Texan Cougars Return Home

PROVO -- Sweeping three home meets, the Cougars now take to the road to compete against Texas Women's University Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at the Kitty Magee arena in Denton, Texas.

"I have three Texans on the team," said BYU coach Brad Cattermole. "I told them if we could find a good school to compete with, we'd go to Texas."

Though TWU is a Division II school, the Pioneers are the 2003 USAG Collegiate National Champions -- their seventh title.

Denton is familiar ground for senior Trisha Ashton, who attended TWU prior to BYU. Ashton was an asset to the Cougars against Missouri Monday night, setting career highs of 9.925 on both beam and floor.

Fellow Texans, junior Jaime Mabray and freshman Kacie Capra, also showed strong performances against Missouri. Mabray was named Cougar of the Meet, taking first in the all-around, scoring a season high of 39.425. Capra also set career high scores of 9.775 on beam and 9.875 on floor.

Currently sitting 6-3, the Cougars don't have time to relax, Cattermole said. The team still has to fine tune its routines and take advantage of its workout.

"There are still just goofy little mistakes," Cattermole said. "But we're continuing to improve and that's what's great about this team. No one's satisfied -- they're still working harder."

Cattermole said the Cougars are going into the meet with the mentality they need to fight hard and perform. The goal isn't to compete against the other team, but to compete against your potential.

"We've got to get high away scores," Cattermole said. "Rankings don't really matter until you're deciding Regionals. That's when our away scores are going to count."

In its last three meets, BYU ripped through Utah State 196.425-195.250, Boise State 196.725-194.175 and Missouri 196.725-195.525.

The Cougars won't return for a home meet until March 9, for their final home meet against Southern Utah at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.