Senior Brianna Gades reaches for the bar during a routine in a meet againstSouthern Utah on Friday, Jan. 9, 2015 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. ASU
narrowly lost to LSU and Kentucky on Jan. 16. (Andrew Ybanez/The State Press)
The ASU gymnastics team knew it was in for a tough meet competing on the road with No. 2 LSU also in the mix.
From the first event, host Kentucky and LSU pulled away from ASU, and LSU won the meet with a score of 196.6. Kentucky scored 195.6 and ASU 194.4, two-tenths of a point higher than its first meet.
Of the four events, the only one ASU improved upon was the vault, which was to be expected given the Sun Devils didn’t drop a score in the first meet. Otherwise, ASU slightly declined in the other three events; They dropped .175 on uneven bars, .075 on floor and .100 on the balance beam.
ASU began the meet on the beam, which is considered the most nerve-wracking event. ASU and LSU had a gymnast fall, but both were able to drop those scores due to having an extra gymnast.
"You have a lot of adrenaline at the beginning of the meet so to be able to focus it on beam is definitely a challenge but I thought the team did a great job," ASU coach Rene Lyst said.“We have to have cleaner routines, have better connections, better execution, a little bit better presentation. It’s just minor things for each person and that’s something I’m going to focus on and try to improve upon for the next week."
After the balance beam, ASU shifted to the floor, one of its strongest events. ASU started slow, but finished strong with three consecutive scores of 9.8 or better.
ASU competed on the vault in its third rotation, the event where it had the most room to improve upon. Against Southern Utah, ASU only competed five gymnasts. The team used the full six gymnasts on Friday. Senior Morgan Steigerwalt (9.550) returned for ASU from injury, and the Sun Devils also started junior Kristine Levin (9.050), though Levin needed her hands to land her vault.
“We made huge progress on vault," Lyst said. "Kristine (Levin) did miss her vault, but this is her first time out, so I’m expecting next time, she’ll be that much more confident. Morgan (Steigerwalt) stepped up and really helped us out on vault and everyone else improved from last week. Vaulting definitely was a highlight for the meet."
For the second consecutive meet, bars were ASU's top-scoring event, led by junior Allie Salas' 9.850.
Salas and junior Stephanie Miceli competed in the all-around, scoring 39.050 and 38.750 respectively. Both gymnasts improved from the first meet, but were outscored by LSU’s two all-around competitors.
“I thought we were a little bit better than last week," Lyst said... "The girls fought really hard every event throughout the entire meet, kept their composure and focus and I was really proud of their effort. Now it’s just getting more confidence and getting more detail-oriented in practice so we can score a little bit better the next time out."
ASU's next meet is on Sunday, Jan. 26 in Berkeley, California. The Sun Devils will compete against Cal, San Jose State and Denver.
ASU results:
| ASU Gymnast | Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | AllArr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taylor Allex | 9.850 | 9.375 | 9.825 | ||
| Beka Conrad | 9.825 | 9.675 | 9.375 | ||
| Brianna Gades | 9.675 | 9.675 | |||
| Carissa Kraus | 9.200 | ||||
| Kristine Levin | 9.050 | 9.775 | 9.725 | ||
| Stephanie Miceli | 9.550 | 9.750 | 9.800 | 9.650 | 38.750 |
| Allie Salas | 9.725 | 9.850 | 9.650 | 9.825 | 39.050 |
| Morgan Steigerwalt | 9.550 | ||||
| Natasha Sundby | 9.850 | 9.000 | 9.800 | ||
| Team Totals | 48.525 | 48.875 | 48.175 | 48.825 | 194.4 |
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