No. 25 Sun Devils top West Virginia in Senior Night showdown

(Photo credit: Maya Diaz/WCSN)

TEMPE — Arizona State Gymnastics had success on senior night Friday against West Virginia for the Sun Devils’ final home meet of the season.

The fiery duel ended with a Sun Devil win and a final score of 196.225-195.825. This was the Sun Devils’ third time this season breaking 196.000.

The meet started off with the Sun Devils’ vault rotation. Their top score was secured by graduate Jada Mangahas with a 9.875 after a powerful landing. Last time out against Utah, Mangahas tied her career high-score of 9.900. Mangahas still holds the Sun Devils’ highest vault score of the season.

The Mountaineers spent their first rotation over on bars. Senior Brooke Alban and senior Anna Leigh tied for the Mountaineers’ high score of 9.800 on bars. The Mountaineers’ performance put them behind the Sun Devils by .50 after the first rotation.

Graduate Emily White came out hot on bars, scoring the Sun Devils a whopping 9.950. The crowd emerged from their seats as White stuck the landing. Graduate Sarah Clark followed the performance with a 9.925 keeping the Sun Devils in the lead.

“I was a little nervous and I kind of just took a deep breath and was like I’m just going to have fun with this,” White said. “It’s my last bar routine in this arena and it just felt amazing to nail that routine.”

Freshman Karleigh DiCello for the Mountaineers took the top mark for the team on vault with a 9.850. DiCello bested her score from WVU’s last meet against BYU by .150.

Clark stuck a 9.850 on the board for the Sun Devils’ top result on beam rotation. The Sun Devils had two falls in this rotation, causing them to fall behind West Virginia. The team’s energy plummeted, but the older gymnasts knew what they needed to accomplish.

“We kind of got in the circle together and [head coach] Jay [Santos] told us that we need to go finish this meet and we need to go find a way to win because tonight’s a special night for all of us,” Clark said. “We wanted to win that meet for us, for the seniors, for the team.”

The Mountaineers picked up momentum on the other side with their floor rotation. Three gymnasts scored 9.800 or higher to put them in first going into the fourth rotation. Freshman Emerson Smith led the way with a 9.850 for the Mountaineers with an upbeat routine.

The charged energy in Derst Financial Arena brought the Sun Devils into newfound motivation for their last rotation on floor. Junior Kimberly Smith lit up the crowd after she nailed all of her passes, earning herself a 9.900. White scored herself yet another 9.950, naming her the Sun Devils leading scorer of the night.

West Virginia encouraged their teammates as they closed out the meet on the beam rotation. Sophomore Amber Lowe and freshman Riley Maness tied for a 9.800 to lead the Mountaineers, but it wasn’t enough for them to close out the win.

The post-win festivities included a senior ceremony to recognize the graduating class. The Sun Devils have two seniors and three graduates leaving the squad.

“One thing being a college gymnast has shown me is that I have developed a lot of grit and obviously in gymnastics, you have ups and downs,” Clark said. “So I think I’ve just really learned how to push through things because obviously in life, not everything is going to go your way and it’s going to be perfect.”

The Sun Devils have been holding steady in their last meets at home and plan to keep the same level of drive heading on the road.

“We’ve got to find some resilience so that we can handle some of the mistakes and be able to move on from them, bounce back, and not compound them and make them bigger,” Santos said.