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Jan. 10, 2012

Weekly Release 1/10/12

SEATTLE - UW begins the season with three-straight meets on the road, the second at Boise State on Jan. 13 at 6 p.m. PST. This will be the first meet of the season for Boise State who was ranked No. 14 in the pre-season poll, its highest pre-season ranking in school history. Last year, UW defeated the Broncos in a Quad Meet in Seattle during the second week of the season. Amy Glass is the top returning all-arounder for Boise State as a redshirt-senior.

Engreitz, Cline, Bixler & Fechter Help Team to Opening Meet Win UW won its 2012 opener at Michigan State, 193.175-191.825. Although the Husky scores weren't quite what they expected and despite several falls on floor, UW rebounded to post a solid score on beam and still get the win. A Husky won all four events including the all-around which was won by senior Ruby Engreitz. Engreitz also won the bars. Junior Amanda Cline won vault, junior Paige Bixler was top on beam and freshman McKenzie Fechter won the floor.

Purple Tops Gold In Annual Intrasquad Meet
The Purple Team defeated the Gold Team in the annual intrasquad meet at Alaska Airlines Arena on Dec. 10. The winning team consisted of Ruby Engreitz, McKenzie Fechter, Kylie Sharp, Paige Bixler, Phoebe Tham, and Aliza Vaccher. Because it was an intrasquad meet, the scores are not made public and do not count towards the student-athletes' individual or team scores. Senior Amanda Cline continued her success from the 2011 season, emerging victorious on vault and winning the event for the Gold Team. Lauren Rogers, Madison Podlucky, and Megan Whitney also scored high on the vault. Rogers, Engreitz, and Hatsune Akaogi all tied for top honors on bars. Paige Bixler led the way on the beam for Purple, while Akaogi, Whitney, and Engreitz also scored high on the event. Engreitz won the floor as well as the all-around title, while Tham and Fechter were also solid on the event.

Huskies Picked 16th In National Pre-Season Poll
After finishing 18th in the country last season and just missing out on a trip to NCAA Nationals, the UW gymnastics team has been ranked No. 16 in the GymInfo Pre-Season Coaches poll.

Every Division I opponent on UW's roster is ranked or receiving votes in the poll. No. 1 UCLA will be the home opener for UW on Jan. 27. The Huskies will also face No. 6 Nebraska, No. 7 Oregon State, No. 8 Stanford, No. 10 Michigan, No. 12 LSU, No. 14 Boise State, No. 19 Arizona and the following teams that are receiving votes: Michigan State, Southern Utah, Arizona State, San Jose State, Central Michigan and Cal.

In 2011 the Huskies had one of the best seasons in school history, placing a school-best third place at the Pac-10 Championships, beating out Stanford. UW then was leading this year's new conference opponent Utah, at the Regionals after three events and just missed going to nationals.

The Pac-12 Championships will be hosted by No. 5 Utah on March 24.

UW will host the NCAA Regionals this year at 4 p.m. on April 7.

Pac-12 Coaches Pick Huskies Fifth
In a polling of the Conference's eight women's gymnastics coaches, UCLA was picked as the preseason favorite to capture the 2012 regular season, the Pac-12 announced. The 2011 NCAA runner-up received 48 points and six first-place votes. The National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches (NACGC) has also selected the Bruins as the No. 1 team in the nation in its Preseason Coaches Poll.
Utah, who finished fifth in last year's NCAA Championships, followed with 43 points and two first place votes to place second. The Utes also make an appearance in the national poll, appearing at No. 5. Oregon State took third place with 38 points and also boasts a No. 7 national ranking. Stanford's 30 points slotted them in fourth place. The Cardinal is the fourth Pac-12 team in the national top 10, sporting a No. 8 ranking.
With 24 points, Washington sits in fifth place in the Conference and No. 16 nationally after upsetting Stanford and placing third at last year's Pac-10 Championship.

Arizona earned 19 points and appears in sixth place. The Wildcats are the Conference's sixth team to appear in the national top 25 at No. 19. Rounding out the poll, both Arizona State and Cal placed seventh in the voting with 11 points respectively.