It was just two weeks ago that the Gym Devils left Gill Coliseum at Oregon State hanging their heads after a dead-last finish in the Pac-12 Championship.
The idea of coming back to Corvallis for their regional meet left a sour taste in the gymnasts’ mouths. The team created a mantra called “Prove it,” after the meet.
The Gym Devils proved it with a 195.700 final score, finished higher than expected in third place, just narrowly missed a bid for nationals and got their best finish since 2006. Tight judging on bars and beam resulted in lower scores than usual out of the the first rotation. Senior Amelia Rew lead the way with a 9.750 with her last bar routine for ASU.
Cal had to count a fall on beam and Boise State had all 9.700+ routines on floor.
Georgia came out ahead with 9.800s throughout vault. ASU finally picked it up on beam in the second rotation after disappointing showings in the past few weeks. Sophomore Brianna Gades led the way with a 9.850. Meanwhile, Oregon State had to count two falls on bars to start off the competition after a bye in the first rotation. One of the falls was from senior Makayla Stambaugh, who scored a 9.975 to win the Pac12s two weeks before.
Over on floor, Arkansas looked impressive with a 9.950 from junior Katherine Grable. On their third rotation after a bye, ASU has one of their best floor sessions of the season. The 49.150 was a big pump up the Gym Devils with an obvious boost in morale going into their last rotation. The boost was exactly what they needed and ASU vaulted strong all the way through. It only had one missed landing for freshman Erin Hamister that was dropped. Sophomore Natasha Sundby finished off the Gym Devils’ night scoring a 9.9 for a career high on the event and gave ASU a 49.225: their highest vault score of the year. As expected, Georgia took first and Arkansas took the second nationals bid. Oregon was not able to recover from their first event and took fourth with Boise State and Cal in fifth and sixth.
Reach the reporter at mklau@asu.edu
