(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
This Saturday, March 22, the Arizona State Gym Devils (11-10, 1-5 Pac-12) travel to the Maverick Center in Utah for the 2019 Pac-12 Championships.
In the Devils last meet, they defeated the No. 14 BYU Cougars (9-6) and the No. 28 West Virginia Mountaineers (16-9), scoring their second highest total of the year with a 196.550. This win got the Devils to their first winning record since 2014 and their first winning record under head coach Jay Santos.
The Gym Devils will compete in the first session as the sixth seed against No. 18 Washington (11-6, 3-3 Pac-12), Stanford (6-9, 1-5 Pac-12), and Arizona (7-10, 1-5 Pac-12) starting at 1 p.m. Session two consists of the conference top performers in No. 2 UCLA (12-1, 7-0 Pac-12), No. 6 Utah (10-3, 5-1 Pac-12), No. 14 Oregon State (12-3, 4-2 Pac-12), and No. 16 California (12-5, 3-4 Pac-12) starting at 6 p.m.
The No. 18 ranked Huskies are the top ranked team in session one and have scored five straight 196.000 or better. UW also has the highest national ranking on bars (No. 12) and beam (No. 18) in the first session. The Huskies are led by junior Madison Copiak who scored a 9.975 on bars, the best for a Gym Dawg since 2004.
The Cardinal are ranked No. 26 with a No. 17 ranking on floor. Stanford has also scored 196.000 or better in two of the last three meets and are led by a young core of five freshmen and six sophomores. Sophomore Kyla Bryant is Stanford’s top overall gymnast and has taken seven all-around championships.
The Wildcats are ranked No. 30, the lowest ranked team in the Pac-12. UA had its best meet of the season in the final home meet where they posted a season-high home score of 196.225. The Gym Cats best event is on floor where they are ranked No. 23, led by junior Maddi Leydin. She scored a season-high 9.9250 in their last meet of the season.
The Gym Devils are ranked in the top 25 for vault (No. 20), bars (No. 20) and beam (No. 21) and are consistently led by sophomore star Cairo Leonard-Baker. Leonard-Baker is the reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and is currently tied for No. 12 on bars with a 9.898 average. She is also ranked No. 26 in the all-around.
In session two, the No. 16 California set a program record this year with an overall team meet average 197.575. The Bears had a perfect home record for the first time since 1994. Led by freshman Milan Clausi and sophomore Kyana George, Clausi scored a career-high on vault 9.950 and George tied her season-best 9.900 on floor in their last meet of the season.
The No. 15 Oregon State Beavers have won their past three home meets and finished the regular season with a 12-3 record. In her last home meet of her career, senior McKenna Singley set a season-high 9.925 on floor.
Lastly, the No.6 Utah Utes last fell to No.8 Georgia, but were still carried to a score of 197+ behind MyKayla Skinner and Makenna Merell-Giles’ all-around scores of 39.675 and 39.600. The Utes have scored a 197.00+ in every meet this year, setting a school record.
This Pac-12 Championship meet will mean a lot for the No. 2 Bruins as this will be Head Coach Valorie Kondos-Field’s last season coaching. She has coached the Bruins for 29 years and led her teams to a record of 528-121-3 and seven NCAA Championships. In their last meet, junior Kyla Ross earned her first perfect 10 on floor to hit the “Gym Slam”, a perfect 10 on all four events. Senior Katelyn Ohashi capped off her career with her ninth overall perfect 10 on floor.
The Gym Devils will compete at 12:00 p.m. MST and will be live on the Pac-12 Networks. Session two begins at 5:00 p.m. MST and will also be streamed on the Pac-12 Networks.
