Showdown in Pauley Pavilion

No.3 UCLA

UCLA (17-3) is the top seed and clearly the team to beat going into the regional competition, and with a home-crowd advantage, the meet is essentially the Bruins’ to lose. Of all the conference winners in the nation, UCLA had the highest team total of 197.350 when the team won the Pac-10 championship.

The Bruins rank in the top five nationally in all four events, leading the nation in uneven bars and floor exercise team totals.

In the last 10 years, UCLA has won eight regional titles, with a total of 17 in the program’s history. The Bruins have also won five NCAA Championships all-time, most recently in 2004. Last year, UCLA placed second in the North Central Regional behind Florida, advancing to the NCAA Championship. However, the team did not reach the Super Six after elimination in a tiebreaker with Utah.

With the majority of last year’s team returning, the Bruins are more experienced as a team and as individual gymnasts.

Seven Bruins were named to the all Pac-10 team, including Pac-10 gymnast of the year Vanessa Zamarripa. Zamarripa, an All-American who placed third in the all-around at the NCAA championships last year, has scored a perfect 10 on vault four times in her career.

Sophomore Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs and senior Anna Li, both All-Americans, have also earned perfect 10s on routines this season. UCLA’s depth is one of the team’s greatest strengths, allowing for continual changes to be made in lineup that will still produce consistent routines.

UCLA will start the competition on balance beam after a bye. The beam has been the Bruins’ most inconsistent event throughout the season, so UCLA’s performance on the apparatus could determine how focused the team will be throughout the competition.

No. 9 Arkansas

The Razorbacks (8-9-1) enter their seventh consecutive NCAA regional meet. In the past two years, Arkansas has advanced to the championship meet twice, reaching the Super Six for the first time in school history last year.

Led by senior Casey Jo Magee, the Razorbacks are once again looking to advance to the NCAA championship meet and better last year’s fifth place finish.

Magee, who is Arkansas’ first two time all-SEC selection, currently ranks fourth in the nation in the individual all-around. Another crucial gymnast in the Razorbacks’ lineup is sophomore Jaime Pisani, ranked No. 14 in the individual all-around and No. 8 in vault.

The Razorbacks are coming off a shaky performance in the SEC championship meet, where they finished sixth in the competition with a team total of 195.275, well below their season high mark of 197.025.

Arkansas will start the competition on floor exercise.

No. 17 Iowa State

Saturday’s meet marks the 14th consecutive NCAA Regional appearance for Iowa State (7-10). However, the Cyclones have only competed in three NCAA championship meets during that time period, with their last appearance coming during the 2006 season.

Iowa State faced regionals opponent Brigham Young during the regular season, defeating the Cougars 195.625-192.050 on Jan. 29.

However, the team struggled in conference competition, going 0-6 against Big 12 schools. During the Big 12 championship meet, the Cyclones had several rocky routines that led to the team’s disappointing fourth-place finish.

Iowa State has been greatly affected by injuries throughout the season. With several experienced gymnasts getting seriously injured, the Cyclones have relied heavily on their younger competitors.

The team suffered a major blow to their lineup on March 5 when senior Melanie Tham tore her Achilles tendon during floor warm-ups against Iowa. Prior to her injury, Tham competed on beam and floor for Iowa State in every meet this season.

The Cyclones will begin Saturday’s meet on vault.

No. 21 Arizona

After hosting the Pac-10 Championships, it is now Arizona’s (9-10) turn to be the visiting team. The Wildcats competed in Tucson, Ariz. against the Bruins during the regular season, losing 193.800-196.725.

Arizona has also had regular season encounters with regionals competitors Arizona State and Arkansas. The Wildcats defeated their in-state rival by 0.775 on Jan. 24 but fell to the Razorbacks 195.40-192.65 in Arizona’s season opener. The team set their season-high of 196.175 in a win against Minnesota on March 12.

A solid performance at the Pac-10 Championships led to a team total of 195.875 and a fourth-place finish. The Wildcats were narrowly edged out of third place by No. 8 Oregon State, which scored a 195.950.

Redshirt senior Sarah Tomczyk, who received second team All Pac-10 honors for uneven bars and vault, has led the Arizona team throughout the season. Freshman Aubree Cristello and Molly Quirk and sophomore Deanna Graham also earned first team all Pac-10 awards in the all-around.

The Wildcats will have a bye for the first rotation and then begin the meet on bars.

No. 26 Brigham Young

After an injury-ridden 2009 season full of inexperienced freshman, BYU significantly improved this year with six gymnasts returning as sophomores. Compared to their 2009 best of 192.850, the more experienced Cougars set a 2010 season-high score of 195.825 against No. 10 Utah on March 26.

The Cougars defeated regional competitor Arizona State in a tri-meet on March 12 scoring a 195.725 compared to the Sun Devil’s total of 193.625.

Senior team captain Megan Donehue is currently ranked No. 36 nationally on beam and 14th in the region on uneven bars.

Despite competing in the NCAA regional meet for 10 consecutive seasons, the Cougars last qualified for the national championship in 2005, placing 11th with a score of 194.625. BYU’s highest national finish is eighth place, which the team achieved in 1991.

BYU’s first rotation on Saturday will be on balance beam.

No. 32 Arizona State

One of three Pac-10 teams competing in Saturday’s meet, Arizona State (2-17) comes in as the only squad to have competed in Pauley Pavilion this season, a trip that ended in a loss to the Bruins on Jan. 31.

The team struggled during the Pac-10 championships, scoring a season-low 190.675. The Sun Devils came in seventh place after being forced to count two falls in each event. By comparison, Arizona State’s season-high total was 195.90, tallied in a meet against No. 6 Stanford on Feb. 19.

Junior Mary Atkinson, the Sun Devils’ leading scorer on vault, bars and beam, is ranked No. 23 nationally in the individual all-around. Atkinson was named to the Pac-10 all-conference second team.

Led by coach John Spino, Arizona State will make its 29th consecutive appearance in an NCAA regional meet.

The Sun Devils will begin competition on the uneven bars to start Saturday’s event.

Individual all-around & event specialists

Competing individually in the all-around are Alaina Baker, Cal State Fullerton; Lily Swann, San Jose State; Tanya Ho, UC Davis; Eryn Stubblefield, Sacramento State; and Katie Yamamura, UC Davis.

The event specialists competing individually are Nicole Meiller, Sacramento State, vault; Lida Gehlen, UC Davis, bars; Cayla Boyce, Sacramento State, beam; and Gabrielle Targosz, San Jose State, floor.