Grad student Kahoku Palafox points her toes to try and stay balanced during a bar routine against UA on March 2. Palafox addressed the team after the disappointing showing in the Pac-12 championships. (Photo Courtesy of Arianna Grainey)After freshman Stephanie Miceli landed her dismount on bars and her score of 9.625 flashed on the screen Saturday, the team gathered in a big circle. They had just wrapped up their lowest scoring meet of the year at the Pac -12 championships at Oregon State.
They scored a 193.425, which put them in fourth place at the first session. After the second session, they would be placed eighth out of eight.
It was time for the grad student Kahoku Plalafox and senior Amelia Rew to talk to the rest of the team.
“Basically, Amelia and I were telling them, 'You know this wasn’t our best meet; we didn’t have a great meet.' We know that, we don’t have to tell anyone that we’re disappointed in them or they should have done better, because everyone was already pretty down on themselves if they didn’t do well.” Grad student Kahoku Palafox said.
The session started with ASU continuing to struggle on beam like they have in the past several weeks after being ranked as high as No. 14.
Freshman Stephanie Miceli started the team off strong with a 9.8, and Palafox followed with a 9.725.
Sophomore Morgan Steigerwalt then fell off the beam. Sophomores Natelle Gentile and Brianna Gades followed with a 9.575 and a 9.750.
In the anchor spot, sophomore Natasha Sundby also fell off the beam, and the team finished with a 47.875.
At this point, there wasn’t too much ground to make up. There were no standout performances from the other squads on the first rotation, aside from Cal’s 49.150 and UA’s Aubree Cristello scoring a 9.9 on floor.
UA did not have strong floor routine like the last time ASU competed against the Wildcats. UA senior Aubree Cristello’s routine the only one scoring high.
ASU moved onto floor where both freshman Alex Cope and Steigerwalt stepped out bringing lower than normal scores of 9.600 and 9.700. The real heartbreak was freshman Risa Perez falling on the last pass of her near perfect routine, earning a 9.225.
Meanwhile, Cristello scored her second 9.9 of the tournament on vault. But Cal and Washington took the lead with a tie at 98.025 with UA just a little behind at 98.000.
After two less than impressive rotations, ASU had fallen way behind with a 96.475
The third rotation saw ASU on vault and once again ASU had to count a fall. Both freshman Erin Hamister and Sundby fell on the event.
Steigerwalt and Seaman lead the Sun Devils with vaults of 9.825.
Both UA and Cal ended up counting falls on their events as well. This helped Washington pull away going into the final rotation.
Already down by about two points, the Gym Devils did not take the loss lying down. The team ended the night by earning stronger scores. Freshman Carissa Kraus, Gades and Palafox matched their career highs of 9.825, 9.875 and 9.900 respectively.
“It’s always exciting to do well for yourself, but overall, you get disappointed when your overall goal is to do well as a team, and that didn’t happen,” Palafox said, “So I’d say you feel good doing well, but you still get pretty bummed out.”
With the team gathered in the circle, Palafox continued her speech.
“(We told them) we still have another chance at regionals, and we just need to train really hard these next few weeks, and if we do that, that’s when it really counts.” Palafox said.
After the second session with the top ranked teams in the Pac-12, Oregon State took the title with a 197.850.
The National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Committee will announce the seeding for the regional competitions on Monday.
Reach the reporter at mklau@asu.edu.
