The No. 22 Arizona women’s gymnastics team earned first place at its first home meet of the regular season in McKale Center on Friday in what coach Bill Ryden called a “learning experience” for the team.

The GymCats earned the first-place victory in the quad meet with a final team score of 195.250 against University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Stout and Sacramento State.

“It was a good learning meet for us,” Ryden said. “It’s real obvious we have young kids that are still trying to figure it out. We made a lot of little ticky-tack errors tonight. Considering all that we have overcome — and, honestly, feel we are still coming back from that stuff — I think it was a good step forward.”

The GymCats started the meet off on vault and earned a team score of 48.775 behind a 9.875 score from junior Shelby Edwards.

On bars, the Wildcats finished with a score of 48.875. On beam, senior Shay Fox had the highest score for Arizona with a 9.850, contributing to the total team score of 48.500.

Arizona finished the meet on floor with a total team score of 49.100 led by senior Allie Flores, who scored a 9.875.

The meet was also the first opportunity for three freshmen to experience competing in front of a home crowd of 1,902, and they did not disappoint. Freshman Madison Cindric contributed scores of 9.575 on vault, 9.750 on beam and 9.825 on floor, Victoria Ortiz added a 9.875 on bars and Kennady Schneider had scores of 9.475 on beam and 9.825 on floor.

“Just hearing our chants and our names being screamed out just pushed us further and inspired us to do it for our fans,” Schneider said. “They are the ultimate reason why we love this sport.”

Ryden came away impressed with the performances by the freshmen and how much they have grown after just two meets.

“They are doing a great job,” Ryden said. “They have some issues, some times when they get nervous, but the reality is they are doing a great job. Every meet where they gain experience, they are just that much better the next meet.”

The GymCats also competed against No. 8 UCLA on Monday in the Pauley Pavillion, narrowly losing to the Bruins 195.975-195.300. Arizona has now lost to UCLA in 16 consecutive meets.

Starting off on bars, sophomore Gabby Laub, junior Lexi Mills and freshman Victoria Ortiz led the Wildcats with a score of 9.825. Overall, the Wildcats had a team score of 49.050.

On vault, Arizona struggled with a team score of 48.675 and their highest individual score of 9.750, below every vault score from the Bruins. The GymCats battled back on floor, earning a team score of 49.1 behind junior Jessie Sisler’s 9.875 floor score and Schenider’s 9.850 score.

The Wildcats finished the meet on beam, where they only scored 48.475. Mills led the way for the Wildcats with a 9.850.  

Up next, the GymCats will travel to Seattle, Wash., to compete against the Washington Huskies on Saturday.