The Arizona gymnastics team faced off against its conference foes in the Pacific 10 championships this weekend in Los Angeles.
The Pac-10 is widely considered the best conference for gymnastics with three schools ranked nationally in the top 10 and four in the top 20. The Wildcats are currently ranked at No. 24 behind Stanford, Oregon State, UCLA and Washington.
Arizona was able to secure fifth place during the meet with a team score of 195.475. No. 5 Oregon State took the title with a team score of 197.200.
“”Overall, it was pretty good. Unfortunately, we had a week floor that dropped us from finishing third to fifth,”” said head coach Bill Ryden. “”We had some really good individual performances. I think it helps us with the postseason once we figure out where we are going.””
Senior Miranda Russell led the way during the bars routine with a 9.850, which was good enough for third place individually. The fast start carried over to the second event where the Wildcats posted the second highest beam total for the season.
Junior Katie Matusik led the way with a 9.900 score on beam, which earned her second place individually for the meet.
“”I’m pretty confident, but at the same time I’m starting to become a perfectionist,”” Matusik said.
The Wildcats have struggled all year in putting together a complete meet. Usually unable to execute one event, this time the Wildcats struggled during floor.
“”We are satisfied that we have the routines and the athletes, we just have to work on the details,”” Ryden said.
Arizona’s final rankings will come out later today to determine the location of their NCAA Regional Championships.