In their first road meet of the season, the No. 12 Arizona Gymcats put forth a valiant effort, but was narrowly defeated by No. 5 Stanford 194.6-194.125, in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday.

Junior Alexis Greene won the all-around title for the second meet in a row, scoring 38.875 in her comeback from a torn ACL that caused her to miss the entire 2007 season.

“”It was a much different environment,”” said UA head coach Bill Ryden. “”But we did a very good job, especially in terms of execution.

“”We definitely improved over some areas from last week.””

Arizona’s Bree Workman and Danielle Hicks each tied for first place in the vault and balance beam, respectively. For Workman, it was her second victory on the vault this season.

Senior Karin Wurm paced Arizona on the bars with a high score of 9.775, and along with Workman, posted a team-high 9.725 on the floor exercise as well.

“”(Losing) is part of the growing process, but we had a pretty solid meet for the first away meet of the year,”” Ryden said.

Weiser out for year

For the second year in a row, senior Melanie Weiser will be forced to sit on the sidelines for the remainder of her collegiate career after suffering a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago.

Ryden said that she didn’t tear a ligament, but compared the injury to a “”weld coming apart.””

“”It’s tough for (Melanie),”” he said. “”But she is still part of the team and brings a positive attitude every day.

“”It’s unfortunate, but in gymnastics, injuries similar to Melanie’s happen all the time and can end the careers of a lot of great gymnasts.””