Jan. 23, 2001

This Week: The Washington women's gymnastics team (3-1) hosts No. 10 Stanford and Seattle Pacific in the Huskies' second home meet of the season Sunday, Jan. 28 at noon PT at Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. This season marks the return of the Washington gymnastics program to the Arena after competing in the Pavilion Addition last season while Hec Edmundson Pavilion underwent an 18-month, $43 million renovation.

Levesque on This Week's Meet: ' I want to see what type of improvements we can make in a week,' says Husky coach Bob Levesque. 'We had 10 falls last week, but somehow found a way to win the meet. It is great that we got the victory at home in our first meet in the new Arena, but we have to improve our scoring. Stanford is a quality program, so we'll have to show a great deal of improvement if we want to win. We are very young and we are going to have some ups and downs like last week. I was very happy that the team came back after a bad showing on beam and rocked floor. That was a very good sign. They could have mailed it in at that point, but they really responded in a positive fashion.'

The Polls: Washington is not ranked in the GymInfo Rankings this week. Last Sunday's meet against Boise State ended after deadline to file competition results for the week. Junior Stacy Wong is tied for ninth nationally in the bars with a score of 9.925 against Denver.

Pac-10 Rivals: Washington leads the series with Stanford 17-9. Stanford has 5-0 record against Seattle Pacific. The Cardinals edged out the Huskies last season 195.050-194.750 at Stanford. Stanford finished third last year at the NCAA West Regionals, while the Huskies placed fourth. The Huskies placed third at the Pac-10 Championships last season, while Stanford took sixth place.

Cross-Town Opponents: Washington leads the series with Seattle Pacific 47-2, with a winning streak of five. Last season the Huskies finished first in the GTE Challenge featuring both teams with a score of 195.550, while Seattle Pacific finished third with a score of 189.950.

Last Time Out: Washington won its first home meet of the 2001 season against Boise State last Sunday, edging the Broncos, 191.800 to 190.725. Seniors Lanna Apisukh and Mandi Klug led the Husky effort. Apisukh tied a personal best on bars with a score of 9.900, while Klug set a career best with a score of 9.900 on floor exercise. Several Husky freshmen contributed solid scores in the victory. Molly Seaman, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., scored a personal best of 9.775 in the floor exercise while Emily Pritchard, of Buckley recorded a 9.775 on the beam.

Next Week: Washington travels next week to Tempe, Ariz. to take on Arizona State, Friday, February, 2, at 7:30 p.m. PT

Injury Story: Washington will be without junior Allison Bruce during the 2001 season. Bruce suffered a preseason Achilles tendon injury that will force her to miss the entire season.

Last Year: Washington posted a 12-11 record including a third-place showing at the Pac-10 Championships and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA regionals in Corvallis. The Huskies finished 17th in the final GymInfo Coaches Poll. Washington's NCAA regional appearance was its 19th straight. The Huskies were led by all-Pac-10 performer Tiffany Simpson, who tied a school record with a 10.000 performance on floor during the season. Washington All-American Lauren Riesenman made her fourth straight appearance at the NCAA championships, competing as an all-arounder.

Departed Seniors: Washington lost five starters from its 2000 team. The biggest loss was six-time All-American Tiffany Simpson, who was a fifth-year senior last year. She finished her career as the owners of the school records in floor exercise (10.000) and balance beam (9.975). Simpson posted three 10.000 scores on floor during her career. Also graduated is Lauren Riesenman, a four-time performer at the NCAA Championships. Crystal Collins was a steady specialist on bars while Rhyan Pelander and Leah Waarmaki came on strong as seniors and were regulars in the Husky rotation.

2001 GymInfo Women's Gymnastics Rankings
(Jan. 22, 2001)

Rank               Team High   Team Avg. 1 UCLA              197.500   196.862 2 Alabama           196.650   196.083 3 Georgia           196.500   195.983 4 Utah              196.375   195.900 5 Michigan          196.200   194.933 6 Illinois State    196.000   195.033 7 Ohio State        195.575   193.775 8 Florida           195.550   195.025 9 Nebraska          195.500   195.22510 Stanford          195.300   194.987   Oklahoma          195.300   194.45012 California        195.175   193.74213 Iowa State        195.075   193.72514 Oregon State      194.900   193.18315 Minnesota         194.850   194.26716 Penn State        194.825   194.058   Bowling State     194.825   194.16218 Illinois-Champaign194.650   194.65019 Utah State        194.450   191.62520 BYU               194.325   194.30021 Denver            194.175   193.25022 Iowa              194.100   193.50023 Western Michigan  193.850   193.45024 New Hampshire     193.800   192.55025 Arizona State     193.750   192.637