragedy.
The Ducks went on to pick up wins in their next two meets at home against Concordia (275.490 – 239.815) and on the road at Quinnipiac (274.315 – 264.065), but the shock of the recent passing still lingered, and both UO scores were subsequently well below their standards.
“Quinnipiac was not a great meet for us, we started to lose focus in the middle of the meet,” said Armstrong, alluding to the Quinnipiac meet as the turning point – both on and off the mat – in the season. “I think we lost quite a few heats, and we were starting to get pretty nervous. After that meet was when we said, ‘Okay, we need to get off our backs and move forward’.”
Whether or not the Ducks had completely dealt with Lauren’s passing, it didn’t change the fact that an undefeated and talented Baylor team was coming to Matthew Knight Arena to set the stage for a battle of the No. 1 and 2 ranked teams in the NCATA.
“It wasn’t until the Baylor meet, which was almost a month after her passing, when we kind of felt like we were close to getting back in a rhythm,” explained Shaw. “I think they turned their sorrows and mourning into a celebration of her life.”
Even with a renewed sense of focus, Baylor slipped past the Ducks (279.77 – 278.825), giving Oregon their first loss of the season.
After a pair of wins and two more defeats, UO entered the NCATA Championships with a 5-3 record – uncharted territory for a program with such unprecedented success. Despite being the No. 3 seed and coming into the championships as an underdog, the Ducks kept grinding in practice and eventually began to return to their old selves.
“We came back with a fight,” Shaw said. “We saw it at the NCATA National Championships for the first time, in all three meets. That weekend was such a great growth weekend for our team – to actually see them fight when it was hard and beat really good teams.”
A 280.875 in the quarterfinals and then a season-high 283.495 in the semifinals over Hawai’i Pacific earned UO a spot in the championship meet against Baylor. The Bears went on win the national championship, and the Ducks were denied their fifth-straight title.
With a coaching change, a tragic loss and unexpected defeats on the mat all coming within the span of two months, the team faced an excessive amount of adversity during the season. Rather than gingerly picking themselves off the ground and preparing for another routine off-season, Armstrong insisted that a fire has been lit.
“Now that we didn’t defend our title and fell back multiple times this year, I think a lot of people on the team are humbled by the experience of us losing,” Armstrong commented, in thinking back to the past couple weeks after the championships. “Moving forward to next year it’s going to very important that we remember what it felt like to lose in that championship meet.”
While most of the Ducks have already began training on their own, offseason workouts will officially start next week. The losses coupled with the hardships should make for a very mature and determined group of returners when the Ducks take the mat next year.
“Fighting for everything and never giving up are my biggest takeaways from the year,” Phillips said with resolve. “We can always improve, and as long as we work our hardest both preseason and during the year, we can do anything we put our mind to.”
