Consistent Wildcats upset Beavers to start season

Jennifer Menditch Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman Randi Liljenquist completes her floor routine against Oregon State Friday at McKale Center. The No. 16 Wildcats defeated No. 15 Oregon State with a score of 192.275 to 189.725.

Six gymnasts finished with at least one score over 9.7, demonstrating the depth of this season's team.

"It was a good start for us, but we can still tell it's early in the season," UA head coach Bill Ryden said. "We really performed well as a team and have a lot of girls that shouldered the load."

Two of those gymnasts were freshmen Brooke Stan and Randi Liljenquist. Stan impressed the coaches with her consistency by scoring high marks in the vault (9.675), beam (9.675) and floor (9.825) events. Liljenquist, who did her club gymnastics in Tucson, gave clutch performances both as an injury replacement on the bars (9.525) and a starter in the floor exercise (9.75).

"Brooke and Randi really demonstrated that they are ready to compete at the college level," Ryden said. "For Brooke to come out and hit all three of her routines in her first meet was a great accomplishment.

"The crowd really went behind Randi and she gave us a big lift on bars."

In their first meet in over a year, both Heidi Hornbeek and Maureen Kealey showed improvements in some events. Hornbeek earned top honors for her scores in vault (9.8) and bars (9.8), but fell on the beam (9.275) and missed her last tumbling pass on floor (9.25). Kealey's performances were more consistent as she scored high on the bars (9.725) and beam (9.725), but injuries kept her from both the vault and floor events.

"It was a little rough not to compete for so long, and I was a little nervous," Kealey said. "But I was happy with my improvement and consistency. Hopefully I can get back into the all-around pretty soon."

Another big performer for Arizona was senior Kristin McDermott. While the return of fellow seniors Heidi Hornbeek and Maureen Kealey had taken the headlines, McDermott stole the show and captured the all-around title with a mark of 38.475.

"I have been working hard all offseason to improve some routines and be more consistent overall," said McDermott, a 1998 All-Pac-10 selection. "So it was really exciting to come out tonight and win the all-around in the first meet of the season."

But the meet was not a complete success as an injury to the left arm of sophomore Heather Straccia forced Arizona to use only five of the six allotted slots on floor.

"We really had to juggle our lineup when Heather went down," Ryden said. "We are going to have to evaluate the injury this week and see what chances need to be made in both the bars and floor."