January 21, 1999

LEXINGTON, Ky. –The University of Kentucky gymnastics team is preparing to take on Southeastern Conference rival Louisiana State in the GymKats home opener on Friday, Jan. 22, in Memorial Coliseum.

The GymKats (0-1,0-1) are coming off of a tough loss at Florida last weekend. Struggling with injuries, only eight GymKats competed. The highly recruited freshmen class of Jessie Lemp, Jennifer Simmons and Katie Toups made its debut against Florida in all-around competition.

“The potential for this team is great,” Coach Leah Little said. “We have to go out there and grab it. It has been the philosophy of this team all along to start slowly in hopes of peaking closer to championship time. With a talented team such as this, we should have no problem going out and improving every week.”

Senior Misty Marinik is expected to return to competition on Friday after off-season shoulder surgery forced her to miss the season opener. Sophomore Beth Coleman, a potential all-arounder for the GymKats, will not compete against LSU due to a knee injury sustained during the team’s annual Excite Nite exhibition. Coleman is expected to return to action next week.

LSU is coming off of an impressive win over Auburn last weekend. Tiger junior Colleen Barger captured the all-around title with a score of 39.150. Barger also won both the floor exercise and balance beam competition, while junior Kerry Descalopoulis led all vault competitors with a 9.850.