BYU campus briefs

WOMEN'S SOCCER: Following a strong ending to her collegiate career, senior forward Katie Larkin has entered the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer draft, which will take place today in St. Louis.

Larkin participated in the West Coast WPS Combine in San Diego last month. She was featured in two videos on the Women's Professional Soccer Web site's "Fan Corner."

Fans can follow the 2009 WPS Draft online and view pictures and video of Larkin and other athletes eligible for the draft by visiting fancorner.womensprosoccer.com.

WPS, which is the highest level women's professional soccer league in North America, will begin play in April 2009. It consists of seven teams across the country.

The markets for the 2009 season are San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey/New York, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. WPS expects to expand to Atlanta and Philadelphia in 2010 and continues to explore additional potential franchises for 2010 and beyond. The WPS team planned for Dallas is now slated to begin play in 2010 as the League continues to work on securing a facility, with the intention that the Team will start play in the League's second season. More markets will be announced as they are added to the League.

WOMEN'S TENNIS: The Cougars will open their season at the University of South Carolina with five returning players and four gifted freshmen, including blue-chip recruit McCall Jones.

GYMNASTICS: The Cougars travel to San Jose, Calif., to take on No. 23 San Jose State and UC Davis in tri-meet action today. The meet will begin at 8 p.m. MST.

"This is the first time we've ever been to San Jose State so we're not really sure what to expect," said BYU head coach Brad Cattermole.

"But we're not concerned with the competition. We have to find a way to hit our sets, especially on the uneven bars. We need to improve our consistency and get better at executing."

After two weeks of action and scores of 189.125 and 188.975, the Cougars are anxious to improve and gain experience. This year's squad

has no seniors and more freshmen than sophomores and juniors combined. Six of the 12 gymnasts who have competed this year are newcomers.

In addition to adjusting to a young roster, the Cougars have been battling injuries. For this week's meet, BYU will be without the services of freshman Holland Davis, who competed on three events in the first meet of the year but injured her ankle just prior to last week's competition. Several others are fighting through various ailments.