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Gymcats compete in first home meet


By Dmitry Rashnitsov
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday, January 27, 2006
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McKale Center: Roll out the welcome mat in the form of the floor exercise mat because the No. 14 Arizona gymnastics team opens up its home schedule against California at 7:30 tonight.

Coming off a close loss at ASU, the Gymcats hope to pick up their first victory of the year in front of their hometown fans.

"Just to have a win under our belts will give us a lot of motivation," junior Aubrey Taylor said.

Taylor is coming off her best meet of the season, in which she established a new career high on the uneven bars with a 9.900 score. She is currently ranked No. 11 in the country with a 9.858 average.

Although the all-around competitor complained of a hip injury during the week, she said she expects her stock to keep rising this weekend.

"I have been improving every meet," Taylor said. "I want to keep improving."

The rest of the team is working hard during practice to figure out all the little details that have kept them out of the win column.

"We are really working on the perfecting part of the sport," Arizona head coach Bill Ryden said. "Sometimes it takes months to fine-tune."

Ryden said he sees the team's biggest struggles right now in sticking its dismounts and vault landings, and he feels that is what cost them the win last weekend.

"Two people not misstep and we win," he said.

Overall, the coach said he is happy with what his team has accomplished.

"I am really pleased with the level of gymnastics we are doing and where we are in this point of the season," Ryden said.

Cal, coming off of a 193.950-190.750 loss to Oregon State last weekend, looks to jump into the national rankings and spoil the Gymcats' home opener.

Arizona has won three of the last four dual meets against Cal, including a 194.900-189.850 victory at Haas Pavilion last season.

"They have always given us good competition, so we are expecting them to come out and be a tough team to beat," senior Erin Muirhead said.

The captain said she is sure that her team will be adequately prepared for the challenge.

"We are doing the repetitions that we need," she said. "We are working on the parts that we have been getting deductions from consistently."

The Wildcats will have to watch out for junior Justine Cephus, who recently hit a career-high 9.750 in the balance beam.

Ryden said he feels that he knows the competition fairly well.

"They have some very good athletes," he said. "We know them. We all recruit the same athletes."

The coach said that the Pacific 10 Conference is full of quality gymnasts.

"Any Pac-10 school has the ability to be very good," he said.

The lineup will remain the same for the Wildcats this weekend, with Taylor and sophomores Danielle Hicks and Karin Wurm competing in all four events. Muirhead will stick with the balance beam and floor exercises and freshman Alexis Greene will compete in the vault and uneven bars.

Ryden said he keeps the same lineup because of the lack of depth on the team, but that the type of routine also plays an important part in the order of the competition.

"When you are putting out a competitive lineup, it's like painting a picture for the judges," Ryden said.



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