Tim Garrison thinks of everything he can to simulate a meet-like atmosphere in practice.He turns up the pressure on his gymnasts as much as possible, but his hands are still tied. When it comes down to it, duplicating the feeling of competing when it counts just isn’t possible.”There’s only so much you can do, so actually getting out there and competing and seeing what kind of team we have was a very good thing,” Garrison said.That first look at his team in competition came on Monday, as the Wildcats traveled all the way to Seattle for a season-opening meet against No. 24 Washington. UK came on top, 194.975-194.325, with a score good enough to bump its ranking nine spots to No. 13 entering Friday’s home-opening Excite Night meet against LSU and Arizona State.Garrison called it a “decent opening day,” saying plenty of small mistakes and even a few large ones will need to be addressed. But most importantly, the Cats showed themselves to be a team capable of overcoming adversity.”When we made a mistake that was a large mistake resulting in a fall, the very next competitor was able to step up and actually hit their routine,” Garrison said. “So I think that’s good. I think that speaks to the toughness of our kids which is something that we’re proud of.”An example of that toughness was Alexis Gross, the redshirt junior who missed all of last season due to injury. After Sara Shipley fell twice on beam, UK’s final event, Gross needed to post a score to steady the Cats and preserve a slim lead. She did just that with a 9.725. Garrison also cited senior Kayla Hartley as being in “mid-season form.”From veterans like Gross and Hartley, that kind of effort is expected. From freshmen in their first college meet, not so much.UK relied on its four true freshmen – Katie Carlisle, Brittany Furuyama, Cori Rechenmacher and Sydney Waltz – for six routines on Monday. They weren’t perfect, but they weren’t afraid either, not as the night went on.”The way I put it, I think they grew up in front of our eyes,” Garrison said. “I think on the first event they were freshmen. They were freshmen being freshmen. I think by the time they competed their second events they had already settled down and kind of gotten into the rhythm of the competition, which is something that we were looking to see.”The freshmen will get more experience under their belt in Memorial Coliseum for Excite Night, the meet that annually kicks off the home season for UK. A pair of strong teams, including the second-ranked Tigers, will be there, making for an event worth seeing.”I’m expecting a big crowd, that’s for sure,” Garrison said.Garrison can’t promise anything about the way the Cats will perform, but the way they handled their first meet is a good sign. Regardless, he expects it to be the start of a season to remember.”As far as I’m concerned, this team is limitless in our potential,” Garrison said. “I think we’re going to break a lot of records this year.”