Aubrey Taylor

After sitting out most of practice last week due to a sore hip, Arizona gymnastics junior Aubrey Taylor won the first all-around title of her career against California Friday and become the Pacific 10 Conference Gymnast of the Week.

Her all-around score of 39.175 helped propel her to the honor for the week of Jan. 24-30.

Taylor set or matched career highs in all four events she competed in, including scoring a 9.900 on the uneven bars for the second time this season.

She also scored a 9.750 on balance beam, a 9.800 on floor exercise and a 9.725 on vault.

After the meet, Taylor said that her biggest motivation was that the Gymcats were finally competing in Tucson in front of the home crowd.

"Fans are one of the best things about our sport," she said Friday night. "They support you so much."

Gymcats head coach Bill Ryden said he was not surprised to see Taylor put in such a performance.

"Aubrey is our competitive leader," he said.

Last week Ryden was faced with the possibility of having to fill the four slots that Taylor competes if the injury were to keep her sidelined. Fortunately for the team, Ryden decided to stick with Taylor and see what she could do.

"It's almost like you roll the dice with Aubrey," Ryden said Friday.

Taylor and the No. 10 Gymcats (1-7, 1-1 Pac-10) take on Washington (3-6, 0-2) at 7:30 p.m. in McKale Center on Friday.