(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Saturday night the No. 19 Arizona State Gym Devils (3-3, 0-2 Pac 12) faced their second consecutive top five team against the No. 4 Utah Utes (4-0, 2-0 Pac 12).
Although the Gym Devils set season-highs on vault and floor, their struggles on beam ultimately forced them to come up short.
ASU got off to a nice start on vault, posting its first score above 49 on the event this season. Sophomore Cairo Leonard-Baker stuck a beautiful landing, scoring a season-high 9.875. Four Gym Devils put up scores of 9.8 or better on the event.
Meanwhile, the Utes were leaving the Devils no room for error. They posted an event-high 49.500 on bars led by 9.950s from Missy Reinstadtler and MyKayla Skinner.
The Gym Devils then moved to bars where they posted a 49.100 with four gymnasts putting up scores of 9.8+. Senior Anne Kuhm and Leonard-Baker tied for third on bars with Utah’s Cristal Isa after all three scored 9.875s.
“We’ve just been working on the little things like confidence and being aggressive no matter who our opponent is,” Leonard-Baker said.
Although the Gym Devils did not have to count the fall from junior Ashley Szafranksi, the struggles did not stop there for ASU on the beam. ASU came up short of its usually strong scores on the event after several balance checks and wobbles throughout the lineup. The highest beam score for the Devils once again came from Leonard-Baker who scored just a 9.750. ASU put up a season-low 48.450 on the event.
“I think we just had a little bit of doubt creep in,” head coach Jay Santos said. “We talked about we need aggressive beam, we need you to go out there and be confident. It wasn’t quite there, and I think it showed.”
The Utes also had some trouble on beam when sophomore Alexia Burch fell, but Utah did not have to count it thanks to hit routines from the other five gymnasts. Utah was still able to finish with a 49.275 total. The Utes earned a 49.325 on the floor which was led by event specialist Sydney Soloski’s 9.925.
The Devils pulled it together to put up a 49.225 on floor, their highest event total of the night. All five of the recored routines scored 9.8 or better. Senior Kaitlyn Szafranski tied her season-high with a 9.850 while Junior Jessica Ginn set a season-high with a 9.825. Leonard-Baker closed out the meet by tying her career-high and setting a season-best 9.950 floor routine which was enough to earn her the individual event title.
Utah’s Skinner and MaKenna Merrell-Giles took home first and second in the all-around with scores of 39.600 and 39.575, respectively. Leonard-Baker’s season-high 39.450 was good enough for third place.
The Gym Devils ultimately fell to the Red Rocks 197.375-195.825. After setting a season-high meet total earlier this week, ASU will look to rebound from this setback as it gets to be the midst of the season.
“We have to keep the progress that we’re making, minus beam,” Santos said. “Vault was better today. Floor was better than Monday. We’re there, we just have to put it together on all four events.”
The Gym Devils will be back in action Saturday, Feb. 2 when they take on No. 12 Cal and No. 16 BYU in Berkeley. The meet will start at 6:00 p.m. and will be airing on the Pac-12 Network.
