The UA gymnastics team will be going for broke when they take the floor in Tuscaloosa, Ala., tonight for the NCAA Championship. The eighth-ranked Wildcats (30-5) know that one false move could put a sour ending on what has been a successful season.

"As a team, we know we can do the job," UA coach Jim Gault said. "We need to make sure we are sharp mentally and perform at the level we are capable of."

Arizona's regional score of 195.75 was good enough to give the Wildcats the fifth seed in the 12-team tournament. The competition is designed so that the second- (Georgia), fourth- (Michigan), sixth- (UCLA), eighth- (Nebraska), 10th- (Brigham Young) and 12th- (Penn State) ranked teams will compete at 1 p.m. in the first session. Arizona will compete at 7 p.m. along with the first- (Alabama), third- (Utah), seventh- (Florida), ninth- (Oregon State) and 11th- (Stanford) rated teams. Each session will also have one team composed of the nation's top all-around performers, who will just be competing in the individual competitions. Last season, Arizona senior Nicole Garrett competed for the Wildcats in the all-around competition.

If UA ranks as one of the top-six teams based on their score tonight, they will enter the "super six" and compete for the national title.

"We will be entering the competition with pretty much the same lineup as we had in the regionals," Gault said. "We have a couple of questions, but they should be cleared up by the time we finish our warm-ups on Wednesday."

The all-around will consist of freshmen Heidi Hornbeek and Maureen Kealey, and junior Tenli Poggemeyer. But Arizona's team depth will be the main asset for them when they start tonight's competition. Nationally, the Wildcats rank 10th in the vault, fourth in the bars, 15th in the beam and sixth in the floor.

"We have tried to keep the girls focused this week, and they have practiced extremely well," Gault said. "Hopefully we can address the nerves in our warmup period, and the girls can just relax and perform."

The Wildcats did not win their regional qualifying meet, but made it to the tournament with an at-large bid.