(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Monday afternoon, the No. 19 Arizona State Gym Devils (3-2, 0-1 Pac-12) continued their road trip in Westwood where they opened up their Pac-12 season against the defending National Champions, the No. 2 UCLA Bruins (5-0, 1-0 Pac-12).
Despite a second-place 197.775-196.125 finish, the Gym Devils had their best performance since last year’s Pac-12 championships where they scored a 196.425. ASU also put up their best team event scores of the season, posting event high scores of 48.850 (vault), 49.250 (bars), and 49.325 (beam).
“Overall, I think we did very well today,” sophomore Cairo Leonard-Baker said. “It was our best outcome of the season so far. We had a few hiccups here and there, but we still ended up having a great all-around as a team.”
Head Coach Jay Santos echoed the sentiment saying, “I think we started the meet really well and ended the meet really well. We still need to work on a couple of things on vault, landings especially.
ASU quickly got to work, opening up their day on the uneven bars where Leonard-Baker’s stuck full in dismount led the Gym Devils with a near perfect, career-high 9.975. Junior Morgan Hart set the tone in the leadoff position earning a career-high 9.875 followed by senior Morgan Wilson who also put up a strong routine to receive a 9.825. Seniors Justine Callis and Kaitlyn Szafranski also scored 9.775s, tying both of their career-highs.
On the other side of the arena, the Bruins struggled on multiple of their vault landings in the first rotation, giving the Sun Devils the opportunity to capitalize and take the lead 49.250-49.175. Sophomore Nia Dennis highlighted the rotation for the Bruins scoring a perfect 9.95 out of 9.95 on her yurchenko full to win the event.
The Gym Devils moved to the vault in the second rotation, where Jessica Ginn’s 9.80 led the pack. ASU only posted one score of 9.75 or lower with Wilson and senior Anne Kuhm contributing a pair of 9.775s and Leonard-Baker and K. Szafranski soring a pair of 9.75s to round out the rotation.
While ASU held the lead heading into the second rotation, the Bruins wasted no time fighting back posting a nation-high 49.700 on the uneven bars. Although the Bruins suffered a fall from Dennis in the leadoff position, the Bruins posted three scores of 9.925+, highlighted by 2016 Olympic gold medalist Madison Kocian’s perfect 10.
At the halfway point, the Bruins led the Gym Devils 98.875 to 98.100. Moving to the floor, ASU suffered an emotional loss in the third rotation with leadoff senior Katelyn Lentz going down on her first pass and was not able to finish her routine. Lentz suffered a season-ending leg injury during her junior season and was just making her return back into the lineups.
“It’s really hard to see a teammate go down like that,” Wilson said. “We’re obviously all so close, and we love each other so much. So to see someone go down like that is heartbreaking.”
The injury to Lentz was emotional for the Gym Devils, but after a couple of routines, ASU got their footing back and closed out the rotation strong with Leonard-Baker and K. Szafranski posting a pair of 9.825s.
“Obviously, starting out on floor with Katelyn’s injury set us back, but the back half really stepped it up,” Head Coach Jay Santos said. “They handled the atmosphere really well today, so I’m really excited because we did what we’ve been working on and we improved.”
On the balance beam, the Bruins put up three scores of 9.850’s with Kocian posting their highest score of 9.875. After three rotations, UCLA led ASU 148.125-146.800.
The Gym Devils closed out the meet going six-for-six on the balance beam where ASU posted its highest beam team score of 49.325 since last season against the Stanford Cardinal. Callis took home the beam title, the second of her career, after posting a career-high 9.925. Ashley Szafranski also posted a solid 9.875 and Wison tied her career best with a 9.850.
UCLA lit up the floor in the final rotation highlighted by viral sensation, Katelyn Ohashi. Although Ohashi did not reach perfection again, she did not disappoint in her follow up routine posting a 9.95. Kyla Ross, Margzetta Frazier, and Gracie Kramer also posted a 9.95 for a four-way tie for the event title.
In the all-around, Leonard Baker scored a 39.400 to finish second behind UCLA’s Ross who put up a 39.450. Kuhm followed close behind with 38.875 for third followed by Dennis with a 38.850.
The Gym Devils will be back in Wells Fargo Arena Saturday night to face the No. 4 Utah Utes in the Cystic Fibrosis awareness meet and alumni night. The meet will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be airing live on the Pac-12 Network.
