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Gym Devils fall short to No. 20 Arizona for the first time in eight years

(Photo credit: Marina Williams/WCSN)

TEMPE — Sunday, Arizona State gymnastics made its home debut against No. 20 Arizona. Despite the Gym Devils’ rough start to the season through their first couple of meets, there was a lot at stake Sunday night, including ASU’s eight-meet win streak over the Wildcats during head coach Jay Santos’ tenure. 

But ASU’s bad luck continued as Arizona (7-1, 1-0 Big 12 Conference) put up a solid score of 196.650 against the Gym Devils on Sunday. With just a 195.750, ASU (4-4, 0-1 Big 12) experienced its first loss to the Wildcats in eight years.

“We all know the saying that ‘All good streaks must come to an end.’ Well, this is the end of our streak for the moment,” Santos said.

The Gym Devils began warmups with a slight setback. Senior Alex Theodorou injured herself in warmups, which meant that a couple of gymnasts had to step up and take her place in the lineup. Considering the circumstances, those alternates were able to complete their routines to the best of their abilities.

“Having those people who could step up and compete a strong routine was vital today,” graduate gymnast Emily White said.

The team did not reveal the extent of Theodorou’s injury or a timetable for her return. Her absence affected the Sun Devils’ performance, as she is one of their top vault scorers. Still, despite the last-minute lineup changes, ASU managed to score a total of 48.825 on vault.

“It’s definitely a bummer seeing that happen to Alex, she’s already been through so much,” graduate gymnast Sarah Clark said. 

As for the Wildcats, they started out strong on bars, where their star, fifth-year Elena Deets, scored a 9.900, which tied her career-high score. Before Deets, their first three competitors put up scores of 9.800 or higher. 

ASU had several slip-ups in the middle of the lineups with one fall on beam and a missed handstand on bars, but the team was able to blow past these and put up some solid scores. Clark finished bars on a spectacular note with a 9.925, and White added on with a gorgeous 9.900 performance on beam.

Although there were a few nice scores, many of those slip-ups throughout the meet were what set ASU behind Arizona. At times, it was difficult for the rest of the team to focus after a teammate fell or didn’t perform the way she wanted. As veterans, White and Clark are fairly experienced when it comes to keeping their eyes on what needs to be done without worrying about what happened before.

It’s important to “know when you want to carry the energy from the last routine and when sometimes you need to stop the bleeding,” White said in light of these mistakes.

When the Gym Devil’s time came to compete on floor, they unfortunately were unable to perform as they normally would on their final event of the night. Their highest score was White’s 9.850 and Junior Kayla Lee was right behind her with a 9.800. It was a relatively tight meet, up until that final event. Overall, floor was what led to the Sun Devils falling short against the Wildcats, especially since Arizona junior Emma Strom scored a 9.90 and senior Emily Mueller scored a 9.875.

Afterward, Santos touched on the details that he feels his squad needs to work on in practice going forward such as delivering the same routines done in practice, gaining confidence in tumbling passes and sticking dismount landings.

“All credit to [Arizona],” Santos said. “They executed a more complete and solid meet than we did.”

Even though they lost, with Sunday’s meet being their first home meet of the season, the Gym Devils were feeling especially grateful for all the fans who came out to support them. The energy in Desert Financial Arena helped the Gym Devils not get too down on themselves when things didn’t go their way. 

“Sometimes it’s really easy to get wound up and stressed, but at the end of the day we’re here to have fun and compete in the sport that we love,” White said.

It wasn’t necessarily the outcome that the Gym Devils were hoping for, but they’ll have an opportunity to prove themselves once again on the road versus Iowa State on Jan. 31.

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