By Jenna Hillman (senior in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism) and Olivia Dowell (media relations intern)
After an outstanding 2021 season, Sun Devil Gymnastics had two individuals advance to the 2021 NCAA Championships, one of them being All-American Hannah Scharf. Now a junior, Scharf has taken a leadership role to help motivate the team to achieve their ultimate goal: get the whole team to nationals.
Scharf, a Canadian native, began gymnastics at just four years old. Fourteen years later, the time came to decide what college she would attend, and Arizona State University became a clear choice.
“When I came to visit, I could tell that [the team] were really hard working and driven,” Scharf said. “I really like Jay and Jess (Santos) as well, they were just very involved with the team.”
Co-head coach Jay Santos said Scharf’s drive as a gymnast is what he and the coaching staff for the Gym Devils noticed the most during her recruitment process and throughout the duration of her career at ASU so far.
“We recruited her because she is a talented athlete and gymnast, but watching her grow and take charge the way she did last year is a special thing,” Jay said. “She has absolutely continued that into this year and I am so excited with how driven she is right now.”
Last season, Scharf and the Gym Devils had an exceptional season. The team finished the season ranked No. 9, the best finish since 2006, and scored over 197.000 four times. Scharf was a standout, competing at the 2021 NCAA Championships as an individual in the all-around and being named a Second Team All-American on the uneven bars. She also was named a regular season All-American.
“I was honored to be able to go and represent this school, so it was really exciting for me,” Scharf said. “I just wanted to make the team proud, and I wanted to make the school proud as well. But I had been working hard all year and really putting in the time and effort into the gym, so I’m glad that it really paid off.”
After the Gym Devils scored their highest team score in postseason history at the NCAA Regional Finals in Salt Lake City, they came up just short to qualify as a team. However, Scharf qualified as an individual, as well as graduated senior and Gym Devil legend Cairo Leonard-Baker who qualified on bars. Looking back on her experience of representing Sun Devil Gymnastics at nationals, Scharf had a unique experience of rotating with Michigan, who won their first championship in program history.
“They (Michigan) had never won a national championship before, so I feel like I kind of got to experience it firsthand a little bit,” Scharf said. “But just the energy they brought was super exciting and very motivational and I feel like I can use what I learned from that and bring it into the gym and help the team as well.”
Despite not making it as a team to nationals, sophomore Sarah Clark and her teammates had positive attitudes.
“I know at the end of regional finals we were all disappointed that we did not qualify because we really did all that we could,” Clark said. “But I know we were still very ecstatic for Hannah and Cairo because we worked hard all season and saw their effort. They did super well so we were definitely excited for them and to have ASU be represented at nationals.”
Co-head coach Jess Santos said that despite adversity Scharf faced by going as an individual to nationals, she grew a lot as a gymnast throughout her experience there and throughout the 2021 season.
“Going to NCAAs as an individual is always tough as the girls will compete at the end of the rotation following a qualifying team,” Jessica said. “It’s a little out of your comfort zone after completing the whole season with your own teammates competing directly in front of you. Hannah competed with the same poise and consistency she showed all season.”
The 2021 season has made Scharf eager to get her whole team to the 2022 NCAA Championships, and she is confident that they will.
“We definitely have a lot of talent on the team right now, so that of course helps us,” Scharf said. “Everybody is really motivated in order to get stronger, to get better, and I feel like hard work beats talent any day and we have a lot of that.”
With the success Scharf saw along with the motivation of her team, Scharf said the team is already beginning to work hard for this season.
“I just found nationals super motivating, all of the energy from every team,” Scharf said. “I wish my team could’ve been there. But it was just being around the energy that gives me more motivation; you can see all of their hard work paid off to get there.”
The Gym Devils all have the same goal for the upcoming season, and that’s to qualify for nationals as a team for the 2022 season.
“That is like the final meet of the year and the ultimate goal, all the energy and all the cheering is there in that one meet,” Clark said. “Hannah told us it is just a different experience than anything we have done before. We have all picked up on that goal and want to achieve it.”
Already, the team has laid out their goals. Along with making it to nationals, the Gym Devils also want to place top three in the Pac-12. To reach those goals, there are steps along the way. Everyone needs to pass skill testing and strength testing. Then at practice, they work on hits and sticks, eventually translating to hits and sticks in the meets. According to Clark, it all adds up.
“All of those goals are goals that will eventually help us reach nationals,” Clark said. “Getting to nationals doesn't just happen, you need to put in all the hard work. You have to critique and get all the details and all your routines along the way. That stuff is just as important as hitting at regionals because you can't hit at regionals unless you have done all of the smaller steps.”