TEMPE – In the season opener at Desert Financial Arena, Sun Devil Gymnastics took second place in a tri-meet with a 195.100, beating UC Davis and coming up short to San Jose State.
Notable stats
- Arizona State (1-1) scored over a 49.000 on both vault and floor and saw a few setbacks on the other two events.
- Freshman Kylee Bromley earned three event titles in her collegiate debut. She tied for first on bars with a 9.825 and floor with a 9.875, the latter being the highest score of the day for the Sun Devils. In the all-around, she notched a 39.125 to win that title as well.
- In her Sun Devil debut, junior Reese Grolla earned an impressive 9.850 on beam to place first and tied for an event win with a 9.825 on bars.
- Senior Kimberly Smith tied for the event high on floor with a 9.875 to tie for the title. She scored a 39.100 in the all-around.
- In her collegiate debut, freshman Safia El Mammann scored a 9.850 on vault in the lead-off position. She also competed on beam.
- Other freshmen making their debuts were Delanie Kelly and Adele Ossi. Kelly scored 9.775s on vault and floor, adding a 9.700 on beam as well. Ossi competed on bars.
Final Results:
- SJSU, 195.175
- ASU, 195.100
- UCD, 193.250
Rotation one: vault, 49.025
El Mammann started the season off strong with the highest Sun Devil vault score, 9.850. Junior Lilia Purler followed with a 9.800 to ring in the second highest score on vault. Two 9.775 scores came from Kelly and Smith, and a final 9.825 from Halle Gregoire boosted ASU.
Rotation two: bars, 48.275
After a tough start on bars, Bromley and Grolla both earned 9.825s, tying for an event win and helping the Sun Devils recover. ASU finished off the rotation in second.
Rotation three: beam, 48.725
Kayla Lee’s bounce-back routine on beam sent the Sun Devils in the right direction with a 9.825. Grolla earned a needed team-high of 9.850 to lead ASU and win the event.
Rotation four: floor, 49.075
Bromley earned an event high of 9.875 after a struggling start on floor for ASU. The positive momentum continued with Gregoire earning a 9.825 and Smith tying Bromley’s event high of 9.875, securing the event win for the Sun Devils.
Up next
The Gym Devils will hit the road for a meet at Kentucky on Friday, Jan. 16. The meet will be on the SEC Network+ at 5 p.m. MST/7 p.m. EST.
Quotes
Arizona State Head Coach Jay Santos:
On today’s performance:
“We still aren’t clean enough, still too many mistakes. It was better than what we showed in the exhibition last week; it was definitely an improvement. It was just not a big enough improvement yet. Obviously, we had big mistakes on bars, plus some of the smaller stuff on floor and beam. We needed two or three things to go right on each of those events and it’s a much different meet for us. We still have work to do and work to clean up.”
On the freshmen’s debut:
“That’s great and that’s what we expect. That’s why we brought them in; that group is very talented. I’m trying to bridge the gap of letting them be freshmen and knowing they were brought in to be that talented group. We need them to step up and continue to do that and clean up a couple other things that they need. Like I said, I love that I’m seeing signs of them just cleaning one thing up. We’re in great shape, I love that I’m seeing that this early. Obviously, it’s only meet one but I need them to just keep growing and keep improving week to week.”
On positive takeaways from today:
“We had a lot more fight today. Last week at the exhibition when something went wrong, everything just kind of kept going wrong. We had plenty of moments where the next kid reset the lineup, hit a routine and got things going again. Obviously, some of the mistakes that we had last week that maybe have been nerves or whatever the reason, several of those routines stepped up, did a good job, got some positive scores and things like that. It’s a step in the right direction and if we can keep making that type of progress and clean up a couple more things we will be in good shape.”
Arizona State Junior Reese Grolla
On her mindset throughout the meet:
“My mindset throughout this meet was focusing on my keywords and performing just like I do in practice. I also like to have fun with my teammates, which was the biggest thing for me during the meet.”
On competing in Desert Financial Arena for the first time:
“Competing in DFA is unreal. The crowd, the energy, the fans – it's everything I’ve ever dreamed of. I love seeing the young fans come out and support Sun Devil gymnastics, it’s very heartwarming and motivating.”