A week before the first meet of the season in January, senior gymnast Lindsey Voth landed wrong on a tumbling pass, breaking bones and tearing ligaments in her foot.

After her surgery on March 1 to remove bone c hips and insert four screws into her foot, Voth realized she would not be able to compete with the MSU women's gymnastics team at the 2004 NCAA Central Regional Championships, which is being held Friday at Louisiana State.

"I expected to have my senior year be my best season," Voth said. "I was all ready. It's just a little disappointing."

Even though her role has changed from competitor to supporter, Voth said the team is ready.

"This is what we've been training all season for," she said. "I think we've done a really good job this year in all of our meets. Basically, we've shown what we can do already; it's just showing it in a big meet like regionals."

The regional championships are, indeed, a big meet - but the No. 6-seeded Spartans say they are ready.

"I think, as a team, we're trying to not put any more pressure than usual on ourselves," freshman gymnast Victoria Iakounina said. "We just have to go in there and do what we know how to do."

Head coach Kathie Klages said practices have become more intense in preparation for the tournament. The focus is on hitting the routines and landings every time they are performed. If the dismount is landed with a step on the landing, the gymnast has to repeat it.

"Their jobs do not change," Klages said. "Each individual has to go out there and hit their routines like we've asked them to do since Jan. 9."

The team said it has a major goal: make it to nationals.

"We have the confidence, we have the numbers under our belt, we just have to be on top of it that day," Iakounina said.

Klages said even if the team itself doesn't qualify, she is hopeful at least one or two gymnasts will, in addition to such goals as going 24-for-24 in their landings and improving their seeding.

She stressed that it is important to make sure that given the unpredictable nature of gymnastics, the team is prepared.

"We don't care what Auburn does, we don't care what LSU does," Klages said. "It only matters what we do."

Earlier this season, Iakounina was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, something MSU has not achieved since 1988.

"Basically, that award, it's not something that I'm focused on right now," Iakounina said. "Top freshman or not, that doesn't change the fact that I have a job to do."