Jonny Anderson Sophomore Debra Huss on the balance beam in the University of Washington's Bank of America Arena Saturday night. The beam was her strongest event with a score of 9.825 while competing at the NCAA West Regional.

Saturday, while the SPU gymnasts were hard at work practicing for their upcoming trip to nationals, one of their teammates was across town competing at the Bank of America Arena on the University of Washington campus.

Sophomore Debra Huss was the sole SPU gymnast to compete in the NCAA West Regional Championships for Division I universities. She entered the meet as an at-large competitor -- meaning she was not there with a team.

Huss competed in the all-around and finished the night with a score of 38.425 (18th place). The balance beam (9.825) and the floor exercise (9.800) were Huss' two top-scoring events in the meet.

Huss will rejoin the team as they prepare for the USAG Collegiate Championships. The championships will be held in Ithaca, N.Y. April 14-16.

According to SPU gymnast Jaynie Reynolds, there are eight teams going to nationals, and they will meet in the prelims on Thursday. The top four teams will move on to the meet finals.

"We really have to hit a good meet to get into the top four to go to finals," said Falcon head coach Laurel Tindall.

Besides the two days of team competition, there will be a third day for individual finals. Those gymnasts who score the highest on the individual events in prelims will qualify for the individual finals competition which will take place on Saturday April 16, the last day of nationals.

"We have to be prepared for two days of competition, some of us have to be prepared for three days," said Reynolds.

Jonny Anderson Huss practices on the bars in the University of Washington's Bank of America Arena prior to her event Saturday night.

The SPUGs have been preparing hard for the past two weeks. According to freshman gymnast Christie Chinaka, competing against six teams at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference finals a few weeks ago was good practice for the large multi-school national meet.

The eight team meet will be the largest meet SPU has competed in this year. During the prelims all eight teams will be competing, one team on each of the four apparatus' and the four other teams warming up in the warm-up gym.

According to Tindall, the Falcons are doing all they can to make sure they hit their routines at nationals. "We have made a few changes in routines to take out anything we're not too solid on," she said.

Reynolds added that the girls are really focusing on their consistency. "We have to be consistent from the first night to the second night -- we need to try and stick together for both nights."

And considering the competition, Reynolds couldn't be more correct. SPU will face last year's national champions Centenary College as well as gymnastics powerhouse Texas Woman's University.

"This is an opportunity to go head to head and see who the better teams are," Tindall said.