Gymnasts hope high scores continue in Washington

Jennifer Menditch Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore gymnast Kara Fry does her balance beam routine during Friday's competition against Oregon State. The Wildcats will compete at the University of Washington tonight.

"This will be a good test for us," UA head coach Bill Ryden said. "It will be interesting to see how we stack up against some of the best in the country."

Arizona has made a habit of scheduling difficult opponents in the regular season. This is good preparation in any sport, but especially makes sense in gymnastics, Ryden said.

"Regular season records are really meaningless in college gymnastics. All the rankings are based on meet scores," he said. "You could essentially go 1-10 for the season and win the national championship. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to play good teams so when the regionals and nationals come along, you are used to that level of competition."

The Wildcats had one of their best starts ever last week when they opened the season with a 192.275 score against Oregon State. One reason for their success was the return of former All-Americans Heidi Hornbeek and Maureen Kealey, who both scored above 9.7 in at least two of their events.

The Wildcats also received a lift in the form of freshmen Randi Liljenquist and Brooke Stan. The two combined for five scores over 9.5 against Oregon State and helped to solidify a injury-plagued floor lineup. Freshman Emily Peterman also made a statement by scoring a 9.675 on the beam in an exhibition.