A Season of Ups ana Downs he average spectator probably didn't know that "consistently better performance" was the goal of the women's gymnastics squad, but when the women took to the floor, their goal became obvious. With six all-arounders and five threeevent specialists, the Vandals sported the largest roster in several years. "This year we had the depth for the competitors to feel the team support," said Wanda Rasmussen, in her third year as gymnastics coach. The Vandals opened the season with a tough dual meet against Washington State. Although Idaho lost 128-112, Rasmussen felt the tough competition was helpful. " I think this was a good meet for us to open the season with. We also had several freshmen who entered their first intercollegiate competition during the meet," she said. The Vandals improved the next week when they placed second at a triangular meet at Eastern Washington. Brette Cannon lead Idaho with two first-place finishes in both floor exercises and beam. As the meets came and went, the women were gaining valuable experience and were
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After dropping a meet to boise State and finishing third at a five-team meet, both at home, the team then traveled to Seattle University to post one of their strongest performances thus far in season. Idaho scored 119.75 to defeat Seattle at 117.75 and EWU at 117.40, giving Rasmussen her first ever triangular meet win. "It was great to see the women come through for us," Rasmussen said. " I knew for some time they were capable of winning, they just needed to know it." The next day, at Seattle Pacific, the Vandals experienced difficulty when they finished behind BSU, Seattle Pacific and EWU for last place. Cannon won the beam competition, however, with a season beast performance of 8.2. Returning home, the gymnasts dropped another match, this time against Spokane Community College. It was back to Seattle Pacific again for the next meet. This time, however, the Vandals improved their earlier performance to place third. The women finished their regular season in Missoula, Montana where the Vandals
I-I 234 Gymnastics
placed second in a preconference meet. "It was our best meet of the season. Everyone performed well in all their routines," Rasmussen said. The team hit an all time high to end the regular season by capturing third place in the NCWSA Division II Regional Meet. Coach Rasmussen was overjoyed. "This is the first time we've done so well at regionals and this was about the best regional meet I've seen," she said. To top off the season, Cannon and Terri Knauber competed at the AIAW Division II National Championships in Denver. In allaround competition, Cannon placed 44th and Knauber took 48th. "They hit nice routines," Rasmussen said. "There were some very strong teams and some high scoring." Although it was a year of ups and downs for the team, the women never let up - and it p"aid off in the end. Gary LundgrerO
BALANCING on the b eam, Barbara Dodson
carefully performs h er ro utine. Dodson was one of the m any freshman on the Vandal roster.
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