(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
The No. 12 Arizona State Gym Devils (5-1, 2-0 Pac-12) hit the road again Saturday afternoon to take on the No. 13 Oregon State Beavers (2-1, 1-1 Pac-12) in their annual Dam Cancer Meet.
This week the Gym Devils face their closest ranked match yet. Both squads have continued to improve their team scores each week with the Gym Devils recording their highest team score since 2006 last week with a 196.800. Oregon State also set a season-high last Saturday defeating the No. 21 Stanford Cardinal 196.975-195.550, helping the Beavers to jump in the rankings from No. 18 to No. 13.
ASU will be looking to freshman standout Cairo Leonard-Baker to lead the Gym Devils to victory. Leonard-Baker earned her third consecutive Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors this week, and she credited her early success to the support of her teammates.
“It feels really good, especially with this team because I love everyone so much,” Leonard-Baker said. “It’s nice knowing everyone has your back and everyone’s there, and our team is doing well too. It’s nice that I’m a part of that.”
Gearing up for this upcoming meet against the Beavers, Head Coach Jay Santos said that while Leonard-Baker is a driving force in this teams’ quick success, it’s important to note how well the team has performed as a group.
“This whole team is really raising their level, and it’s fun to watch,” Santos said. “At this point, I think we just need to keep doing what we are doing. We don’t need to reinvent ourselves. We just need to continue working on all the small details, such as hitting all those handstands and sticking our landings, so we can get those better routines.”
While both squads are side-by-side in the overall rankings, their individual event rankings are matched closely as well. The Sun Devils are ranked No. 18 on vault, No. 8 on bars, and No. 13 on beam, and the Beavers are ranked No. 22 on vault, No. 11 on bars, and No. 15 on beam.
Although vault is the Sun Devil’s lowest ranked event, sophomore Jessica Ginn and junior Morgan Wilson looked solid on vault last week to tie their career-highs of 9.825 and 9.850, respectively. Key vaulters for the Beavers include senior Dani Dessaints and junior Mary Jacobsen who both perform vaults with a 10.0 start value.
For bars and beam, the Beavers and the Gym Devils are closely matched. The Gym Devils will look to senior Nichelle Christopherson and sophomore Ashley Szafranski who scored a pair of 9.875s on bars and beam, respectively. Leonard-Baker also scored an impressive 9.950 on bars to lead this team to victory last week.
As for the Beavers, they will look to junior Mariana Colussi-Pelaez who recorded a 9.900 on the bars, and sophomore Maela Lazaro scored a 9.900 on the beam during her collegiate debut to win the event title.
As for floor, OSU’s No. 7 ranking takes the lead against ASU. However, the Gym Devils had a strong floor rotation during their last outing with junior Kaitlyn Szafranski tying her career-high of 9.850 and Leonard-Baker recording a career-high of 9.925. Key gymnasts on floor for the Beavers include Jacobsen and freshman Savana Force who each scored a 9.900 and freshman Kaitlyn Yannish who earned a 9.950.
Christopherson noted that the success of this year’s team can be attributed to their preseason preparation.
“I just kept trying to tell people that we’ve had the preparation,” Christopherson said. “We worked so hard in preseason and we’re ready. When it comes down to it, we can do everything. We don’t have to worry about the physical aspect anymore – it’s all about the mental side. If we can get that taken care of, we can do anything.”
Catch all the competitive action in Corvallis Saturday, Feb. 3 at 3:30 p.m. live on Pac-12 Networks.
