(Tempe, AZ) With a strong outing from graduate Emily White, Sun Devil Gymnastics scored a season-high 195.725 in the home opener and Big 12 opener, coming in second to No. 21 Arizona (196.650) on Sunday afternoon in Desert Financial Arena.
Notable Stats
- Arizona State (4-4, 0-1 Big 12) fell to in-state rival Arizona (7-1, 1-0 Big 12) in a regular season meet for the first time since 2016.
- ASU earned a new season high with a 195.725. The Sun Devils had a season-high event total on bars (49.175) and tied the season best on beam (49.025).
- Graduate Emily White had a strong performance in her first all-around outing of the year, scoring a 39.400. Her best outing was a new season high of 9.900 on beam to lead the team. She had at least a 9.825 on all events.
- Shining on bars was graduate Sarah Clark, scoring a 9.925 in the anchor spot to win the bars title. That score is the highest score across all events for a Gym Devil this season. She also hit a season-high 9.875 on beam.
- Graduate Jada Mangahas made her season debut on bars, notching a 9.850. She also anchored on vault with a 9.850.
- Also in the all-around was junior Kimberly Smith, earning a 39.050. She scored a career-high 9.850 on bars.
- The attendance was 3,110, the seventh highest in team history.
Results
- No. 21 Arizona, 196.650
- Arizona State, 195.725
Rotation One: Vault, 48.825
The Gym Devils were in second after the first rotation on vault. Mangahas led the way with a 9.850 in the anchor, her new season-high score. Making her season debut on vault, White followed behind, scoring a 9.825.
Rotation Two: Bars, 49.150
ASU remained in second after competing on bars. The spotlight was on Clark with a score of 9.925, achieving her first 9.9 score of the season and the new team best on bars so far this season. Smith tallied a 9.850, her new career high on bars. Mangahas made her season debut on bars with a 9.850.
Rotation Three: Beam, 49.025
With pressure on after a fall earlier in the lineup, the three after hit solid routines. White scored her new season best on beam with a 9.900, the highest in the event. Similarly, Clark scored a 9.875 for her new season high on beam to add on.
Rotation Four: Floor, 48.725
The meet ended on floor with a couple of mishaps to let the meet get away from them. White’s 9.850 to round out the meet led the way. Behind her was junior Kayla Lee with a 9.800, her season high on floor.
Quotes
Head Coach Jay Santos
Opening Statement:
“I’m disappointed. We certainly did not perform the way I would’ve liked seeing. All good streaks must come to an end, unfortunately, and this is the end of our streak for the moment. We’ll have to start a new one. We were fighting through a couple different events; we did not finish the floor the way I wanted to. I’ll credit Arizona today, they executed a better and more complete meet than we did and that’s the result. I would have liked to see us take a little step further than last week. Some progress, a little decrease there. We have to get back in the gym and get to work.”
On White’s performance:
“She’s one of our rocks. She’s been for years and years. She’s got that ability to lock in and do what she needs to do and perform. That’s exactly what she did today. She had four great routines for us. We’ve been taking it a little slow on vault this year and this was one of the weeks I wanted her to put her in and she delivered. She’s got to keep doing that for us just like she always has. She finished off floor really strong, she’s great.”
On the improvements needed before facing Iowa State:
“There’s quite a few. Our landings, not changing in the moment, and delivering the routines we see in practice. Any little detail. We did not finish floor well. We went out of bounds, we had them second guessing passes, different checks on beam, and a couple bar landings. Vault, we weren’t sharp on our landings. We can pick our poison and work on it.”
Graduate Emily White
On her teammates during her fifth year at Arizona State:
“I’m feeling so grateful to be here, just even being able to be on the same team as the four freshmen this year and Jenna [Blair, a transfer from Northern Illinois]. I love them all so much. And I always think, if I didn’t have the COVID year, I never would have met them, never would have been on the same team as them. I’m grateful to be on the same team as them for another year, and be a part of the freshmen’s journeys.”
On competing all-around for the first time this season:
“It was awesome. I love competing all around. I think for me, vault is just the one event that depends on how my body’s feeling. I’m a fifth year, so sometimes it just makes more sense to take that event out. But I was really excited to do it again this week, and hopefully continue into the future.”
Graduate Sarah Clark
On young fans in the audience during the meet:
“It’s awesome, honestly. Just seeing all them out there with their little devil horns, they’re so cute. And when they’re lining up before we run out and we get to high five them, it helps me. I know sometimes it’s really easy to get wound up and stressed, but just remembering that we’re here at the end of the day to have fun and to compete in the sport that we love.”
On performing under pressure:
“Even though gymnastics is a team sport, I think it’s important to stay within yourself when you are getting prepared to compete. On beam, I don’t watch the people in front of me, so I’m in my own zone. And when I go up, I’m feeling as confident as I can be. And for the other events, it’s the same way. If you see something, you have to dial yourself back in and think about your job, your mission. As Jay says, ‘The most important routine is always the next one.’ So it doesn’t matter what happened in the past, you still have to get up and perform the way you need to perform and execute.”
Up Next
The first Big 12 road meet for Arizona State is at Iowa State on Friday at 5:30 p.m. MST on ESPN+.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Lauren Nuñez
Click on Logo
