By Arlie Rahn
Arizona Daily Wildcat
After a disappointing home finale, the UA gymnastics team (11-3 overall, 2-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference) is ready to try to work out some of the kinks in a matchup with Ohio State (5-8, 1-3 in the Big 10 Conference) tomorrow night in Columbus, Ohio. The Wildcats are looking at this game with their March 16 meet against intra-state rival Arizona State in mind.
"We hope we can work on some things this weekend and try to get ready for ASU," said UA coach Jim Gault. "Not to take anything away from Ohio State, but they have had their problems with injuries and they have lost a number of kids. So it's not like we're going to meet UCLA."
Considering the fact that Arizona hasn't had a week off all season, the squad is now entering the fatigue zone.
"We're a little tired now considering it has been over two months since we had a week off," Gault said. "So we are not going to put a lot of pressure on each other, and just go out and see if we can get a good score."
The diamond in the rough for the UA in last Friday's meet was Nicole Garrett. She tied her season highs in the vault (9.90) and the beam (9.775) to capture second place in the all-around.
Jenna Karadbil tied her career high on the bars (9.90) and made her first appearance of the season in the floor exercise. But Gault said Karadbil is not content on just participating in two events come tournament time.
"Our lineup is pretty set right now, but we might try Jenna in a few places," Gault said. "She will definitely be on floor and beam, but if she keeps practicing and performing well on the vault, we might find a place for her there also."