Grad student Kahoku Palafox performs a beam routine during the Sun Devils' meet vs. Washington on Feb. 22. Palafox received All-Pac-12 second team honors. (Photo by Arianna Grainey)Finishing eighth in the Pac-12 Championships wasn’t exactly the plan for the Gym Devils.
One of the few bright spots for the team was how it finished on bars. It included three matched career highs: a 9.825 from freshman Carissa Kraus, a 9.875 from sophomore Brianna Gades and topped off by a 9.900 from grad student Kahoku Palafox.
Palafox’s score helped her earn second team All Pac-12 honors last Wednesday.
“That was pretty exciting,” Palafox said. “I knew it was a nice thing to have, but I didn't really know what it was, because I had never gotten one before. That was pretty exciting.”
Gym environment
The team got a weekend off for the first time since January.
There’s been lots of practice time for the Sun Devils and the coaches have made a point of setting a strong tone heading into the regional and national tournaments.
“Once you get to regionals, you start from scratch, and you've got one chance to qualify for nationals,” assistant coach Tom Ward said.
In her last season at ASU, Palafox is on board.
“We kind of have an all or nothing kind of attitude,” Palafox added. “We've got nothing to lose, so we're just putting it all out there and seeing how it goes.”
Back to Corvallis
Last Monday, the Gym Devils gathered in their practice facility to watch the NCAA regional selection show. The team buzzing about where it would end up.
Many members were pretty well convinced they would be heading to Oklahoma. Oregon State was low on the list of destinations, because it had just had a rough experience at Pac-12s days before.
When ASU popped up for the regional in Corvallis, the mood was less than ecstatic. Now that a week has passed, the team has gotten used to the idea and found some positives.
“I think it will actually be good,” freshman Stephanie Miceli said. “We'll have a feel of where the equipment is going to be and the atmosphere. So I actually think it’s kind of a positive thing like we get a do over.
“We’ve got to go back and show what we really have,” Miceli added. “I think it'll be good to go back there, actually.”
History Repeating
After ASU had an underachieving meet at UA in early March, the team came back and earned their highest scores of the season in Denver.
Now that they are a week removed from their worst scoring total of the season at Pac-12 championships it would be natural to hope the team pulls the same move at regionals.
“Absolutely we're hoping that!” Ward said.
Ward also added the team’s health and attitude are giving them a pretty strong advantage this weekend.
“I don't think we have a weakness right now,” Ward said. “That's our strength.”
reach the reporter at mklau@asu.edu
