STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Penn State women's gymnastics team is ranked No. 9 in the 2001 Gym Info Preseason Coaches Poll which was released on January 2. The Nittany Lions received 464 points, 26 behind No. 8 Louisiana State.

Defending national champion UCLA is the preseason favorite of the coaches as it earned a No. 1 ranking after garnering 718 points, including 22 first-place votes. Georgia followed the Bruins at No. 2 with 674 points, while Michigan checked in at No. 3 with 647 votes.

The Nittany Lions open the season on Saturday, Jan. 6 at the Super Six Challenge in Tuscaloosa, Ala., at 6:00 p.m. (CT). Each of the half dozen teams slated to compete in the season-opening event are represented in the preseason top-10. Alabama, host of the Super Six Challenge, is ranked No. 5, Stanford No. 7 and Florida No. 10. No. 2 Georgia and No. 3 Michigan are also scheduled to compete at the Super Six.

The Super Six Challenge will be televised by ESPN on a tape-delayed basis on Sunday, Jan. 21 at 3:00 p.m. (ET).

During the 2001 campaign, Penn State is scheduled to compete against 10 schools that are ranked in the preseason top-25.

The Nittany Lions return 13 letterwinners from a squad that finished 8-2 overall and seventh nationally during the 2000 season. Penn State's first home meet of the season is slated for Saturday, Jan. 20 versus New Hampshire at Rec Hall.

2001 Gym Info Preseason Coaches Top 25

 Rank Team Points 1st Place Votes 1 UCLA 718 22 2 Georgia 674 3 3 Michigan 647 1 4 Utah 632 3 5 Alabama 614 6 Nebraska 553 7 Stanford 495 8 LSU 490 9 Penn State 464 10 Florida 464 11 Arizona State 398 12 Oregon State 386 13 Denver 341 14 West Virginia 301 15 Brigham Young 265 16 Washington 246 17 Iowa State 241 18 Minnesota 240 19 N.C. State 155 20 Arizona 142 21 Oklahoma 134 22 Iowa 98 23 Maryland 94 24 Ohio State 85 25 Boise State 83 Other teams receiving votes: Towson University, Utah State, Auburn, Michigan State, Cal State Fullerton, Central Michigan, Missouri, Kent State, U.Mass., Illinois, George Washington, California, New Hampshire, Pittsburgh, Illinois-Chicago, Bowling Green, Ball State, North Carolina, Kentucky, Utah State, Rhode Island, Western Michigan, Southern Utah.