Gymnasts compete for national spot
Published April 13, 2007
In order to qualify for national competition, the gymnastics team must finish first or second out of the six teams present at Saturday's NCAA Regional Competition in Berkeley, Calif.
That list includes No. 6 Nebraska, No. 7 Utah and unseeded qualifiers Washington, Sacramento State and California.
Although his team is ranked 18th in the country, coach Rob Drass said his team is dangerous for Nebraska or Utah.
"We're good enough now to make people think," he said. "We're probably one of the most dangerous three seeds out there."
Despite the rating difference, Utah's season high score is 196.725, which isn't far from the Tigers' best of 196.675. But Drass said the marginal difference in scores does not mean it will be easy to knock off the Utes or Huskers.
"There's no small challenge there to qualify in to get to the national championships," Drass said. "We do think we're capable of doing that and surprising some people. We could have our best meet and still finish third. That's just a possibility as well."
But the team is focused on reaching its own potential more than beating the competition.
"Really the only thing we can do to knock off any teams that will be there is to go out and hit our best," junior Julie Abaray said. "We need to go out there and hit 24 for 24, and we've done it before. I know we can do it again. We just have to put everything together in one meet. We should have a good outcome if we are able to do that."
With six teams at the meet, the Tigers open with a bye rotation, which means the Tigers will sit out for two rotations since there are only four events. Although some teams will likely stay and watch during their bye rotations, Drass will send his team to the locker room. Senior Whitney Crater said she or a teammate would bring activities this time.
"(We will) kind of just do things to keep it light and fun and not think about the other teams that are out there competing," Crater said. "But (we will) also do something that's team-oriented or our team dances or play games that are active."
Crater said this is the best way to handle a bye.
"At Big 12s, I had no idea what place we were in the entire competition," she said. "To me that's the best."
Crater said a gymnast is often harder on herself than others are, so watching another person's routine is not always the best idea.
"When you watch someone else going on something, it may look really good," Crater said. "You may be like, gosh, I don't think I'm that good, and it kind of psyches you out, where in actuality, you may be just as good or better."
Last season, sophomore Adrianne Perry qualified for nationals as an all-around competitor. The top two all-around competitors in each region receive an invitation to nationals. Qualifying for one event is also possible, but less likely, as a gymnast must win the event in order to qualify as an individual.