Arizona State gymnastics made its first appearance in front of the fans since the 2020 season in the Maroon and Gold meet on Friday night. The Sun Devils came into the night ranked No. 12 in the preseason poll from the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association.
The first rotation started with Maroon on vault and Gold on bars. Freshman Alex Theodorou, would start the night strong, posting a score of 9.875 to lead the Maroon team. On bars, Hannah Scharf would post the highest score with a 9.825. Gold would have the high team score at the end of the first rotation, posting a 39.000 on bars to Maroon’s 38.400 vault score.
The second rotation would see Gold on the vault and Maroon on bars, where Gold’s sophomore Jada Mangahas would match the top vault score set by Maroon’s Theodorou with a 9.875 of her own. Scharf for Gold would also post a solid score of 9.825. Maroon’s Sarah Clark, who’s no stranger to the bars (competing in every event her freshman year last year), would post her own score of 9.825 to match Hannah Scharf. Sophomore Emily White wasn’t far behind them, posting her score of 9.800 for Gold. Gold would still top Maroon in the overall team score with a 39.075 to a 39.025.
The third of four rotations saw Maroon on beam and Gold on the floor. Theodorou and White would both post scores of 9.825 for Maroon. Gold, on the other hand, would have a tough time on the floor, posting a high score of 9.675. Maroon would dominate the team score with a 39.925 to Gold’s 38.675.
With Gold’s struggles on the floor, co-head coach Jay Santos said that “What they’ve been doing in practice in the gym is stronger than what we showed. Hopefully the nerves are gone from their first time out so they can go out and show what they’ve been doing.”
Gold would be on the beam moving into the fourth and final rotation, and Maroon would take the floor. Gold couldn’t quite match the scores posted by Maroon in the last rotation where Megan Thompson and Izzy Redmond, a junior, both posted scores of 9.750. Once again, Theodorou would lead the way for Maroon, posting the highest score for the night on the floor with a 9.850. Gold would still post the better team score; it wouldn’t matter. Maroon would take the event with a score of 155.200 to Gold’s 155.175.
After the meet, Santos spoke on how he felt the team performed and what the Gym Devils could work on.
“The preseason scrimmage is always great because it shows some areas where we need work. We got some things we need to clean up but that’s why you do these things. There were several great routines; I think Alex did a fantastic job, Jada had a strong meet and Hannah’s bar routine was strong.”
Theodorou remarked on how it felt to be competing at home in Desert Financial Arena, a place that she had grown up going to.
“It was really cool and really fun because I have grown up going to meets here, and to be on the floor where I have grown up seeing was really awesome. It was also really great to be able to do
ASU will open the season at home on Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. MST against No. 13 Kentucky.
