Gymnastics

ASU Gymnastics: Gym Devils head to No. 5 Utah in Pac-12 opener

Arizona State (3-2, 0-0 Pac-12) hits the road again for its first conference meet of the season. The Gym Devils head to Utah to face the No. 5 Red Rocks (4-0, 0-0 Pac-12).

Both women’s gymnastics teams are coming off of a win into this upcoming meet. Last meet for Utah, the Red Rocks became the third team in the nation to reach he 197.000 mark, winning the Best of Utah quad meet with BYU, Southern Utah and Utah State.

ASU put up its highest total of the season so far (195.250) in a dominate win over UC Davis. Although there was much improvement, head coach Jay Santos wasn’t completely satisfied with the team’s performance.

“We gotta keep cleaning up,” Santos said. “I feel like we were definitely capable of doing more today, and we were just holding back a little bit, but definite improvement. Much better routines. If we can just get it moving a little bit better, I think we will be in good shape.”

Although the beam has been an inconsistent event so far in this season, the Gym Devils managed to come back strong with major improvement allowing them to take a win last meet over UC Davis. Fifth-year senior Morgan Wilson and freshman Hannah Scharf scored her career-highs on the event, earning an 9.875 and 9.825, respectively.

Another Sun Devil to keep an eye on is junior Cairo Leonard-Baker. Leonard-Baker in making her way back into lineups as she recovers from an ankle injury she started the season with. Her incredible 9.925 score on bars was the highest number put up by any ASU gymnast so far this season.

The Gym Devils have a lot of newcomers on their roster who are working to get in the groove of the atmosphere and really learn the ups and downs of collegiate gymnastics. Sophomore transfer Megan Thompson has been one of those assets to this team, contributing on beam and floor.

“She has been leading off two events, and she has been leading off two events very well,” Santos said. “The fact that she has been hitting those two events very well, obviously is huge for us, especially when she is a transfer and new to the program with not a lot of college experience prior to this.”

Heading into Utah, a key member of the team includes the No. 6 ranked bars competitor, Kim Tessen. In just two meets, Tessen has already won five individual event titles. She set a career-high 9.950 on bars last time out for the Red Rocks.

Also making major impacts to the Red Rocks’ lineups include Maile O’Keefe, Abby Paulson and Cristal Isa. Freshmen O’Keefe and Paulson have had immediate successful jumping into the lineups while Isa continues to be a reliable staple in three of the rotations.

ASU has a tough task ahead, competing in one of the most electrifying atmosphere in collegiate gymnastics at the Huntsman Center. The meet is slated to start at 7 p.m. on Friday.