KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat (L to R) Katie Johnson, Stevie Fanning, Monica Bisordi, Jamie Schell, Jamie Duce and Kristine Harper are seen as veteran leaders for the Gymcats, despite being sophomores.

Six sophomore Gymcats are ready to show their claws

Looking at the McKale Center stands at their first gymnastics meet at Arizona, then-freshmen Monica Bisordi and Katie Johnson didn't like what they saw: empty seats.

Everywhere they looked, they had trouble finding people who were there to watch them in the 14,000-plus capacity arena.

If they were lucky, they would have a couple hundred fans watching them, nowhere near the thousands of people schools like Alabama and Georgia have at their meets.

Johnson and Bisordi, along with their four freshman teammates, were tired of performing in front of an empty arena.

So they had an idea.

"We thought it would be a good idea to run around our dorm and post signs about our meets," said Johnson, who lived in Graham-Greenlee last year with the five other freshmen Gymcats. "We would make like 200 signs and put them up all over the dorm and on people's cars. We would be sure to let people know that the meets are free."

But did it work?

"I think it did; we were freshmen, so we didn't know what to expect. But it's definitely getting better," Bisordi said.

When UA head coach Bill Ryden brought six new gymnasts to his team ÷ usually he brings in three each season ÷ he never expected the impact that they would have and make so quickly.

His recruits were six new women ÷ Johnson, Bisordi, Stevie Fanning, Jamie Duce, Jamie Schell and Kristine Harper ÷ from six totally different parts of the country.

"We want to make the gymnastics team more well known," said Fanning, who won the Pac-10 beam championship as a freshman. "When I tell people I'm on the gymnastics team, they go, ÎYou're on what?'"

Many of the women could have gone to other schools where gymnastics ranks No. 1 among sports, but each of them said they chose Arizona for similar reasons.

"One reason that I came here is that the team was kind of like the underdogs, and I wanted to go to a school where I could help benefit the team," said Bisordi, who was one of the two all-around gymnasts that competed for UA last season. "I think our class in general is a really big help to the team. I think we're moving in that direction."

Nothing is more evident this season with the "sophomore six" making up nearly half the team's roster. With only one senior on the team ÷ Nikki Beyschau ÷ they are counted on to provide leadership.

"(Assistant coach Rose McLaughlin) has talked to us about our class becoming leaders and how she wants the whole class to step up," Schell said. "I think it was hard being a leader as a freshman last year because we had three seniors. But this year it's becoming easier."

Off the mat

Not only are all of the "sophomore six" on the same team, have a lot of the same classes and hang out with the same friends, but they also live or have lived together.

Last year, all six women lived together in Graham-Greenlee, and this season, Johnson, Bisrodi and Schell are roommates in an off-campus apartment.

"It's nice to know that when you have a bad day at practice that there is someone at home who can understand what you're going through," said Bisordi, who lived with Harper last season. "We never get sick of each other."

If the team is not at practice or in class, it's likely that they're either shopping or tanning.

"We're almost always together," Schell said.

But these girls also know how to work hard, both in the gym and outside.

Three of the gymnasts ÷ Johnson, Schell and Harper ÷ were Mary Roby Academic Achievement Award winners as freshmen.

"I don't think a lot of people know how much work we put in," said Harper, who is on an academic scholarship and had a 4.0 GPA in her first semester at UA.

Inside the gym, the team practices every day for as many as three hours each day, but a lot of that doesn't compare to what the gymnasts did to get to this point.

Most gymnasts start at the age of two or three and practically have to dedicate their lives to the sport.

"Our goal from the start is to get a college scholarship," said Duce, who competes in three different events for the Gymcats.

Aloha

It was Jan. 4 of last year, and the team had just arrived in Wailuku, Hawaii.

The meet was the Maui Invitational and would pit three of the top-20 teams in the nation against each other.

Ryden, not knowing what to expect from having six freshmen on his team, got quite a surprise in the team's first meet of the year.

"What we found out in Hawaii is that they aren't afraid of competing, and it doesn't matter who's out there," said Ryden. "They can bring it. They aren't timid and they aren't shy.

"What we didn't know about and was a huge and incredibly pleasant surprise is that we could go to war with these girls and it could be OK."

Not only did Arizona win the meet, defeating higher-ranked Michigan (No. 3) and Oklahoma (No. 13), but Johnson came in first place on the floor.

"They have only been here for a short time, and if they don't do one more thing for us they have already made their mark," Ryden said.