With the 2009 season already a quarter of the way through, an 0-3 opening record for the Arizona women’s gymnastics team appears somewhat poor.
Looking at pure numbers may yield such an assumption, but the Wildcats are confident things are starting to polish themselves up as they look ahead to the critical months of March and April.
The Gymcats faced off against Oregon State Friday night in McKale Center and the Beavers ran away with a win, beating the UA 196.45-195.25.
Arizona head coach Bill Ryden said he was happy with the team’s performance despite the outcome, saying, “”We are settling in here and learning how to compete.””
This season marks a very diverse Gymcats team, and Ryden can’t stress enough just how much potential the Wildcats possess when everything starts falling into place, as evidenced by their season-high total score against OSU.
“”Everything is definitely pointed in the right direction,”” Ryden said. “”This level of scoring is what I expect, and what everyone should expect from now on.””
Senior Briana Bergeson said she was impressed with how the experienced athletes stepped into the pressure roles and with the freshmen just starting to get the hang of competing at an NCAA level.
“”In the first two meets I feel like it was shaky for all of us, but I feel like experience is all we need,”” Bergeson said. “”From here on out, we are going to be solid.””
The Gymcats will host No. 7 Stanford next week and are excited to shine light on a fresh new face in Britnie Jones. Thought to have sustained a stress fracture in her leg, the Wildcats received good news upon further examination when they found out the freshman would be healthy enough to compete in the upcoming Stanford meet.
“”She is a huge talent,”” Ryden added. “”Her specialty is beam, and her routine is just stupid hard.””
Jones said she is excited to compete in the very place that her parents – both are UA alumni – once performed.
“”I don’t worry about the opponent. We got it,”” Jones said of the upcoming meet. “”We know what we’re doing now so we’ll just go in and do what we can.””
Even though the team is still searching for its first win this season, Ryden said the squad is getting better and thinks things are starting to come together.
“”The big thing is we want to be healthy and competing well come March and April,”” Ryden added. “”We feel good, though; things are going in the right direction.””
