Four freshmen have played large parts in the ASU women’s gymnastics team’s rise to success.
Brianna Gades, Natelle Gentile, Morgan Steigerwalt and Natasha Sundby were expected to carry a pretty heavy load this year, yet each gymnast has exceeded expectations.
Though they were uncertain how their first season would play out, the four have embraced the situation.
“A lot of times in college, you come in as freshman and it’s kind of, ‘Am I going to compete? Am I not going compete?’” Sundby said. “It’s not really a set thing. I think for all four freshmen, it’s kind of already established that we do bring a lot to the team in a good way, so I think it’s exciting.”
Sundby has performed on the vault in each of her six meets and recorded a career-high score of 9.800 against Cal Jan. 20.
Sundby also competed in the floor event for ASU’s Pac-12 opener and scored a favorable 9.775. She has excelled since then, scoring a 9.800, 9.825, 9.850 and a career high 9.875 against UA.
Gentile, a California native, has also seen a lot of action in her first season.
In her first collegiate meet, she competed in the all-around, scoring a 37.950.
She recorded career highs on vault with a 9.750 at UA Feb. 10 and a 9.775 versus Utah on the balance beam Feb. 12.
“It has been great coming in,” Gentile said. “(Coach John Spini has) been telling us, ‘My freshmen are really going to help us out this year. I’m going to put you guys in lineups.’ Even though we’re not upperclassmen or seniors, we have a huge part of this team in our scores, and I love being a part of it.”
One big difference from college gymnastics and the pre-collegiate levels is the amount of meets the gymnasts compete in.
In Junior Olympics and club gymnastics, gymnasts may see one or two meets per month. In college, they essentially see one per week.
“I feel like every week, it’s easier for me rather than worrying about having to wait three weeks in between (meets) and wondering what can happen between that,” Steigerwalt said. “I just like it better.”
Not only has Steigerwalt had to overcome the additional meets, she also overcame the difficulty of competing while completely deaf in her left ear.
A hardship like this could affect a gymnast’s balance, but Steigerwalt’s deafness does not.
The Pennsylvania native has performed beam and floor routines this season and recorded scores of 9.700 and 9.775 in her floor routines.
She scored career highs on the beam with a 9.775 and a 9.875 on floor against UA Jan. 27.
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Gades, from Peoria, has also seen a lot of success in her first season. She was glad to contribute so early in her ASU career and has embraced the weekly meets of college gymnastics.
“It was really exciting," Gades said. "I wanted to compete right away and I got to, so it’s been really cool. It’s pretty hard. It’s fun though. It’s always exciting on the weekends when you get to go compete. It’s just a big change, but it’s a good change.”Gades has been pretty consistent on the bars and beam all season. She has scored two 9.775s and tied her career high of 9.800 three times on the bars.
On beam, she has recorded two 9.725s, a 9.750, 9.800 and posted a career high 9.850 against Utah on Feb. 12.
Gades has performed admirably on the floor exercise as well, posting a 9.775 at UA.
Redshirt Senior Beaté Jones is delighted with each of their performances this season.
“They’re just doing awesome for us right now and giving it all they have every time they get on the floor,” Jones said.
Spini is also pleased with their performances thus far.
“(The) freshmen usually do a lot for us, and it’s their consistency that we’re developing,” Spini said. “I love my freshmen. They just want to do good. If I could get them to turn certain things in on time, and work on certain things with other aspects of gymnastics, they’re just going to be fantastic contributions to Arizona State University.”
Reach the reporter at gdemano@asu.edu
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