ASU Gymnastics: Sun Devils down No. 4 Utah in Tempe

(Photo via Susan Wong/WCSN)

On Feb. 20, 2022, ASU Gymnastics helped then-junior Hannah Scharf celebrate her 21st birthday by ending a 21-year losing streak to UCLA. On Monday, for Scharf’s 22nd birthday, the Sun Devils had another opportunity to give Scharf, now a senior, a memorable birthday present when No. 4 Utah came to Desert Financial Arena holding a 20-year win streak over the Sun Devils.

The Red Rocks came out looking all the parts of a top-five team in the first rotation, but a season-low vault score in the second allowed the Sun Devils to jump in front. Once they grabbed the lead, ASU (5-5, 2-3 Pac-12) never let it go, rolling to a 197.550-197.500 win over Utah (10-2, 3-1). The 197.550 stands as the 11th-highest team score in the ASU record books.

“I would have to say this one felt better (than beating UCLA),” Scharf said. “Utah is a really great team. They’ve been looking amazing this year, but I did have a feeling. We all kind of had this eerie feeling before we started competing. We were like, ‘It’s going to be a good day.’ I think this year was better than last year. It felt a little better to stick it to the Utes.”

Scharf gave herself a birthday present by scoring a career-high 39.675 in the all-around and tying the 10th-best mark in ASU history. Her performance was punctuated by a 9.925 on floor to secure the win for ASU. Going into the final routine, Scharf needed a 9.800 to tie her career high. More importantly for the Sun Devils, she needed a 9.900 to give her team the win.

“Hannah’s been doing it for a while, and we have her back there because she can handle that,” head coach Jay Santos said. “It’s a great event for her, but she doesn’t shy away from those big moments either, and she puts the focus in the right place. … She can handle that pressure and do it the right way. To know you’ve got that person in your team that you can rely on in that way – week in, week out – and perform … it takes a little pressure off everybody else. She’s a big-time performer, and I think we saw another case of that today.”

In addition to her heroic floor routine, Scharf also stood out in the other three events. She scored season-highs on vault and beam thanks to a 9.875 and 9.900, respectively. She also set a new career high on bars by way of a near-perfect 9.975. To achieve the score, Scharf was awarded a perfect 10 by one judge and a 9.950 by the other.

“I actually was not expecting that. I had a little bit of a shaky warmup. I was falling over on some handstands, which is a little out of the norm for me, but I didn’t want to shy away from my routine. I wanted to keep going after everything, and I think that score really reflected it.”

Scharf wasn’t the only Gym Devil to receive a flashy score Monday afternoon. Two routines after Scharf’s 9.975, junior Sarah Clark matched it with a 9.975 of her own. It was the second time in Clark’s tenure as a Sun Devil that she received the near-perfect mark.

“Sticking that landing (was) one of the best feelings in the world, probably for Hannah too,” Clark said. “I knew the position that I was set up for, and I was just going to go put it all out there, and it was one of the best feelings seeing the score. I had a judge flash me a 10 last year, but this one, the routine just felt so much better.”

Altogether, the Sun Devils posted a bars event total of 49.550. Thanks to additional help from sophomore Alex Theodorou (9.875) and junior Emily White (9.900), ASU posted its second-highest bars score in program history.

Throughout the meet, every routine counted for ASU was a 9.800 or higher. In addition to Clark’s and White’s scores on bars and Scharf’s scores on bars and floor, ASU added five more 9.900-plus scores to its total. Other high scores came from junior Anaya Smith on vault (9.900), senior Jordyn Jaslow on floor (9.900), Scharf and Clark again on beam (9.900), and White on floor.

The day went much differently for the Red Rocks. Following a solid 49.500 on bars to open the meet, Utah was forced to count two scores below 9.800 on vault when 2022 NCAA Vault Champion and Utah senior Jaedyn Rucker suffered an uncharacteristic fall on her landing. That, combined with no score surpassing 9.825, gave the Utes a 48.925 event total, marking their second straight vault rotation that scored below 49.000.

The Red Rocks nearly surmounted a comeback in the final rotation thanks to their nation-leading beam lineup. Highlighted by 9.975s from sophomore Kara Eaker and senior Abby Paulson, Utah posted a 49.700 to put the pressure on ASU. But the Gym Devils never wavered, emerging victorious. The win marks the first time ASU has beaten Utah since 2003 and the first win in Tempe since 2000.

“We came really close a couple years ago here,” Santos said. “Some of the girls on the team were talking about that. We had a really good meet against them, and we came up a little short, and we talked about next time it comes around, we want to be on the other end of that, so to give some of those seniors that send off here with some of these moments, that’s what it’s all about. … I think we’re settling into a nice spot. I think they’re building confidence from week to week to week, continuing to work those details, continuing to find those little more complete rotations.”

All of ASU’s success came with the Gym Devils sporting two different colored ribbons in their hair for two special causes. They wore a purple ribbon as part of their acknowledgment of their newest teammate, Berlynn Jensen, who is a 6-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis. On Tuesday, Jensen officially became a Sun Devil when ASU hosted a signing day for her at John Spini Gymnastics Center.

“We’re really lucky to have Berlynn a part of our team now,” Scharf said. “She’s officially signed as of this past week. She’s a big part of our team now, and I hope it’s something that she’ll remember with her for a long time.”

The other was a green ribbon worn in support of the Michigan State Spartans. MSU recently postponed a meet from Feb. 15 following a tragic shooting that took place on their campus in East Lansing, MI on Feb. 13.

“Doing our gymnastics for a bigger cause, I think, is so important, and it gives us motivation with everything that we do,” Clark said. “ … For MSU, we did have a teammate who knew someone that was a victim, and so, I know going into this, it was really important for her and for us. … I’m glad that we wore the ribbon and did it for them because I can not imagine going through what they had to go through.”

Despite the win over Utah, ASU still sits at sixth in the Pac-12 Conference standings just one season after they split a four-way tie for the conference’s regular season title. Nonetheless, the Gym Devils remain determined to prove their legitimacy.

“I would say don’t count us out,” Scharf said. “I think we do have a lot of people that aren’t rooting for us, but on the flip side, we do have a lot that are, so we just want to show the world what we can do, and we have so much more to show still.”

Clark added: “A lot of people don’t see us as a real contender going into postseason, but I hope that tonight proved that (we are). We have been really trying to put together that perfect meet along with the rewards that come along with it, and we did that today, and we have been on an upward trend, so I’m hoping that that continues and that we can just keep being the underdogs and proving people wrong and showing that our team’s amazing.”