“I always give off that I am willing to lend a helping hand and have people know that I am there for them,” said two 2x Olympic Gold medalist Jade Carey, while speaking on how she celebrates International Women’s Day, in an exclusive interview she gave to PEOPLE earlier this month. “It’s something that we work on even on our team here at Oregon State,” she added. And even though her final season with the Oregon State Beavers is drawing to a close, she remains steadfast in her commitment to elevate women’s sports, her teammates, and her colleagues by celebrating every achievement, every win—no matter the size, no matter the scale.
Appearing on the Beaver Sports Podcast on March 20, 2025, the 24-year-old was asked about her Beavers teammate, Sophia Esposito. Making a reference to Esposito winning the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and her performance against Air Force on the 15th, host Ron Callan asked Carey, “How has she progressed this season?” In response, the senior shared her thoughts on how Esposito is more independent and confident now, saying, “Yeah, it’s been really awesome to see Soph’s confidence build throughout the year and really see her step into her own.” In her freshman season for the Beavers, Esposito posted a score of 9.850 or higher a whopping 26 times and set her season-high at a near-perfect 9.950 against UCLA.
“It’s been really awesome to see her train so hard in the gym and then have it translate into a competition,” continued Carey. The Olympian finds immense joy in seeing the freshman “celebrate herself ” and enjoy what she does with all her hard work paying off.
Answering the host’s questions about whether the New York native listens to her advice, Carey said that the two have grown closer this year and she enjoys helping the young gymnast get through her issues. After all, having been a Pac-12 Freshman of the Year herself in 2022, and a two-time Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year in ’22 and ’23, Carey knows a thing or two about the pressure that comes with the accolade. She’s definitely one to have very high expectations of herself and want to be perfect all the time.”
She further said, “But really just reassuring her that it’s okay to not be perfect every single time and really just enjoy what she’s doing and trust all the training that she’s put in. And that’s really when she’s gonna do her best.” Reassurance is the Olympian’s way of bringing out the best in people and for Esposito, she just observes and trusts.
“So I’ve really seen her the past few weeks, kind of let go of the expectations and just trust her training and really go after it out there on the competition floor” she continued and in the past few weeks the 18-year-old has been phenomenal be it the meet against San Jose State University or the one against Air Force.
And while Jade Carey was all praise for the sophomore, she own performance on Senior Day was nothing short of phenomenal either.
Jade Carey goes for record in front of record crowd
The meet between the Oregon State and Air Force was packed to the brim; a program record 9,042 fans were present in the Gill Coliseum and Jade Carey chose the perfect moment to say what could be the goodbye of the Oregon State University senior to the Beaver fans. She hit her career-best of 39.925 on all-around, and she did that in style—with not one, but two perfect 10s on floor and beam. And guess what? Her mentee wasn’t too far behind either.
Sophia Esposito racked up a score of 9.925 on the floor thus going two back-to-back weeks with a score of 9.900 or higher following her 9.900 on beam in San José on March,9. Kaitlin Garcia matched her career high on the floor with a 9.950, and Sage Thompson and Olivia Buckner delivered strong routines with scores in the 9.850–9.900 range. Additionally, Lauren Letzsch achieved a new career high on beam with a 9.950.
You know who else hit a season-high? The whole of Oregon State Beavers women’s gymnastics team with a strong bars rotation scoring 49.225; the team scored a total of 197.700, which is also a season-high for the team. Jade Carey will get another chance to say goodbye on March 21, as OSU goes up against Fisk in Gill Coliseum once again. How good is it gonna be?
The post Oregon Beavers’ Senior Jade Carey Stands Behind 18-Year-Old Sophmore as NCAA Gymnastics Season Comes to a Close appeared first on EssentiallySports.
