With the new season finally here, the women’s gymnastics team hopes to overcome anything standing in its way and improve upon its current national ranking of No. 27.
The team is out east for its first meet of the 2012 season, competing against North Carolina State on Saturday.
Last season, the Cougars ended with a record of 12-6-2 and placed 6th at NCAA Regionals. Even with a relatively young roster, BYU has high hopes for this season. Junior Sarah Yandow is especially excited to show off everything the team can do.
“Our preseason is so long it gets kind of tiresome that there are no rewards, ” Yandow said.
The gymnastics preseason lasts around four or five months so the beginning of the actual season almost comes as a relief. Despite a few preseason injuries, the team remains optimistic. And with the arrival of the first meet, nerves and excitement both come into play. Senior Holland Matheson said the team is more excited than nervous but because it is the first meet, no one really knows what to expect.
Consistency is definitely a team goal this year. Matheson explained the importance of good consistent team scores and the role they play in making it to nationals. The higher a team’s scores are throughout the season, the better its regional qualifying score, or RQS. A higher RQS gives the team a chance for a higher seed in regionals, making it easier to reach nationals in April.
“Personally, I want to [score] 9.75 or higher on each event I compete in … I want consistent high scores so I can build up the rest of my team,” Matheson said.
Yandow believes “confidence is [the] key to everything,” for both the team and individually, considering it one of the biggest things she learned last season. Yandow has been putting her confidence to work early in trying to compete on floor in addition to bars and vault.
For Matheson, this season is all about showing mental toughness.
“You can always do your skills in practice but when it comes to competing, everyone has to have their minds in the right place,” Matheson said. “We’ve been working our butts off … and it’s going to pay off right now.”
After the first meet against NC State, BYU will compete away for two more meets, against Southern Utah on Jan. 20 and then against Utah on Jan. 27. The team returns for its first home meet against Boise State on Feb. 4.
