ASU Gymnastics: No. 11 Gym Devils Earn Fourth Victory Over Top-20 Opponent in Pac-12 Opener

(Photo: Gabrielle Mercer/WCSN)

On Saturday, the Gym Devils (4-1) took their No. 11 national ranking into Burnham Pavilion, home of the No. 20 ranked Stanford Cardinal.

Coming off its best performance of the season last week at West Virginia, Arizona State looked to continue their impressive start against yet another top 20 opponent.

The Gym Devils started their Pac-12 opener on bars. Cairo Leonard-Baker, who earned Freshman of the Week honors in the league last week, led the team with a 9.900. Junior transfer Anne Kuhm helped out with a career-high-tying 9.825. ASU scored a 48.950 total on the event.

While ASU hit all six routines in the first rotation, Stanford had one fall on vault. The missed routine was made up for by senior standout Elizabeth Price, who started her day with a 9.950 on her flawless Yurchenko full. With a 9.950 being the start value for a Yurchenko full, Price earned a perfect score on her vault for the second week in a row.

As the meet continued into the second rotation, Arizona State moved onto the vault. The team was consistent across the board, scoring four 9.775’s and two 9.800’s. One of those 9.800’s came from former French Olympian Kuhm, who followed up her strong bar routine with a career-high on vault. With the help of consistency, the Gym Devils earned a 48.875 on the apparatus and built a quarter of a point lead.

Stanford moved to bars where the young Cardinal team had four freshman compete consecutively. Of those freshmen, Kyla Bryant had the top score, a 9.825. The lone senior, Price, earned her second 9.950 of the day with another nearly flawless routine

On floor the Gym Devils posted their first team score of 49 or higher of the day with a 49.100. The third rotation boded well for a pair Gym Devils with similar names. Katelyn Lentz posted a season-high of 9.800 while Kaitlyn Szafranski earned a career-high 9.850. These two scores along with a 9.900 from Leonard-Baker for the second straight week were enough to keep ASU’s lead at two tenths of a point.

The Cardinal made things interesting during the third rotation as they had three gymnasts score a 9.900 or better on beam. Price earned her third score of 9.950 of the meet, her career-high, while freshman Lauren Navarro brought in a career-high 9.925 on her routine. The Cardinal outscored the Gym Devils, 49.150-49.000, in this rotation.

Going into the final apparatus Arizona State held a small lead, but Stanford was moving onto floor where they were ranked 4th in the nation entering the meet. The Gym Devils thrived under the pressure and posted their highest event total of the season with a 49.325.

Leading off the apparatus, junior Justine Callis earned a career-high 9.875, alongside Leonard-Baker, who posted the same score and also earned a career-high. The team’s lone senior Nichelle Christopherson also scored a season-high 9.875, but the event was lead by Lentz who posted a career-high 9.900.

In the end, Stanford’s season high was not enough to beat the Gym Devils. The final score of the meet came out to ASU topping Stanford, 196.250 to 195.650. This was the second week in a row that ASU posted a score of 196+, something that has not been done since 2014.

Stanford’s star Elizabeth Price took home the all-around with a career-high 39.775, the highest all-around score of any gymnast nationally this season. Price also took first in every event. Leonard-Baker took second in the all-around with a score of 39.450, and she also took second the uneven bars and floor exercise.

The Gym Devils return to Wells Fargo Arena next week to host the No. 23 Cal Bears in their Pac-12 home opener. The meet is scheduled to start at noon on Sunday, Jan. 28, and it will be broadcasted live on the Pac-12 Networks.