BYU gymnastics: Cougars glad to hit the road for regional

Surprise and excitement prevailed when the BYU women's gymnastics team discovered it was being shipped to UCLA for its regional competition this year.

"I thought we were going to be going to Salt Lake (where the University of Utah will host one of six regional meets), and I'd just accepted where we were going," said senior leader Danielle Goldman, who is thrilled to be going to a venue neither she nor any of her teammates have ever competed at before.

"Then one of my teammates looked at the destination and said, 'We're going to UCLA!' I was sure she was just teasing. I've been really excited for the last couple of weeks.

"Utah's just so close and so normal that it wouldn't really feel like a regional. We wanted to go somewhere," Goldman said.

Goldman loves the feel and atmosphere of regionals and remembers going during her freshman and sophomore seasons. She really wanted to get back there this year, after last season's injury-filled disappointment.

"It's definitely better than last year, but we expected to make it this year. Nationals is our end goal," added the senior from Montreal.

Goldman will be competing in three of the four events for the Cougars. Though she likes training on bars best, she loves competing in the floor exercise, and the vault doesn't throw terror into her like it does many other gymnasts.

The only thing she doesn't compete regularly in is the balance beam.

"I'm not so steady on beam. It makes me really nervous, but I got a lot of experience on it last year (when many of her teammates were down with injuries), and this year, I've been a lot more ready if needed," Goldman said.

But she hopes that won't be the case when the Cougars travel to UCLA for regional action Saturday at 6 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion.

The No. 26 Cougars will be facing No. 3 UCLA, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 17 Iowa State, No. 21 Arizona and No. 32 Arizona State. The top two teams will go on to nationals, which will be held in Gainesville, Fla., on April 22-24.

For the regional meets, not everything will be the same as it has been in years past. While teams formerly put six gymnasts in each event and only had to count the top five scores, the rules have changed this year. Now, the teams will have to count all six scores for each event, putting much more pressure on teams to hit every single routine.