PROVO -- The BYU women's gymnastics team heads to Salt Lake City this Friday as they compete in their season opener against the University of Utah.
The Cougars field a team that has the talent to qualify for the NCAA Championships at the seasons' end. Last year BYU fell short at the NCAA regional meet and is ready to compete against Utah, who took fourth at the NCAA National Championships in 2002.
"Utah is probably the hardest team in the country to start out against," BYU head coach Brad Cattermole said. "Utah won't make early season mistakes, so we can't make early season mistakes."
Losing four top-of-the-line seniors last year has put pressure on the team to step up its performances. All four seniors were top scorers for the team last season, but the team isn't completely disadvantaged from the loss.
"We have a young and talented team," Cattermole said. "We don't have the big all-around starters that we did last year. We are working on stepping up our performances."