After their stunning opening-night performance, the Oregon State University gymnastics team now sits at number four in the nation as it travels down to Tucson, Ariz., for its first road meet of the season.
The Beavers will face No. 13 University of Arizona tonight, one week after snapping then No. 4 University of Oklahoma's regular season winning streak of 32. OSU's debut vaulted them up to the top five, but the team cannot settle for one good showing.
"Yes, we set the bar really high, which is awesome," said sophomore Brittany Harris. "But … we can't stop there."
A common theme for practices this week is focusing on the details – making sure everything is crisper, cleaner, and more efficient. Even if it didn't look like it, last Friday's meet was the team's first of the season.
"We need to continue to work on landings, work on our leaps and jumps … hitting handstands, a lot of the details," said head coach Tanya Chaplin.
"I think we just need to keep working hard in the gym just like we have been, focused on the little details," Stambaugh said.
This will be the first time the Beavers will have a road meet this year. The advantages of having the home crowd of Gill Coliseum supporting the team will not be present down in the McKale Center in Arizona.
"It's really important that they start to create their own energy," said associate head coach Michael Chaplin. "They need to stay together and cheer each other on and feed off of that, because you won't have the three or four thousand Beaver fans cheering for you."
That "energy" is crucial for the Beavers when traveling to a road opponent, especially one ranked in the top-15, as well as a conference opponent, as is the case with Arizona.
"Normally when we travel, we have our own energy," Harris said. "And even if we don't have our wonderful Gill fans with us, we still keep the energy high."
"We still focus in on creating our own bubble around our team and our own world around our team," Tanya Chaplin said. "And we want to take that down there, so when we go on the road, it's a great opportunity for us to really focus on that."
The Beavers have defeated the Wildcats in their last 10 meetings, so they are hoping history will repeat itself. However, Arizona had an impressive opening performance themselves, finishing second of five in the Cancun Classic, ahead of two ranked teams: No. 20 Auburn University and No. 25 Louisiana State University.
"We're looking forward to it," Michael Chaplin said. "It's a good competition … Arizona is a strong team and I think that that's a good challenge for us."
Last year's Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year, senior Leslie Mak, was awarded with Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week after a strong showing in the opener. Mak is ranked third on the bars, tied for sixth on beam, tied for 13th on the floor and is eighth for all-around. Mak, Stambaugh, Harris and senior Olivia Vivian look to be the core of a very promising group in 2012.
Focusing on the details and creating a team-wide energy in the presence of a road crowd will be the spotlight for the Beavers this Friday.
The team's first meet showed what kind of potential it has, and an equally strong performance in its first time on the road will be a testament to Oregon State's top-5 ability.
Warner Strausbaugh, sports writer
sports@dailybarometer.com
is a member of the 
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