Courtesy of Diana Ly, SDA Media Relations Student Assistant
TEMPE, Ariz. – As the NCAA gymnastics season gets underway, ASU showed clean routines and impressive performance quality in its Maroon and Gold Intrasquad in Wells Fargo Arena Friday night. The maroon team, led by junior transfer and 2012 French Olympian, Anne Kuhm, won the Maroon and Gold Intrasquad, 116.650-116.450. Kuhm scored 9.8 or higher on three of the four events and scored a 39.225 in her ASU debut.
"Tonight's intrasquad was extremely encouraging," said Sun Devil head coach Jay Santos. "We feel like we are in a good position to get off to a strong start in a few weeks when we kick off with our tough Quad meet. Our depth is a lot better than last season and it was great to finally get out in front of our fans. We definitely identified a few areas that we can improve on and will continue to push on those corrections in the gym."
Maroon led the first rotation on vault with Jessica Ginn finishing with a 9.8 on her Yurchenko layout full. The gold team was not far behind as sophomore, Ashley Szafranski, anchored the rotation with a beautiful routine that ended with a double layout dismount. She scored 9.700 respectively.
Maroon maintained their close lead in the second rotation, scoring a 29.200 on uneven bars thanks to a 9.800 from Kuhm, who finished off her routine with a stuck double layout dismount. With only 0.250 behind, the Gold team was anchored by junior, Morgan Wilson, whose 9.825 was the highest score on vault.
Maroon still kept a narrow lead in rotation three on beam, which featured a 9.800 from Kuhm and 9.775 from senior, Nichelle Christopherson. Khum finished first on beam with a difficult and exquisite routine featuring a switch leap to sheep jump, front aerial, and double full dismount. Gold closed the gap with their explosive floor rotation and were led by junior transfer, Kaitlyn Szafranski, who opened up her routine with a high double pike.
Maroon clinched the victory on floor with a 29.175. Kuhm's elite level floor routine featured a whip to double tuck and 2.5 twist. Her 9.850 was a meet-high across all four events. Junior, Katelyn Lentz, led the gold team on beam with a 9.775. Ashley Szafranski also displayed a unique routine featuring her Rulfova.
ASU has about three weeks until the season opener quad meet against No. 14 Auburn, No. 20 Iowa, and No. 29 Iowa State inside Wells Fargo Arena. The Sun Devils will face off against 8 teams ranked in the top-25 for the 2018 season including reigning Pac-12 Champs, No. 5 Utah, and back-to-back NCAA champions, No. 1 Oklahoma.
Fans can follow the Sun Devils on the team's social media channels: @SunDevilGym on Twitter, @sundevilgymnastics on Instagram, and @sundevilgym on Facebook.
TEMPE, Ariz. – As the NCAA gymnastics season gets underway, ASU showed clean routines and impressive performance quality in its Maroon and Gold Intrasquad in Wells Fargo Arena Friday night. The maroon team, led by junior transfer and 2012 French Olympian, Anne Kuhm, won the Maroon and Gold Intrasquad, 116.650-116.450. Kuhm scored 9.8 or higher on three of the four events and scored a 39.225 in her ASU debut.
"Tonight's intrasquad was extremely encouraging," said Sun Devil head coach Jay Santos. "We feel like we are in a good position to get off to a strong start in a few weeks when we kick off with our tough Quad meet. Our depth is a lot better than last season and it was great to finally get out in front of our fans. We definitely identified a few areas that we can improve on and will continue to push on those corrections in the gym."
Maroon led the first rotation on vault with Jessica Ginn finishing with a 9.8 on her Yurchenko layout full. The gold team was not far behind as sophomore, Ashley Szafranski, anchored the rotation with a beautiful routine that ended with a double layout dismount. She scored 9.700 respectively.
Maroon maintained their close lead in the second rotation, scoring a 29.200 on uneven bars thanks to a 9.800 from Kuhm, who finished off her routine with a stuck double layout dismount. With only 0.250 behind, the Gold team was anchored by junior, Morgan Wilson, whose 9.825 was the highest score on vault.
Maroon still kept a narrow lead in rotation three on beam, which featured a 9.800 from Kuhm and 9.775 from senior, Nichelle Christopherson. Khum finished first on beam with a difficult and exquisite routine featuring a switch leap to sheep jump, front aerial, and double full dismount. Gold closed the gap with their explosive floor rotation and were led by junior transfer, Kaitlyn Szafranski, who opened up her routine with a high double pike.
Maroon clinched the victory on floor with a 29.175. Kuhm's elite level floor routine featured a whip to double tuck and 2.5 twist. Her 9.850 was a meet-high across all four events. Junior, Katelyn Lentz, led the gold team on beam with a 9.775. Ashley Szafranski also displayed a unique routine featuring her Rulfova.
ASU has about three weeks until the season opener quad meet against No. 14 Auburn, No. 20 Iowa, and No. 29 Iowa State inside Wells Fargo Arena. The Sun Devils will face off against 8 teams ranked in the top-25 for the 2018 season including reigning Pac-12 Champs, No. 5 Utah, and back-to-back NCAA champions, No. 1 Oklahoma.
Fans can follow the Sun Devils on the team's social media channels: @SunDevilGym on Twitter, @sundevilgymnastics on Instagram, and @sundevilgym on Facebook.