(Photo credit: Janes Reyes/WCSN)
TEMPE — As the Big 12 Conference closes out Mental Health Awareness week, the No. 26 Arizona State Sun Devils wrapped up their week with a dual meet against the Texas Woman’s Pioneers.
Tension was in the air as the Pioneers competed against a familiar face on the Sun Devils’ side. Last season, Sun Devil Assistant Coach Kristen Harold coached for the Pioneers. She just recently came to ASU in October after seven years with TWU. Harold was the associate head coach of the Pioneers’ program and helped lead the team to three consecutive USGA National Championships.
With Harold now on their side, the Sun Devils captured the win over the Pioneers by a final score of 196.600 to 195.225 and secured their first consecutive wins of the season.
Junior Caroline Litchman opened up the vault rotation with a score of 9.750, slightly under her score against Iowa State. To heat up the charts, graduate Jada Mangahas performed a stellar run of 9.850, the highest score for the Sun Devils’ vault rotation of the night.
“I’m really happy with how I performed on vault,” Mangahas said. “I’m glad it’s kind of clicking and coming together and I think our whole vault lineup did such a great job to start off the meet and I’m really proud of every single one.”
Swinging around came the Pioneers on bars. Graduate Kaitlyn Holiand secured the top bars score for the Pioneers with a 9.875. She increased her score from the Pioneers’ last meet against Air Force by 0.125.
The Devils continued the energy on bars with junior Kayla Lee acquiring an impressive 9.850, lighting up the arena with excitement. The top scores of the night for the Sun Devils were brought by graduate students Emily White and Sarah Clark with a tied score of 9.875.
Moving forward, the Sun Devils had the crowd in awe as they completed their third rotation on beam. Clark put on a show, coming out with a 9.850 for the Devils. White backed up Clark with a 9.875, keeping the arena full of loud cheers.
The Pioneers kept things interesting with creative use of music in their floor routines. Sophomore Bailey Bourgeois had bubbly music and a performance that pushed her score to a 9.800 in her first time on floor this season. Sparkling sounds brought sophomore Sophia Isbells routine to life and supported her 9.825 score.
For the last rotation of the night, the Sun Devils had some fun on the floor. Sophomore Halle Braaflat kept all eyes on her, securing a 9.850. Junior Kimberly Smith soared on the floor with a 9.900, and graduate Emily White closed things out with a 9.875.
On the other side, the Pioneers were cheering their teammates on as they ended their rotation on beam. TWU delivered a top performance of 9.850 from sophomore Sophie Hernandez.
The Sun Devils dedicated the dual meet to the Big 12 Mental Health Awareness Week, a recognition that many gymnasts’ hearts.
“I feel like gymnastics is such a mental sport and people don’t kind of realize that,” Mangahas said. “It was really cool to spread awareness to gymnastics. I think a lot of us have gone through mental health struggles in our life and I think it’s cool to celebrate the fact that we can be vulnerable once and a while.”
The Sun Devils have been on an impressive roll in comparison to their rocky start to the season. The Sun Devils hope to carry this momentum into the continuation of the season in hopes of performing well at future Big 12 meets.
“We gotta keep making progress, head coach Jay Santos said. “Week to week, there’s always going to be something to work on. There’s always going to be something we can improve. We just gotta be really, really honest and diligent with what we are doing in the gym, really get after those issues and anything we can do to make it progress. I think just not accepting where we’re at, constantly trying to make progress.”
