Back in January, just two meets into the ISU gymnastics team’s season, ISU coach Jay Ronayne made a prediction about junior Caitlin Brown.

“Keep an eye on her,” he said. “This is the season for Caitlin.”

At that point in the season, Brown had set a new career-high in the all-around twice. Since then, she has re-set her personal best four more times, including her most recent mark of 39.400 at NCAA Regionals on April 4.

That score was good enough to send Brown to Birmingham, Ala. for the all-around competition at the NCAA Championships on Friday.

Though six seniors have already bid farewell to the team and Brown will be the only ISU gymnast competing at nationals, her returning teammates haven’t let her prepare alone.

“[Practice] feels weird and sort of empty with those girls gone,” Brown said. “The girls that are still here, though, they’re really supporting me. Sammie [Pearsall] told me she’d do beam routines with me if I wanted some extra help … Things like that are really pushing me.”

The preparation for Brown has been intense, which Ronayne said didn’t have to be the case.

“When I started talking to her about getting ready, I asked if she wanted to go down to have fun and enjoy the experience or if she wanted to go compete and give it her all,” Ronayne said. “She didn’t hesitate when she chose the latter.”

Brown could become an All-American, depending on where she finishes on individual events as well as in the all-around competition. That’s a goal she’s had in mind leading up to the weekend, and her practice habits have reflected it.

“Every routine that I do really has to be perfect,” Brown said. “Every bar routine, if the hand stand isn’t hit or the dismount isn’t stuck, I do it again. If I wobble on the beam, I do it again. Nailing those little details and nailing them every single time will go a long way.”

Ronayne said perfectionism is abundant in the sport of gymnastics and Brown’s preparations for nationals have really brought it out in her.

“It’s wonderful in the sense that it drives her to be better than she was yesterday,” Ronayne said. “If she keeps breaking her own records she’ll get a 10.0 and, really, that won’t be enough for her. She will seriously want a 10.1, which is a great attitude to have.”

ISU assistant coach Katie Teft-Minasola — who has been working primarily with beam routines — said Brown’s pursuit of perfection in the gym is already paying dividends.

“She’s grown a lot in her consistency and just allowing herself to perform the way she can,” Teft-Minasola said. “Sometimes she likes to think too much and that gets in the way and leads to a few mistakes. Lately, though, she’s done well allowing herself to do her gymnastics and that’s really shining through.”

Brown’s goals for the weekend are certainly lofty, but no doubt attainable. If there’s anything she’s learned during her break-out junior season, it’s how to reach them.

“I would love to make it to [the individual event finals April 20], and being an All-American would be wonderful, but what I need to [do to] get there is focus,” Brown said. “The focus isn’t, ‘I need to get this placement.’ I’m thinking, ‘You need to do this routine at this level so those things happen.’ If I can take care of that, my goals will come.”