ASU gymnastics recorded their first tie of the 2020 season against No. 13 Washington on Sunday.
An impressive team performance in the first rotation on vault got the Sun Devils (4-6-1, 1-2-1 Pac-12) off to a 49.275 start, their highest event total for any event this season.
Head coach Jay Santos said the key heading into this meet was momentum, and his team performed exactly how he wanted.
“Momentum. Let’s start and build and build and build, and I really think they did a great job of that today,” Santos said. “Just coming out with a lot of energy and building off each other.”
Junior Cairo Leonard-Baker led the Devils with a 9.900. The score matched her career-high on vault and is the highest vault score by any ASU gymnast this season.
Freshmen Gracie Reeves and Isabel Redmond each set career-highs, scoring a 9.875 and a 9.825 on vault respectively.
Junior Geneva Thompson led the Huskies(6-1-1, 4-0-1 Pac-12) on bars with a 9.900.
In the second rotation, Leonard-Baker followed up her career-high on vault with a season-high 9.950 on bars. Her 9.950 is the highest score for any ASU gymnast regardless of event this season.
Sophomore Megan Thompson kept the Sun Devil’s hot streak going into the third rotation, where she tied her career-high on beam with a 9.825.
Reeves and Redmond both recorded their second career-highs of the meet with a 9.850 and a 9.800 on beam respectively. Freshman Hannah Scharf also added a career-high of her own with a 9.850.
The Sun Devils finished with a 49.125 on beam, their first time scoring over a 49.000 on beam this season.
Heading into the fourth rotation, Washington was trailing by half a point.
Sophomore Meaghan Ruttan kept the Huskies on track on floor, scoring a career-high 9.850.
Washington finally came alive in the last rotation, and it turned out to be just enough. Sophomore Brenna Brooks, senior Maya Washington and sophomore Hannah Vandenkolk all set or matched career-highs on beam.
Fifth-year senior Kristyn Hoffa led Washington on beam with a 9.925.
However, the Sun Devils would not back down as they scored a 49.225 on floor, another event season-high for the team.
Graduate student Morgan Wilson earned a new career-high on floor with a 9.825 andLeonard-Baker scored a season-high 9.900.
Leonard-Baker said this meet was big for the team because it shows ASU that the Sun Devils have the ability to compete with anyone.
“It feels great,” Leonard-Baker said. “I think this meet shows that we’re more than capable.”
Santos said this meet was a long time coming. He said he knew his team was capable of performing at this level because of what he sees during practice.
“It’s been coming for a while,” Santos said. “We’ve been talking about it and working really hard at it. I’m thrilled they put it together today the way they did. It was certainly the most complete meet of the year. I’m really happy about today.”
The Sun Devils will look to build off this success a week from Monday when they take on No. 25 Stanford at 8 p.m. MST.
Reach the reporter at cfahrend@asu.edu and follow @chris_drop_ on Twitter.
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