UA News

The Arizona women's gymnastics team has earned a No. 19 ranking in the pre-season.

The Arizona women's gymnastics team earned a spot in the top 20 pre-season rankings and is heading into the 2010-11 season at No. 19, according to the National Poll.

"The preseason is based on performance from last year, and it's a reflection of the hurdles we overcame in the last season." head coach Bill Ryden said. "For this team, it's definitely a motivator. It's something we want to improve upon and is sort of a reminder to keep our noses to the grindstone and know that we still have some work ahead of us."

The Wildcats are one of five Pac-10 schools to make the top 25, with UCLA at No. 1, Stanford at No. 6, Oregon State at No. 8 and Arizona State at No. 25.

"With Katie, Miranda, Deanna, Becca and Britnie we have a very, very strong upper class. There has also been a lot of improvement in our sophomore class, and with the newcomers that we gained we have a lot of added depth this season," Ryden said.

Last year the Wildcats ended the season taking third place at the Regional Competition, with a final ranking of 20. The team hopes to take the momentum from last season and build upon it, with hopes of making their 25^th consecutive post-season appearance.

Arizona has one senior, four juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen to help achieve its post-season goals.

Said Ryden: "I feel like this year we lost some talent, but I feel like we have more gymnastics accessible to us than last year. With the return of three all-conference athletes coming back stronger than ever, and the potential return of Miranda Russell to all-around as well as Rebecca Cardenas and her beautiful style of gymnastics, we definitely have more bullets in our gun."

The team begins its season Jan. 9 in Los Angeles.