ASU Gymnastics: No. 19 Gym Devils Looking To Improve Upon First Pac-12 Victory

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN))

After defeating the Stanford Cardinal at home for their first Pac-12 win, the No. 19 Gym Devils (5-4, 1-3 Pac-12) head to Oklahoma for the Perfect 10 Challenge. This quad meet is hosted by No. 1 Oklahoma (9-0) and also includes No. 15 Washington (2-3) and George Washington (5-5).

The Sooners are led by junior Maggie Nichols. In their last meet versus No.7 Denver, Nichols won both bars and beam with matching scores of 9.975. Freshman Olivia Trautman also won the vault title scoring a 9.900. The Sooners defeated Denver by a score of 197.700-197.400.

The Gym Dawgs are led by junior Madison Copiak. Copiak has put up two 9.900s this season, both at Arizona. Senior Monica Riley has also been very consistent for Washington. She has scored a 9.850 or higher on bars 13 times since the beginning of the 2018 season. The Gym Dawgs lost their last meet at home versus No. 3 UCLA by a score of 197.600-196.000.

In its last meet, the George Washington Colonials hosted and defeated New Hampshire, Yale, and William and Mary. GWU scored a season-high 195.400 behind fifth-year co-captain Alex Zois’ all-around score of 39.000. Zois posted a season-high 9.775 on vault, tied her season-high 9.825 on bars, and also tied her career-high 9.900 on floor.

The Gym Devils are coming off of a much needed Pac-12 win at home versus No. 24 Stanford. Sophomore Cairo Leonard Baker has consistently been brilliant for the Gym Devils. Last time out, she scored a 9.925 on bars and a 9.950 on floor, and she is ranked No. 10 and No. 20 on those events, respectively.

On floor, four gymnast either set or tied career-highs against Stanford. Leonard-Baker tied her career-high with a 9.950 and senior Kaitlyn Szafranski scored a 9.925 for a career-high. Seniors Corinne Belkoff and Anne Kuhm both set season-highs. Belkoff posted a 9.850 and Kuhm a 9.875. The Devils won the meet by a score of 196.375-195.000, their highest mark of the season so far.

The No.19 Gym Devils are picking up steam right when it is most important, but they face a big test on Friday in the Perfect 10 Challenge. The meet will take place at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City at 5:45 p.m MST.