Jan. 27, 1998
ASU Women's Gymnastics Heads to California for Quad-Meet
The Arizona State women's gymnastics team hits the road for the third time in four weeks as they sojourn to Berkeley, Calif., for a January 30 quad-meet versus Pac-10 foe California, Seattle Pacific and Sacramento State. California will be the third Pac-10 opponent Arizona State has encountered this season.
HEAD COACH JOHN SPINI: Arizona State women's gymnastics has become synonymous with excellence, and the person largely responsible for that is John Spini. Entering his 18th year as head coach at ASU, Spini has established a nationally prominent program and a tradition of excellence. Boasting a 215-77-1 career record, Spini is among the finest gymnastics coaches in the country. His career winning percentage stands at 73 percent. During his previous 17 seasons, the Sun Devils have captured four conference championships and have placed among the top eight at the national championship 10 of the 18 years it has been held, including runner-up finishes in 1985, '86, and '97.
LAST WEEK: The No. 3 Arizona State women's gymnastics team, down after three events, came from behind to defeat the No. 11 Stanford Cardinal 194.275-192.775, in its home opener before a crowd of 1,238 at the University Activity Center. After three events, the Devils faced a 146.375-145.525 deficit, due largely impart to the Cardinal, who had a large number of gymnasts set season- and career-benchmarks on the evening. The Devils and Cardinal each went separate directions in their final event, the floor and balance beam respectively. By the end of the rotation, four Stanford gymnasts had fallen on their beam routine, while ASU saw three of its gymnasts --freshman Kristin Fanning (9.725), and sophomores Elizabeth McNabb (9.950) and Elizabeth Reid (9.900) -- post season highs. McNabb's 9.950 was good enough to secure first place in the event. The Devils sputtered through their first three -- vault, bars and beam -- events, having to count a fall in the bars and beam events. Keeping the Devils in the match was sophomore and Gilbert, Ariz., native Amy Shelton, who nailed her vault and bars routines, scoring a 9.8 and 9.9 respectively. The former gave her first place in the vault while the latter was good enough for second. Also lending a hand to keep the Devils afloat was Reid, who recorded a 9.9 in the beam and won the event. Leading Stanford's cause was junior all-arounder and co-captain Amy Murakami, who had the night's highest mark in the all-around with a 38.650.
Murakami also won the bars competition (9.925). Finishing second to Murakami in the all-around was teammate and co-captain Keri Monahan (38.500), who was the only other all-around competitor. Monahan also tied Shelton for first place in the vault competition (9.8). For Arizona State, the victory was their eighth consecutive success at home.
THE DEVILS VERSUS THE COMPETITION: The Devils have prevailed in 13 of 15 meetings with California, including a 195.950-192.925 victory in Tempe last year. The Devils have only faced Seattle Pacific once and were victorious in that meeting. This will be the first time the Devils have met Sacramento State.
ABOUT ASU'S OPPONENTS: The California Golden Bears are 2-3 venturing into this week after finishing in third-place at a quad-meet in Washington last week ... California is under first-year head coach Trina Tinti. Seattle Pacific enters this meet 1-0 after defeating Sacramento State in its inaugural meet of the season last week ... leading the way for Seattle Pacific was Deni Boswell who won the all-around competition with a 37.925. Sacramento State opened its season on the road last weekend, losing to the aforementioned Seattle-Pacific University on Saturday night and finishing in last place in a quad-meet held at Washington last Friday night. The Hornets return six letterwinners from last year's team which took third place at the USAG nationals.
ASU NOTES ENTERING THIS WEEK'S MEET: Sophomore Amy Shelton has the top vault (9.8) and bars (9.9) scores for the Devils this season. She set both those marks in last week's meet vs. Stanford ... sophomore Elizabeth Reid posted a season high of 9.9 in the floor exercise last week, however teammate Elizabeth McNabb won the event, tying her career best with a 9.950. ... Arizona State returns this season as one of the favorites to capture this year's NCAA Championship. The Devils lost only one member from last year's NCAA runner-up squad that was second only to UCLA.
DEVILS ON THE TUBE: FOX Sports Net has chosen to televise the ASU/UNO's Classic on Friday, February 20. The meet features the Devils, Brigham Young, Nebraska and Illinois. The meet will be shown on a tape-delayed basis on Sunday, March 8 at 5 p.m. (MST). In addition, the Pac-10 Championships, being held in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 21, will be shown on a tape-delayed basis on Sunday, March 29 at 2 p.m. (MST).
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Sun Devils have been on a roll at home over the last two years. Arizona State has won its last eight home meets going back to February of 1996. The last time the Devils were upended at home was when then-defending national champion Utah defeated the Devils by a count of 193.875-193.250 at the University Activity Center.
ASU HOSTING 1998 MIDWEST REGIONAL: Arizona State has been chosen as the site for the 1998 NCAA Midwest Regional. The Midwest Regional is comprised of the top-six teams from the Midwest region competing for a berth in the NCAA Championships. The Midwest Regional will take place Saturday, April 4 at 6 p.m. in the University Activity Center.
UP NEXT: The Devils return home to entertain Oregon State Friday, February 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the University Activity Center.
Returning All-Americans
Arizona State returns four gymnasts in 1998 who were named all-Americans last season in a combined 11 events:
Meagan Wright ..... all-around, vault, bars, beam, floor exercise
Elizabeth Reid ..... beam, bars, floor exercise
Carie Courtney ..... all-around, beam
Lisa Vincijanovic ..... beam
1998 Arizona State Women's Gymnastics Roster No. Name Ht Yr/Exp Hometown/High School 1 Kim Keever 5-3 Sr/3V Las Vegas, Nev./Cheyenne 2 Wendy Ellsberry 5-3 Jr/2V Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore 3 Lisa Vincijanovic 5-3 Jr/2V Scottsdale, Ariz./Chaparral 4 Becky Acker 5-4 Fr/HS Phoenix, Ariz./Mountain Pointe 5 Gina Holleran 5-2 Sr/3V Whitehall, Pa./Central Catholic 6 Carie Courtney 5-5 Sr/3V Garland, Texas/North Garland 7 Amy Shelton 5-1 So/1V Gilbert, Ariz./Highland 8 Michelle Hess 5-1 So/1V Thornville, Ohio/Sheridan 9 Elizabeth Reid 5-5 So/1V Burke, Va./James W. Robinson 10 Kim Skinner 5-5 Fr/HS Tucson, Ariz./Sabino 11 Meagan Wright 5-1 Sr/3V Mesa, Ariz./Westwood 12 Elizabeth McNabb 5-2 So/1V Las Vegas, Nev./Bonanza 14 Kristin Fanning 5-5 Fr/HS Scottsdale, Ariz./Paradise Valley Head Coach: John Spini (18th year) Assistant Coaches: Kyle Jenne (fourth year), Kristen Smyth (second year)