CLAIRE C. LAURENCE/Arizona Daily Wildcat The UA gymnastics team heads to Chicago this weekend to take on winless Illinois-Chicago. The Gymcats lost for the first time last week at Stanford.

It will be a homecoming celebration tomorrow for Gymcat senior Andi McCabe in the Physical Education building of the University of Illinois, Chicago.

McCabe launched her gymnastics career at Fenton High School in Bensenville, Ill., a simple vault from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. One of the perks of being a senior is the scheduling of a local meet, much like the men's basketball team does.

"Only my parents have been able to see me compete, but now all my brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles all get to watch for the first time since before high school," said McCabe, who is the youngest of six children. "The audience definitely helps us, and when we have fans and we hear them cheering, it makes us that much more excited."

Leading the team on the vault, McCabe is ranked 11th in the nation with a 9.900 average. She posted a season-high of 9.950 in Arizona's upset of UCLA on Jan. 16.

The rest of the No. 15 Arizona gymnastics team (4-1, 1-1 Pacific 10 Conference) will also be making the flight to Chicago to take on UIC (0-7) at 6 p.m.

"This week is about no one but ourselves. Who we go against doesn't matter," Gymcats head coach Bill Ryden said. "The fact that there's another team on the floor won't even enter our minds."

It's been a rough year for the Flames, whose best team score on the season is 192.750. Arizona's worst score is 194.625, in a loss to No. 7 Stanford last week.

Chicago-Illinois is steady on the floor exercise, scoring a 48.950 last week in Florida.

"Floor and beam really under-performed last week and that has been an area of emphasis this week," Ryden said. "This week's workout has been a real rededication to our focus and intensity."

Junior Katie Johnson is Arizona's best on the floor, earning a No. 23 rank with a season average of 9.892. Johnson is still recovering from knee reconstruction and was held out of practice Tuesday, but she is still expected to compete. Arizona's floor average is 48.825.

Last week, junior Jamie Schell led the way on the beam, landing a 9.850 despite finishing fourth overall. Schell said she isn't concerned with individual scores this week.

"One victory doesn't make the team victorious, so we need to step it up as a whole," Schell said.

Ryden is challenging his team to excel this week after the letdown in Palo Alto, Calif.

"Last week, we had significant problems. We weren't sharp, we weren't putting the things on our feet that we needed to do," Ryden said. "For the first time this year we're increasing our difficulty quite a bit."

"In practice this whole week we've been stepping up," Schell said. "Girls were doing things they're usually afraid to try."

"A lot of us are all about doing big tricks. It's just all about staying healthy," McCabe said. "This weekend is going to be all about doing just that."

Ryden stressed that after two big wins, it's easy for a team to let up.

"It's not the mess-around point in the season anymore," he said. "Let's bring it."