In the world of college gymnastics, there’s no bigger honor than winning an NCAA team title, and there’s no heavier challenge than the competition that decides who advances as a team to nationals and who goes home to begin training for next season.

For the UW women’s gymnastics team, that competition has finally arrived.

The Huskies will compete at the NCAA West Regional in Berkeley, Calif., this weekend against five teams vying for two berths to the NCAA Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah the weekend of April 26.

Washington enters the competition as the No. 4 seed, ahead of Sacramento State and host UC Berkeley. In order for the Huskies to advance to the NCAA’s as a team, they will have to knock off No. 6 Nebraska, No. 7 Utah and No. 18 Missouri.

“Everyone thinks that maybe we really do have a chance at going to nationals,” senior Chelsea Bakken said after the Pac-10 Championships, where the UW placed fifth. “Natalie (Gillan) and I were saying yesterday how we’ve never felt so confident in our team,” she said.

The Huskies can only hope things will go as well as they did at the Pac-10 Tournament two weeks ago. There, Washington attained the consistency it had been striving for all season, completing all four events without having to count a fall.

“We’ve put ourselves in a great position for regionals,” coach Joanne Bowers said. “You never, never know [what can happen].”

In Berkeley, the Huskies will be striving for no falls, allowing the team to throw out a high score on each event. Although six gymnasts compete on each event, only the top five scores count toward the team score.

Individual slots to nationals are on the line as well, particularly for sophomore Ashley Houghting, who could make waves at the NCAA’s as an individual competitor on vault or floor exercise. Houghting, the school record holder for career wins on vault, is ranked fifth in the nation on that event. At the Pac-10 Championships, Houghting tied for first with UCLA’s Tasha Schwikert. Both gymnasts scored a 9.95.

In the team competition, the UW will look to Houghting, Gillan and Bakken to lead them. Gillan has started on all four events this season, and Bakken, on the mend from an ankle injury, should be able to compete on bars, beam and floor.

Reach reporter Blythe Lawrence at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.