Three weeks remain before Oregon State stages the biggest event in NCAA gymnastics this year, and there’s a confident feeling among organizers about how it should play out.

Since the Pacific-10 Conference meet was held in Gill Coliseum last weekend, OSU used it as a dry run for the bigger national championships.

The seven-team event went off without a big issue, event director John Cheney and Beavers coach Tanya Chaplin said. There are minor details to work out, but it shouldn’t be a problem for the April 20-22 finals.

“Overall everything went very well,” Cheney said. “It was great to run it like we planned, and didn’t run into a major obstacle.”

The biggest concern will be handling the large crowd that’s expected for the nationals. There were only 2,889 people at the Pac-10 meet, a much smaller crowd than a normal Beavers home event.

OSU roped off the hallways of the first floor of the arena, keeping fans to the upper bowl. The lower grandstands were pulled back to make room for the extra television setup, added judges, floor personnel and to accommodate the teams.

Another major reason for this is to allow more room and entrances to the arena for the athletes so they are not walking through the general public.

While that cuts into the full capacity of Gill Coliseum, it also takes away from access to some of the rest rooms and concessions. It was only a minor inconvenience with the intimate Pac-10 crowd compared to the approximately 7,000 possible for the nationals.

“It seemed like there were a little longer lines to the rest rooms because they were only upstairs,” Cheney said.

To compensate in the next meet there will be access to some of the lower bathrooms and portable concession stands. That also draws people to the added displays and activities by the NCAA in the arena lobby.

As far as how the meet went with the competitors, dealing with seven teams was harder than it will be at the nationals. There will be six teams competing in two sessions the first day, so there’s plenty of space. Teams begin going home after the first day.

OSU had to adjust who goes where in the locker room area to house that many athletes, extra officials and added hospitality rooms. The NCAA already reviewed the plan, and it was approved.

The big change is moving the media work area out to the club area of Reser Stadium, across the street. There were about 150 media and sports information members at last year’s finals at Auburn. Assistant sports information director at OSU Jason Amberg is preparing for the same rush but doesn’t expect the same turnout.

OSU changed the layout of its events this season to prepare for the coming meet. The apparatus were moved around to fit everything on the floor, along with extra tables, chairs, judges and television equipment.

Cheney noted that finding enough chairs was his greatest challenge last weekend, and expects it to be a bigger problem next time.

There are also the cosmetic touch-ups to Gill Coliseum that are on-going. Fresh paint and other minor repairs are constantly being done. Cheney said the work will be complete on time.

An added feature at the Pac-10 meet that drew high praise from the competitors was extra carpeting to make it look like a gymnastics meet, not equipment sitting on a basketball court.

However, that created a longer setup time because there was a trial-and-error process to find power outlets. Carpets would cover up the usually outlets or became tripping hazards.

“I think it worked well,” Chaplin said of last weekend’s practice event. “We felt very comfortable. There are a few little details to be worked out. It was good to have the Pac-10s here to find that out.”