The gymnastics team celebrated its 30th anniversary this season, and in the first 29 of those years there had never been a gymnast from N.C. State to be honored as an All-American. Already in the midst of its 30th season, the team now has even more reason to celebrate, as senior Taylor Seaman has become the first Wolfpack gymnast to earn All-America honors. She was named second team All-America for her performance on the uneven bars at the NCAA Championships in Gainsville, Fla. this past week.
“It wasn’t until the day of the meet in which I got emotional about it being the last meet of my career,” Seaman said. “I was just trying to take things one step at the time and enjoy what I do and take it all in.”
The road to the NCAA Championships started at regionals in West Virginia for Seaman, where she placed high enough in the all-around competition to seal her ticket to Florida to compete as an all-around competitor. This was not Seaman’s first taste of national championship competition, as she was able to qualify on floor last season. This season proved to be a little different because she qualified to compete in all of the events and compete in a meet as an individual on a large national stage.
“Anytime you go to the National Championships there is lots of pressure,” Coach Mark Stevenson said. “She found out what it was like last year and then was able to qualify in the all-around this season.”
Throughout the regular season, Seaman put forth the energy and effort needed to complete a successful floor routine. Nationals would prove no different, as she started her first rotation on floor exercise and scored a 9.85, which put her in 13th place in that event. In nationals competition, individual gymnasts are assigned a team to rotate with during the meet. Stanford was chosen as the team Seaman would rotate with and they were able to cheer her on and give her support as an individual competing.
“I rotated with Stanford and they made it a lot easier for me because they cheered for me and made me feel like I was a part of the team,” Seaman said “Floor kind of set the tone for me because it is my favorite event and I like to perform for the fans.”
In the second rotation, Seaman moved to vault, where she earned a score of 9.775. After completing the vault, she was close to the other gymnasts looking to qualify for the finals portion of the championship in the all-around competition. In order to qualify for the finals portion of the championships, gymnasts in the all-around needed to score high enough in the preliminary session to qualify for finals.
In practice during the week prior to nationals she focused on working on the little nuances throughout the routine, such as keeping her toes pointed and sticking her landing. This practice proved valuable, as she was able to nail the little elements in the routine and stick her landing. She went on to earn a 9.875, which placed her in seventh and made her an All-American. After nailing her first two rotations, Seaman held nothing back on the uneven bars. It was the third rotation in which Seaman broke out the best performance of her entire career and it also earned her All America honors.
“Bars have always been the event I am most confident on.” Seaman said. “I had been spending most of my practice time practicing the intricacies of like pointing my toes and sticking my landings and It was by far my most successful bar routine of my career.”
The last rotation in the competition ended with Seaman second-guessing the landing on her double back handspring on the balance beam, and she had to count a fall on the event. She said she was unaware of her accomplishments during the prior rotation and did not know she had accomplished one of her goals coming into the meet.
“It was awesome, especially since I haven’t won a major award on bars, because I put everything I could do all at once,” Seaman said. “I know it meant a lot to my head coach and I couldn’t have asked for anything more because I was lucky just to be at nationals.”While Seaman won’t be eligible to compete for a fifth year with the gymnastics team, she is going to stay in school one more year in order to student-teach and pursue a double major in early elementary education and sport management. She plans to be around the gym next season to help out her younger teammates who have thrived off of her energy and poise throughout the 2010 season. Seaman will leave State as one of the most decorated gymnasts to ever come through the program.
“She would be in the top five of all the gymnasts I have coached in my career because she was able to perform at such a high level,” Stevenson said. “It is not like basketball where the object is to score a basket. It is almost like a Broadway show in that you have to perform and Taylor was very good at performing.”
