Wildcats give 'by far' best performance, still lose

While the UA gymnastics team fell a couple points shy of defeating UCLA Friday, the team gained a pair of spirited performances from unlikely sources.

Led by emerging freshman Kara Fry and senior Tenli Poggemeyer's courage, the Wildcats (1-2) hung with the second-ranked Bruins until the final event.

Arizona, however, lost 192.875 to 191.55.

"We really gave a great effort out there tonight," UA coach Jim Gault said after the contest. "This was by far our best meet of the season. Many of the girls came out tonight and gave some tough performances."

Fry turned in the most impressive effort. In her first scheduled all around appearance, she finished in the top three in each event. Her 38.85 all around mark was a career-best and the top score in the meet.

"I had prepared my whole life for this moment, so I wasn't too nervous," Fry said. "I really felt happy with all of my performances. This is a big confidence boost for me."

Fry also set a personal best of 9.85 in both the floor exercise and bars.

As a team, Arizona showed a good deal of composure, recovering from its season-worst efforts on the vault to give the team's top scores on the bars. Poggemeyer,who was battling a broken rib during the meet, mirrored Arizona's efforts. After recording a di sappointing 9.1 in the vault, she scored an inspiring 9.675 on the bars.

Other top scores were given by senior Cami Banholzer in the beam (9.675) and floor exercise (9.725) and juniors Lisha Stone (9.625) and Kristin McDermott (9.925) on the bars.