(Tempe, AZ) No. 24 Sun Devil Gymnastics took a lead after the first rotation and never looked back, scoring 196.800 in route to their seventh-straight dual-meet victory over the Arizona Wildcats, who scored a 196.475, on Saturday night at Desert Financial Arena.
Notable Stats
Arizona State improved to 4-3 (1-1 Pac-12) and won a point in the Territorial Cup Series after defeating Arizona (4-4, 0-2 Pac-12). ASU trails in the overall series 5-2.5.
This was the third meet in a row scoring a 196-plus for the Gym Devils. The team had season highs on vault (49.300), beam (49.175) and floor (49.350). Overall, there were five career highs earned or matched and six additional season highs.
Anaya Smith had a career-high 9.950 on vault, the highest score by any Gym Devil on any event this season. Her career-high was the best on vault by ASU since Ashley Kelly on March 7, 2008.
The Gym Devils won titles on every event. Smith tied for the vault title, while three Sun Devils tied each other on bars with 9.875s: Emily White, Hannah Scharf, and Sarah Clark. On beam, White had a 9.925 to win outright, while on floor, Jordyn Jaslow and Jada Mangahas tied with a 9.900. Scharf won the all-around with a 39.400, a season high.
Vault as a whole scored a season-high 49.400, thanks to Smith and Alex Theodorou, who recorded her season high on vault with a 9.900. Scharf also had a season high with a 9.850.
On beam, ASU had another season high with a 49.175, recording at least a 49.000 for the third meet in a row. Skye Harper picked up her career high on the beam, with a 9.900. White’s 9.925 to win the title matched her career high.
Floor came through clutch for Arizona State with the meet on the line. Mangahas and Jaslow shared the floor title with scores of 9.900, a career high for Jaslow. Clark added a season-high 9.875.
Quotes
Head Coach Jay Santos
Opening Statement
“I’m really excited. We all know that that streak has been there and it’s still going. Sports streaks all come to an end at some point, but not tonight. It was a really good performance from the team and it was really good to see them finish floor the way they did tonight, especially given last week. We started on fire and we finished on fire. I’m pretty pumped about the performance tonight.”
On always being motivated against UofA
“It’s a rivalry, so it’s not hard to get them motivated for this week. It’s usually me trying to bring them down a little bit. They are a motivated group and they knew what they wanted to do today. Our focus was on having a better performance and a better meet and we absolutely did that. There’s still a couple of things we can clean up and go from there but this is by far the best meet we’ve had this year.”
On preparations to improve from last week
“We worked on some individual passes on the first floor day. We got our endurance working and then got our routines later in the week. To me, it was just them having a good preparation in the week. They had a really good week of practice and I think it really showed today. They put in the work. We knew we could do this on floor, we just had not yet and so it felt great to get out there and do it today.”
On the next part of the schedule
“We just have to continue to build on our performance today. We had our most complete meet. We’ll have a little bit of energy coming off of today and going into next week against Cal. We just have to keep focusing on what we can control and finding that one better performance for that day. Vault started us off really strong and floor finished us off really strong and we need to continue that and take care of one or two more things.”
On the high scores of the night
“The score is the result. That’s what it comes down to. They got high scores and put themselves in the position for that by going out and doing great gymnastics. That’s where we focus all the time. If they go out and perform like that then they put themselves in that position to be there. Skye had a great routine on beam and that was Anaya’s best vault of the year, by far. Jordyn’s floor routine was really good and so was her exhibition vault. I told her that was her best vault all week. That’s what we work so hard at is to go out at that moment and out that performance together. That’s what I’m looking at. I’m looking at the fact that they did really good routines and got rewarded for it.”
Senior Hannah Scharf
On showing out in a big meet
“It feels good. I feel like I put my best foot forward. My teammates really helped me out this week. We worked really hard this week and our training really reflected today.”
On her floor routine to clinch the win
“I just wanted to have fun. I’m a senior, thankfully, I do have my extra year that I will take, but I am still a senior. My senior class is going to be gone next year. So I was just trying to have fun and enjoy it. It was so great to have the 942 Crew back as well. That was huge for the energy. I was trying to make the most of the moment.”
On how to build off of the momentum into the rest of Pac-12 play
“We just need to build confidence, especially after this meet. We need to remember that feeling so we can use that as a driving force.”
Junior Anaya Smith
On the mental prep before today’s meet
“We focused a lot on celebrating and we focused a lot on the details this week and throughout the whole season and today we finally put it all together. We try to be really confident and stay calm throughout the week, and I think that really helped.”
On her vault score
“My teammates helped me a lot. They’ve supported me throughout this whole comeback journey, which is really nice. I feel like I’ve been working really hard to compete how I was before so I feel like I am more determined.”
Final Results
- Arizona State, 196.800
- Arizona, 196.475
Rotation One: Vault, 49.300
To start off the meet, ASU recorded a season high on vault. Gracie Reeves led off the meet for the Gym Devils, recording a 9.800 to give ASU a spark. In the third position, Smith ignited the spark with a 9.950. Theodorou built on the momentum with a 9.900 in the fifth position, her season high on vault. On the anchor, Scharf closed out the rotation with a 9.850, her season high.
Rotation Two: Bars, 48.975
After a rough start on the bars for the Gym Devils, including two sub 9.600 scores, Scharf started a stretch of 9.875 scores for the Gym Devils, tying her season high on bars. Following her up in the rotation were White and Clark, both recording 9.875 as well.
Rotation Three: Beam, 49.175
In the second spot on the rotation, Harper delivered her career high on the beam, with a 9.900. Reeves recorded a 9.800 third in the spot. White eclipsed her season-high with a 9.925 in the fifth spot. Scharf anchored on the beam as well, tying her season high with a 9.800.
Rotation Four: Floor, 49.350
Lee led off the Gym Devils on the floor with a career high 9.800. Clark then recorded her season high with a 9.875. Jaslow kept the momentum up on floor for ASU, with a career best 9.900 on floor. In the fifth spot, Mangahas notched her season high with a 9.900. Scharf anchored the floor, wrapping up the meet for ASU, finishing with a 9.875.
Up Next
Arizona State will head to the Bay Area on Saturday, February 4, to face the California Golden Bears at 4:00 p.m. MST. The meet will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Ryan McClure, media relations intern
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