(Photo credit: Aidan Longblake/WCSN)
TEMPE — It was alumni night at Desert Financial Arena, honoring 50 years of Arizona State gymnastics as the Sun Devils took on the BYU Cougars.
The back-and-forth contest ended in favor of ASU (3-1, 1-0 Big 12), winning in comeback fashion over BYU (3-3, 0-1 Big 12) with a final score of 196.050-195.200.
The match began with ASU on vault and BYU on bars. The Sun Devils stayed consistent with an average score of 9.78, led by senior Kimberly Smith who scored the highest of the rotation with a 9.850 to help the team finish the event with a score of 48.900.
“That’s what (Kimberly’s) capable of,” head coach Jay Santos said. “She’s been in plenty of big meets in the past, she knows how to prepare, and she knows how to handle the big moments.”
On the other side, the Cougars were doing damage of their own on the bars and ended up with a score of 49.075 to give them the slight edge after the first rotation.
In a hole early, ASU needed to make up some ground on the bars, and once again, were led by Smith with a team high 9.875. The rest of the team on the other hand just couldn’t match Smith’s performance, ending with an average score of 9.77 and a 48.850 for the event.
BYU continued its high-intensity performance on the vault, and although it didn’t have a standout score quite as high as ASU’s Smith, the entire team was more consistent with a final event score of 48.975.
Moving into the final two rotations, the score sat at 98.050-97.750 in favor of BYU. The Sun Devils shifted over to the beam while the Cougars headed onto the floor.
Before ASU began its turn on the beam, the team waved its hands and gestured to the crowd to make some noise and bring the energy. The crowd erupted and injected new life into the Sun Devils as they began to build some momentum on the beam.
This newfound energy gave ASU the vibe shift it needed as the team went on to have its best event yet, earning 4 scores over 9.800. With this sudden surge of momentum, the Sun Devils finished the event with a score of 49.075.
The gradual turning of the tables caused some stumbles for BYU on the floor, which led to a final score of 48.850.
“The meet’s not over,” Santos said. “Anything can happen, so we’d better go out there and just attack, and fight for everything little thing and be confident.”
With one event remaining, BYU still led 146.900-146.825.
As the conclusion of the meet drew near, the crowd rose to their feet to try to give the home team one last boost in its in-conference opener.
Wasting no time, senior Kayla Lee got things started for the Sun Devils by posting a 9.750. However, both teams were still neck and neck by the final event’s halfway point. With 3 gymnasts left to go for each team, the win remained up for grabs for both squads.
It was then junior Halle Gregoire’s time on the floor for only her second event of the night. Performing solely on the vault at the beginning of the meet, she had plenty of time to prepare for this moment.
As Gregoire stuck the final landing of her routine, the crowd erupted with applause and excitement at the sight of her posted score of 9.900; the highest from any single Sun Devil. Capitalizing on the crowd’s energy, ASU pulled in front for the first time all night.
“I didn’t have the start to the meet that I wanted, so all I could do in that moment was do the best that I could,” Gregoire said. “I really felt I left it all out there and was just proud of everything I did. Ending on a high note, doing everything I could for the team was most important.”
Smith closed out the event for the Sun Devils, posting her own 9.900 to match Gregoire and giving them a score of 49.225 to finish the meet with a total of 196.050.
After a slow start, the Cougars put together three high-scoring efforts to close out the session. However, it ultimately wasn’t enough as BYU’s 195.200 cemented a spectacular comeback for ASU.
The Sun Devils came away with the hard-fought victory in front of the home crowd in Tempe and improve their overall record to 3-1. Furthermore, the final tally of 196.050 was a season-high and the team will look to build on it further as the season progresses.
“We’re building a lot of confidence each week, so I think it’s important to keep being confident and trusting ourselves and knowing that that is what’s important right now,” Smith said.
