As ASU junior Mary Atkinson goes, so do the Sun Devils.

It is no coincidence that Atkinson’s two best performances have also come on the same evenings as the team’s two best showings.

The ASU women’s gymnastics team fell Friday night to No. 8 Stanford, 196.575-195.900, but posted its highest score of the season.

The junior’s career-best 39.500 all-around total encompassed three 9.900s and one career-high 9.800 on the balance beam.

“There’s more and more confidence building every week,” Atkinson said. “And just having my team there to back me up — when they hit in front of me, it’s a domino effect.”

The No. 24 Sun Devils (2-7) struggled on its first three events, but they never succumbed to the death sentence of counting a fall.

“We did a really good job competing under pressure,” Atkinson said. “We had some trouble early in the lineup and had to fight back.”

ASU’s sole senior, Kaitlynn Bormann, fell on her vault attempt and earned just a score of 8.850.

“I was really concerned when we started,” ASU coach John Spini said. “I wasn’t sure how we would handle a miss early. I think that’s the first time [Bormann] missed vault this season.”

On the uneven bars, ASU continued its early-meet strains, as three Sun Devils posted relatively low scores.

“Bars was probably our weak area tonight,” Spini said. “[sophomore Kahoku Palafox] doesn’t usually miss bars, but that was a tough routine for her [scoring an 8.950].”

ASU worked its way back into the meet on the balance beam, throwing up a solid score of 48.775. Bormann scored a 9.825, Atkinson a 9.800 and sophomore Kelly Reilly a 9.750.

“It’s nice to see Kelly Reilly shine on beam,” Spini said. “And if we can get [injured freshman Christina Salavec] back, we’ll start having a pretty solid beam group.”

On its first three rotations, one ASU gymnast fell each time.
That changed on floor.

ASU sophomore Madison Snowden led the charge with a career-best 9.900.
“Mentally, we pulled it back together and finished strong and confident,” Snowden said. “It shows that it’s more mental sometimes than physical.”

The Kentucky transfer has improved her score each time on the mat this season.

“I’m just enjoying it,” Snowden said. “I’ve learned to enjoy the moment instead of so much worrying about everything. I’m having fun.”

The Sun Devils finished a perfect six-for-six on the floor and tallied their highest total on any event this season with a 49.275.

“There’s a lot of good things that are happening,” Spini said. “But we just have to keep focusing on week to week knowing where we want to be in four weeks.”

The loss came against former ASU assistant coach and current head coach at Stanford Kristen Smyth.

“Kristin was with me in the Super Six the very first year she got here,” Spini said. “She’s a personal friend and is family to me.”

Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu