TEMPE – The 2023 Sun Devil Gymnastics season begins this week and the team is stacked with an experienced group of returners and some new faces ready to put together another strong year for the program.
2023 Outlook
Sun Devil Gymnastics will face a strong string of opponents in the 2023 season, with five home meets. They will face seven teams who finished the 2022 season ranked in the top 25, with two finishing in the top 10 of the Road to Nationals rankings: Oklahoma and Utah. The Sun Devils enter the season ranked No. 24 on the WGCA preseason poll with eight of their opponents this season ranked in the top 25 of that poll. In the Pac-12 Preseason Poll, ASU was picked seventh. The Territorial Cup Series matchup will be in Tempe this season on January 28. ASU has not lost to Arizona in gymnastics since head coach Jay Santos began his time in Tempe.
Last Season
In 2022, ASU earned a share of the Pac-12 regular season title with Cal, Oregon State and Utah for the first time in program history. The Gym Devils finished with a 6-4 record and wrapped up the season ranked No. 22 on Road to Nationals. The team finished their season with an NQS of 196.905 and qualified to compete in the night session of the Pac-12 Championships for the second year in a row. ASU completed its season scoring 196.000 or better in all but one of its meets throughout the 2022 season. The Gym Devils earned some huge wins throughout the season as they had five conference wins throughout the season, the most for the program since 2001.
Returners
From last year's Pac-12 champion team, there are 15 returners for the Gym Devils. The team brings back all but three routines from 2022. On the Pac-12 Preseason Watchlist, senior Hannah Scharf and junior Emily White were chosen as Sun Devils to look out for.
The team is led by Scharf who had 11 event titles on the season. She competed in the all-around every meet and scored below a 9.800 just five times. In addition, she earned WCGA Regular Season All-America honors in the all-around, where she made the second team for her efforts last season. She also received honors from the Pac-12 on the All-Pac-12 First Team in the all-around, her second season in row doing so, and also was Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week and Pac-12 Coaches Choice of the Week twice.
Sophomore Alex Theodorou, a Phoenix native, was a great newcomer for the team as a consistent performer on vault, bars and floor. She won three event titles in vault as well as scoring a 9.900 or better five times throughout the season. For vault, she earned All-Pac-12 First Team honors.
Rounding out weekly awards from last season for the Gym Devils was White, who was named Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week after her all-around performance against UCLA, where she had the highest all-around score for the Gym Devils since 2007. White also competed in the all-around in all but three meets last season.
Other returning contributors include juniors Jada Mangahas and Sarah Clark. Mangahas' best event is floor, where she had four scores reaching 9.900 or better and scored a 9.900 for the Gym Devils at NCAA Regionals. She was steady in lineup for the bars and on vault, scoring a 9.800 or better in those events in all but one meet. Clark scored a 9.900 or better in four of her events and had the season high score for the team on bars of 9.950 against UCLA.
Seniors Jordyn Jaslow and Gracie Reeves made an impact in the lineups last season as well. On floor, Jaslow scored a 9.825 or better in all but two meets and earned her first career in an event title on vault at Stanford with a career high 9.900. Reeves was a steady presence on vault, bars and beam in the back half of the season. She scored a career-high 9.900 on bars to win her first event title.
Newcomers
There are five newcomers for the Gym Devils this season in McClaine Daigle, Isabelle Kowan, Kayla Lee, Caroline Lichtman and Kimberly Smith. All five bring solid routines and are ready to compete for spots in the lineup. Lee is a local product out of Scottsdale, Lichtman and Smith are from California, Daigle is from Texas and Kowan is an international student-athlete from Canada.
Up Next
The Gym Devils will begin the season at the Super 16 presented by Ozone in Las Vegas on January 7 before their home opener against Eastern Michigan and UC Davis on Friday, January 13.
2023 Outlook
Sun Devil Gymnastics will face a strong string of opponents in the 2023 season, with five home meets. They will face seven teams who finished the 2022 season ranked in the top 25, with two finishing in the top 10 of the Road to Nationals rankings: Oklahoma and Utah. The Sun Devils enter the season ranked No. 24 on the WGCA preseason poll with eight of their opponents this season ranked in the top 25 of that poll. In the Pac-12 Preseason Poll, ASU was picked seventh. The Territorial Cup Series matchup will be in Tempe this season on January 28. ASU has not lost to Arizona in gymnastics since head coach Jay Santos began his time in Tempe.
Last Season
In 2022, ASU earned a share of the Pac-12 regular season title with Cal, Oregon State and Utah for the first time in program history. The Gym Devils finished with a 6-4 record and wrapped up the season ranked No. 22 on Road to Nationals. The team finished their season with an NQS of 196.905 and qualified to compete in the night session of the Pac-12 Championships for the second year in a row. ASU completed its season scoring 196.000 or better in all but one of its meets throughout the 2022 season. The Gym Devils earned some huge wins throughout the season as they had five conference wins throughout the season, the most for the program since 2001.
Returners
From last year's Pac-12 champion team, there are 15 returners for the Gym Devils. The team brings back all but three routines from 2022. On the Pac-12 Preseason Watchlist, senior Hannah Scharf and junior Emily White were chosen as Sun Devils to look out for.
The team is led by Scharf who had 11 event titles on the season. She competed in the all-around every meet and scored below a 9.800 just five times. In addition, she earned WCGA Regular Season All-America honors in the all-around, where she made the second team for her efforts last season. She also received honors from the Pac-12 on the All-Pac-12 First Team in the all-around, her second season in row doing so, and also was Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week and Pac-12 Coaches Choice of the Week twice.
Sophomore Alex Theodorou, a Phoenix native, was a great newcomer for the team as a consistent performer on vault, bars and floor. She won three event titles in vault as well as scoring a 9.900 or better five times throughout the season. For vault, she earned All-Pac-12 First Team honors.
Rounding out weekly awards from last season for the Gym Devils was White, who was named Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week after her all-around performance against UCLA, where she had the highest all-around score for the Gym Devils since 2007. White also competed in the all-around in all but three meets last season.
Other returning contributors include juniors Jada Mangahas and Sarah Clark. Mangahas' best event is floor, where she had four scores reaching 9.900 or better and scored a 9.900 for the Gym Devils at NCAA Regionals. She was steady in lineup for the bars and on vault, scoring a 9.800 or better in those events in all but one meet. Clark scored a 9.900 or better in four of her events and had the season high score for the team on bars of 9.950 against UCLA.
Seniors Jordyn Jaslow and Gracie Reeves made an impact in the lineups last season as well. On floor, Jaslow scored a 9.825 or better in all but two meets and earned her first career in an event title on vault at Stanford with a career high 9.900. Reeves was a steady presence on vault, bars and beam in the back half of the season. She scored a career-high 9.900 on bars to win her first event title.
Newcomers
There are five newcomers for the Gym Devils this season in McClaine Daigle, Isabelle Kowan, Kayla Lee, Caroline Lichtman and Kimberly Smith. All five bring solid routines and are ready to compete for spots in the lineup. Lee is a local product out of Scottsdale, Lichtman and Smith are from California, Daigle is from Texas and Kowan is an international student-athlete from Canada.
Up Next
The Gym Devils will begin the season at the Super 16 presented by Ozone in Las Vegas on January 7 before their home opener against Eastern Michigan and UC Davis on Friday, January 13.