TEMPE – In front of the fifth-highest crowd in team history (3,414), No. 23 Sun Devil Gymnastics finished the tri-meet with a season-high 197.250, placing third behind No. 1 Oklahoma (198.375) and No. 2 Cal (197.950) on Friday night in Desert Financial Arena.
Notable Stats
- Arizona State (3-4, 0-2 Pac-12) surpassed 197 for the first time this season, earning a season-best 197.250. It was the second meet in a row the Gym Devils scored above a 49 on all four events, getting season highs on bars (49.225), beam (49.425), and floor (49.325).
- Senior Anaya Smith tied for first on vault to win her third event title this season. She matched her career high on vault with a 9.950, earning a 10 from one judge.
- The beam rotation brought in a season-high of 49.425, led by senior Jada Mangahas. She earned a 9.925, a career-high on beam, and her highest score of the meet.
- Mangahas was the lone all-arounder in the meet for the Gym Devils. She notched a career-high 39.425 in the outing.
- The bars squad earned a season-high event total with a 49.225. Senior Sarah Clark led the way with a season-high 9.900 to anchor the event. All four scores that counted were a 9.800 or better.
- Graduate Gracie Reeves earned a season-best on beam with a 9.875.
Quotes
Head Coach Jay Santos
Opening Statement:
"I'm thrilled, I'm really happy with how they performed. I thought the atmosphere was great. The crowd was great. I think all three teams did a fantastic job. I think it was just a really exciting competition tonight. I'm really happy with how the team handled themselves, how they responded to two great teams hitting well in the arena with them. And I think they did a great job of trying to keep pace but staying within themselves and not worrying about things too much that were out of their control. I think we continue to make progress. Each meet so far, I think we keep hitting a little bit stronger, and we still have some room to grow, so I'm still optimistic about that and excited for next week."
On the mindset of going into this meet after Utah last weekend:
"Our mindset was just on continuing to progress. Prior to tonight, last week was probably the most complete meet we had. Now I can say that about tonight. It was really just about continuing that progress, continuing to clean things up. Clean up the endings, clean up details, handstands, whatever it is. We're trying to just take one routine, one event at a time, and just keep putting things together and just letting it stack up as we go and building our confidence from that. In the gym, it's all the same details. Mainly, we focus on landings, all the forms, and anything that we see on any given day. We're going to keep attacking and just trying to minimize everything we do."
On how important it was scoring a 197+ tonight:
"I think winning is still great. Winning and losing still matters and that's great, but from the rankings and everything else, the score is what matters. So breaking into the 197 is huge for us. It's gonna continue to help us build with that. Gives us a great score to build on. Like I said, I'm really happy they did it against the teams that were here because it shows that we can stand up and do great gymnastics in the same arena as somebody else that was doing some really great gymnastics. There was some great stuff out there from all three teams."
9??.9??5??0?? for @anayasmith_!!!!!!!!!!
— Sun Devil Gymnastics (@SunDevilGym) February 3, 2024
??: Pac-12 Insider (https://t.co/ecH2IsZHqr)#GymDevils /// #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/oAHJesUg4P
Senior Jada Mangahas
On what she is taking away from tonight to use going forward against Stanford next week:
"I feel like we've been doing a really good job at staying within ourselves and not really looking at other people's scores or paying attention to the crowd. We had No. 1 and No. 2 here and I feel like none of us even watched a single other routine. We were so dialed in on ourselves. And I feel like if we just continue to do that, especially in an away meet, not letting any other crowd get to us and just focusing on what we need to do and the process, which is kind of what we've been working on all season. If we keep doing that, I think it's just gonna keep hitting."
On if the energy from the crowd boosted them while competing:
"Yeah, I definitely think so. Even if not all the crowd was for us, I think it still pumped us up. We didn't care who they were cheering for. We just used that energy and especially towards the end of the meet when we're coming to the floor, I think we were super hyped up and we were super excited. And I think the crowd really helped with that because it felt like this big atmosphere was helping us get where we wanted to be and it was super exciting."
On being back at home
"It's definitely really different traveling. It's a great experience, of course, but being here with our home crowd and all of our family, being here and just the energy in this building is so great. So, it was definitely awesome to be back. It felt like we were back at home, like I was at my own home."
Senior Anaya Smith
On her 9.950 on vault:
"It felt really good. I've been trying to get my groove and figure out what I need to do before to get prepared. Jada (Mangahas) helps me a lot. I've been working on my confidence, so that felt really good to be able to do that."
On what she is taking away from tonight to use going forward against Stanford next week:
"I said I would take away that we know we can do this. We're a good team, and just take that confidence to the next meet."
Final Results
- Oklahoma, 198.375
- Cal, 197.950
- Arizona State, 197.250
Rotation One: Vault, 49.275
The Gym Devils had a hot start to the tri-meet with Anaya Smith earning a perfect 10 from one judge for a 9.950 overall. Hannah Scharf had the second-highest score with 9.875. Gregoire and Alex Theodorou both earned a 9.825. Mangahas started the rotation with a 9.800.
STUCK?? It's a 9.875 for @hannahscharf_ on vault!
— Sun Devil Gymnastics (@SunDevilGym) February 3, 2024
??: Pac-12 Insider (https://t.co/ecH2IsZHqr)#GymDevils /// #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/z8VJTJ9CKq
Rotation Two: Bars, 49.225
In rotation number two, every score that counted was above a 9.800. Cassi Barbanente started the scoring streak with a 9.825. Cienna Samiley and Mangahas both followed with a 9.850, and White scored a 9.800 after. Clark capped the Gym Devils off with a season-high of 9.900.
Rotation Three: Beam, 49.425
The Gym Devils earned a season-high on beam with 49.425. After Kayla Lee led off with a 9.825, Reeves earned a season-high 9.875. Mangahas followed with a strong 9.925, a career high for her. Clark followed with a 9.875 and Scharf with a 9.850. White ended the rotation with an impressive 9.900.
9??.9??2??5??!! That's a career-high on beam for @jadamangahas??
— Sun Devil Gymnastics (@SunDevilGym) February 3, 2024
??: Pac-12 Insider (https://t.co/ecH2IsZHqr)#GymDevils /// #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/DsOR1LwWCy
Rotation Four: Floor, 49.325
In the final rotation of the tri-meet, Gregoire and Kimberly Smith started the high scoring with 9.850. White followed with a 9.900, the highest score of the rotation. Mangahas added a 9.850 and Scharf ended the meet with a 9.875.
Up Next
The Gym Devils continue Pac-12 play at Stanford next Friday, February 9.