The Arizona gymnastics team will play host to five collegiate teams for the NCAA South Central Regional Championships tomorrow at 6 p.m. in McKale Center.
No. 5 Utah, No. 8 Florida, No. 25 Arkansas, Illinois and Illinois-Chicago will all come to Tucson to compete with the Wildcats for two spots in the NCAA Championship.
"Now it's one and done - the regular season is over," Arizona head coach Bill Ryden said. "It's going to be a little easier for us because we're used to the surroundings."
Arizona has faced three of the five teams in dual competition this season, winning at Illinois-Chicago and at home against Arkansas, but falling on the road to Florida. But now, all of them must meet on Arizona's home turf.
"Having a home crowd and having our friends and family cheer us on will be nice," sophomore Jessamyn Salter said. "Everyone knows us here, so they're going to be able to come support us."
NCAA gymnastics is unique in that a Regional Qualifying Score ranks teams, and the top 18 are divided into six regional meets played across the country against the next 18 ranked teams. The top two teams in each meet will receive bids to the NCAA Championship meet from April 15-17.
"Hopefully we can do our best and make it to nationals as a team," senior Amanda Goins said. "We've been really on all week. We've hit our tricks, our landings, with no faltering."
Arizona has a RQS of 196.785, led by the junior tandem of Monica Bisordi and Katie Johnson, who share the No. 13 rank on floor (9.940), and senior Andi McCabe, who is No. 16 on vault (9.935). Bisordi ranks No. 16 in the all-around (39.565) and junior Jamie Duce is No. 32 on bars (9.9).
"I feel really good that Monica, Andi and Jamie will have exceptional meets," Ryden said. "If we have any girl - not just those three - who has a bad meet, we could be in trouble."
Individual event champions not on qualifying teams, and the top two all-around performers not on qualifying teams, will also receive bids. Of the 36 teams remaining, 12 will receive team bids to the championships in Los Angeles.
"In the postseason, you can't have weak events. We need all four events to step it up," Ryden said. "Every team is going to be thinking the same way."
Arizona's last meet was two weeks ago in the Pacific 10 Conference Championships, when the Wildcats placed fourth out of seven with a 196.775, extending their string of 196-plus scores to nine in a row. Stanford won the Pac-10 title with a 197.900.
Bisordi placed seventh in the all-around (39.500) and tied for fourth with McCabe on vault, both scoring 9.900. McCabe finished tied for seventh on floor (9.900) with Johnson.
Johnson and junior Jamie Schell earned Pac-10 All-Academic Team honorable mentions. To warrant the distinction, an athlete must have a GPA above 3.0 and be a starter or significant contributor to the team.
Both earned the same distinction last season as sophomores.