(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
Arizona State Gymnastics hits the road this week for the last time before the Pac-12 Conference Tournament. The Sun Devils will point their pitchforks toward California as they get set to face No. 20-ranked Stanford for their last Pac-12 meet of the year.
The Sun Devils come into the last week of Pac-12 action with high spirits, as they beat UCLA two weeks ago and upset undefeated California last week. ASU co-head coach Jay Santos is looking to keep his team’s momentum going.
“Whenever you get that going, it just breeds more success,” he said. “So excited for the next couple weeks to finish out the season strong.”
With the momentum on their side, the one blemish to what has been an impressive past two weeks for the Sun Devils is now their road record. The Sun Devils’ record on the road is 1-3 this season. These three losses have come against, at the time, No. 1-ranked Michigan, No. 2 Utah and No. 13 Oregon State. Their one win is their most recent, which was against rival Arizona.
The Cardinal head back home after a road loss to Oregon State by a final score of 197.225 to 195.050. With their most recent loss, the Cardinal moved to 4-9-1 overall and 2-4-0 in the Pac-12 while sitting in sixth place in the conference standings. Even with what isn’t the prettiest record, Stanford ranks No. 20 in the nation according to National Qualifying Score (NQS).
The Sun Devils boast a four-meet win streak against Stanford coming into Friday. Winning last year by a score of 196.225 to 195.850, the last time the Sun Devils lost to the Cardinal was at home in Tempe in 2017.
Comparing the Cardinal to the rest of the nation on events, they rank No. 40 on vault, No. 23 on bars, No. 20 on beam and No. 15 on floor. ASU ranks No. 10 vault, No. 13 on bars, No. 18 on beam and No. 32 on floor.
Leading the charge for Stanford is fifth-year student Kyla Bryant – she leads the team with a total score of 275.175. Bryant also holds the highest score for her team on all four events, posting scores of 9.925 on vault, 9.950 on bars and 9.9750 on both beam and floor.
Behind her is freshman Brenna Neault, who has a total score of 253.025. Neault sits second on Stanford with scores of 9.925 and 9.900 on bars and beams, respectfully.
Behind Bryant and Neault is senior Madison Brunette with a total score of 235.025, but she has not posted a score on beam.
Fourth on the Cardinal is freshman Anapaula Gutierrez. She is the last on her team to have a total score in the 200s with a score of 233.700, while also holding the second-highest vault score on her team with a 9.900.
Not mentioned above was senior Morgan Hoang, who has the second-highest team score on the floor for Stanford. She has a total score of 58.275 and has only competed on the floor this season. Hoang holds a 9.925 on the floor, putting her in second place on the Cardinal.
The Sun Devils once again have an award winner on their team this week as junior Hannah Scharf won Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week. Sophomore Emily White was awarded it last week.
This is Scharf’s second award of the season and her second week in a row after she won the Coach’s Choice Award last week.
While winning awards, Scharf is also still ranked among the top ten gymnasts in the nation based on NQS score. After being ranked No. 2 last week, Scharf is tied for No. 8 with BYU senior Sadie Miner-Van Tassel. Even after the previous meet, Jay Santos had nothing but praise for her.
“[Scharf] has been our rock since the beginning of the season, even last year,” he said. “She continues to produce.”
The Sun Devils will look to keep their hot streak alive against the Cardinal on Friday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m. MST.
