ASU Gymnastics: Sun Devils come up short against No. 2 Utah

(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)

After losing to the No. 1 ranked University of Michigan Wolverines in its first week of action, Arizona State Gymnastics fell again to No. 2 ranked Utah on Friday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. The final score was 197.400 to 196.100.

Utah came into the meet riding on a wave of momentum after beating then-No. 3 ranked Oklahoma at home. As a result of that win, the Red Rocks secured two out of four Pac-12 Conference weekly gymnastics awards, with 2020 U.S. Olympian and freshman Grace McCallum winning Freshman/Newcomer of the Week and freshman Sage Thompson winning Specialist of the Week. The Sun Devils came in with their own momentum after scoring their highest opening score in program history in their season opener against Michigan.

The meet started off with ASU on bars and Utah on vault, and both turned in strong performances. All counted routines for both teams in the first rotation scored a 9.800 or higher. This included ASU sophomore Sarah Clark, who scored a 9.875 in her season debut for the Sun Devils. Junior Hannah Scharf was able to hit the same score in the closing spot, but the Sun Devils couldn’t match solid vaults from Utah sophomore Lucy Stanhope and senior Alexia Burch, which both came in at 9.900. ASU still managed to total a score of 49.225 for its 19th meet in a row with a score of 49.000 or more. At the end of the first rotation, ASU trailed the Red Rocks by just 0.050 points, their closest deficit of the meet.

On the second apparatus, ASU took some time to get heated up but was once again able to drop a pair of 9.875s. The first came from Scharf in the fifth spot and the second was scored by freshman Alex Theodorou, who competed in the finishing position in just her second collegiate meet ever. All together, ASU totaled a score of 49.175 on vault, a season high that would’ve placed them eighth among last week’s rankings.

Utah also started to show its skill, as the No. 6 ranked bars squad in the country later in the match. Burch hit her second-straight 9.900 routine for the meet. She was joined in the 9.900+ club by McCallum, who scored an event-winning 9.925 on her bars routine. It was also her highest individual event score of the night. With a pair of 9.875s from freshman Amelie Morgan and junior Maile O’Keefe in the leadoff and a 9.850 from Thompson in the middle, Utah finished the rotation with a season-high score of 49.425. By the end of the second rotation, Utah’s lead had grown from 0.050 to 0.400.

It was in the third rotation that things started to get messy for both sides. Despite coming into the meet ranked first on the balance beam, Utah struggled a lot. After a decent 9.775 score by Morgan, McCallum suffered a fall on her tumbling series. Her slip-up seemed to throw off the next two athletes, as both senior Adrienne Randall and junior Abby Paulson struggled with wobbles in their routines, causing Utah having to keep two scores under 9.700.

Through four routines, Utah had yet to hit a score of 9.800. However, Utah heavy hitters and 2021 beam regular season All-Americans O’Keefe and senior Cristal Isa put up huge scores of 9.975 and 9.950 for the Red Rocks. After the revival from the final two routines, Utah managed to eke out a total score of 49.025.

In between Utah’s struggles, ASU tried to capitalize on the Red Rocks’ mistakes, but ultimately the Sun Devils came up short. ASU was only able to put up an event high of 9.850, performed by junior Jordyn Jaslow and Scharf. ASU had to keep a score of 9.750 after a couple of mistakes resulting in a dropped 9.650 routine. These average scores brought the Sun Devils’ total event score to 49.075. Despite the Red Rocks’ beam struggles, ASU was unable to chip away a large piece of the deficit, going into the fourth rotation down by 0.250 points.

In the final rotation, the balance beam in the Hunstman Center took several more victims as ASU faced its own struggles on the apparatus. The Sun Devils’ line-up was immediately faced with pressure after junior Gracie Reeves fell in the lead-off spot in just her first meet of the season.

Unfortunately for ASU, the rest of the roster could not handle the weight as Theodorou – in her season beam debut – and Jaslow were met with balance issues. Both gymnasts we unable to reach scores of 9.600, crushing ASU’s hopes of making a comeback against Utah.

Scharf competed as the lone bright spot for the Sun Devils on beam. Managing to block out her teammates’ wobbles and falls, Scharf kept her composure and hit a solid routine that delivered ASU’s only 9.900 on the night.

While the Sun Devils struggled in their final six routines, the Red Rocks shined. Utah’s gymnasts performed four routines that scored a 9.950 or higher. Junior Jillian Hoffman started the Red Rocks off with an impressive 9.975 that set the Huntsman Center on fire. Junior Jaedyn Rucker followed her teammate up with a score of 9.925 to continue to spread the gap between her team and the struggling Sun Devils.

Despite a temporary dip in momentum when McCallum stepped out of bounds in the final pass of her routine, facing an automatic 0.10 point deduction, O’Keefe and Utah’s proclaimed fifth year “floor queen” Sydney Soloski quickly picked up where Rucker left off. They rounded out the rotation with matching 9.950s to bury ASU by virtue of a 1.300 point lead.

Despite the loss, Scharf managed to win her first event title of the season by taking first place in the all-around. She finished with a score of 39.500, besting her season-opening score of 39.475. Theodorou also managed to break the 39.000 point threshold in her first time competing in the all-around in college. Theodorou scored 39.100, placing second in the meet. Utah’s only all-around performer, McCallum, struggled in the matchup despite Utah’s other high-scoring performances.

The Sun Devils will return to Tempe for their next meet to take on the University of Washington on Jan. 28 at 7:00 p.m. MST.