BYU NewsNet - Gymnasts Reasy for 'Show and Tell' in Tucson

BY LISA HARDING

The BYU gymnastics team will compete in a tri-meet against No. 18 Arizona and No. 40 Cal State Fullerton tonight in Tucson, Ariz.

Although it is just four days after the Cougars tight battle with Southern Utah (the teams tied with 195 scores), the team is excited to be back on the road again.

"It's always fun to go down to Arizona," said BYU head coach Brad Cattermole. "This is a fun time of the season. The work has been done and now it's time for show and tell."

After the close match on Monday, Cattermole stressed the importance of saving every tenth of a point possible before the team began their practice for the week.

"We don't have many more opportunities to do well; we are getting down to the end," he said. Cattermole stressed the importance of getting rid of even the smallest of deductions from routines. After a rare tie in Monday's meet against SUU, it became crystal clear why even one extra step can spell the difference in qualifying for Nationals.

"What would it have taken to win on Monday night?" he asked the team during a pre-practice line-up. "Can you see how important the little things are?"

Cattermole said he doesn't care much about where his team is ranked or whether it wins a meet, until it arrives at regionals -- where the team must place in the top two to advance to nationals.

The Cougars can breathe a little easier in their last two meets, as they are almost guaranteed a spot in the regional championships.

"We are pretty much assured a spot at regionals," graduate assistant coach Lena Johnson said. "We have been really consistent in the last few meets, and our girls have been very mentally tough this season."

The gymnasts are not always aware of their exact rankings; they are more concerned with performing their best and tallying up the totals after the last salute. But they are not naïve to the need to perform well in their last two meets.

"I hadn't even thought about beating them, we are in it for the score." said sophomore Megan Donehue. "We want nothing less than a 195."

Make no mistake, the Cougars are aware of what two more high scores could mean for their placing at regionals.

"Our last two meets we've been at 195 to 196," said Cattermole. "But last meet we had some glaring mistakes. If we could score a 195.5, when it comes to getting to regionals and being ranked, that would do well for us."

The team seems to have caught on to Cattermole's vision, even though they look at it more in terms of consistency than scoring.

"Our goal as a team is to hit 24 for 24 routines," said sophomore Kiki Barrett.

"We just need to stay on," agrees team co-captain Danielle Goldman.

However, Cattermole seems optimistic about his team's post-season potential.

"All the hard work we've put in is starting to come to fruition," he said. "Who knows, if we do well in Arizona, we could break into the top 25. And if we do exceptional, anything could happen."