(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
After their two-week road trip, the No. 19 Gym Devils are returning home to Wells Fargo Arena to host the No. 4 Utah Utes for the cystic fibrosis awareness meet and alumni night.
ASU is coming off its highest team score this season after surpassing 196.00 for the first time, earning its highest team total since the 2018 Pac-12 Championships. The Gym Devils scored a 196.125 against the UCLA Bruins and posted season highs on vault, bars and beam.
Highlights included sophomore Cairo Leonard-Baker who scored a 9.975 on the uneven bars and senior Justine Callis who scored a 9.925 on the balance beam to earn the individual beam title and the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week.
On the individual events, ASU is currently ranked No. 31 on vault, No. 21 on bars, No. 20 on beam, and No. 16 on the floor. ASU’s most significant improvements come on the uneven bars and balance beam, where the Gym Devils scored a 49.250 and 49.350, respectively, against UCLA.
After returning home to get examined, it was also determined that ASU would face the loss of senior Katelyn Lentz for the rest of the season after Lentz got injured on the floor at the UCLA meet. Lentz was a consistent performer in the floor and beam lineups, so ASU will look to replace her scores.
Senior Morgan Wilson is a possible replacement for Lentz in the floor lineup after she exhibitioned her floor routine last week. If Wilson competes on the floor, she will be making her all-around debut for the first time since her freshman year.
“One of my goals this season is to be an all-arounder,” Wilson said. “It was really fun to exhibition on floor since I haven’t competed on floor since my freshman year, so that was exciting.”
Although ASU has been steadily improving each week, Utah has been a force to be reckoned with this season. The Utes are currently ranked first in the nation on vault and third on the floor after the first three weeks of competition. Luckily for ASU, Utah’s worst events come on bars and beam where the Gym Devils have shined in recent weeks. However, Utah’s worst events are still ranked No. 6 and No. 7, respectively.
This meet will also be a homecoming for Utah’s star, Mykayla Skinner who is originally from Gilbert, Arizona. Skinner was named this week’s Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week and averages above a 9.900 on vault, bars and floor, with her all-around total averaging 39.642. Skinner is known for her high difficulty and currently leads the nation with her vault average of 9.967, as one of the few collegiate gymnasts who competes a double twisting yurchenko.
It will be a battle in the all-around with ASU’s Leonard-Baker and senior Anne Kuhm as well as Utah’s star all-arounders, Skinner, senior McKenna Merrell-Giles and senior Kari Lee who is also an Arizona native out of Peoria. Merrell-Giles is a strong competitor averaging 39.200 in the all-around and Lee averages a 38.975.
When competing against strong teams like Utah, Head Coach Jay Santos says all he hopes for his team is to continue competing aggressively and to keep improving on all the little details during each event.
“Last week we had a great start and a great finish, so now we have to put it all together,” Santos said. “We still need to work on a few things like vault landings. But if we keep working on hitting those great handstands and getting rid of the small steps, it can really make a difference.”
The meet is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. MST on Saturday and will be televised live on the Pac-12 Network.
