Four years ago, an unknown freshman named Jessica Marshall approached UA coach Jim Gault and asked him about walking on to the gymnastics team. While he was a bit hesitant about how much a contribution she could make, Gault decided to give her a shot.

"When Jessica came in, we knew virtually nothing about her. She said that she was a member of one of the club teams I had coached a while ago, but I didn't remember her," Gault said. "I remember saying to myself that it looked like this kid was going to have trouble making this team."

Now in her senior year, Marshall has proved Gault's first impression to be more fiction than fact as she is now Arizona's most consistent performer on the vault. Out of her six vaults this season, she has not recorded a score under 9.650, with her season high of 9.825 coming against Denver.

"I think one of my top assets is that I'm confident. I can do the job every time. I perform," Marshall said. "I think that it helped for me to have to go out and prove myself when I was a walk-on. I wasn't coming in with any reputation that would help me."

But consistency is not something Marshall began this season with. Last year she earned a 9.7 or better in four meets, including a career-high (9.825) second-place finish in the Tucson Newspaper Invitational. And while vaulting was her strength, Marshall also gave Arizona some key performances on the beam and floor.

"This year Jessica's role has been the vault because of the depth we have on this year's team. But in past years she has done about everything for us," Gault said. "But overall, she is as valuable to us on vault as (All-Pacific 10 Conference bars performer) Becky Bowers is on the bars."

Marshall has also been a valued leader on this team, especially considering the emergence of freshmen Heidi Hornbeek, Maureen Kealey and Kristin McDermott .

"It's been fun to help lead this group, especially because we have so many seniors," Marshall said. "I think all of us have been impressed by the performances of the freshmen, and we know they are just going to get better."

And not unlike the freshmen, Marshall is still trying to find ways to improve herself as a gymnast. She is currently working on a more challenging vault that might propel her to the top-score area.

"Jessica is trying a new vault where she incorporates a half-twist. It would increase her difficulty to a ten point scale," Gault said. " Right now it is a little tough for her because she is trying to get her timing down, but it looks like she's going to do it."

"I tried the vault in the last meet in UCLA and fell, but I will continue to work on it and try it on my second vault," Marshall said.