By Marlee Smith
TEMPE – The Arizona State gymnastics team continues to enhance its resume for the postseason.
The No. 17 Sun Devils scored a season-high 197.450 against Arizona in a midday Territorial Cup matchup at Desert Financial Arena. Wednesday’s score topped the previous season-high of 197.150 against No. 3 Utah and tied the ninth-highest score in program history from 2003.
“We all know it means a little bit more,” ASU coach Jay Santos said. “We can all try to claim this is just another meet. It’s not just another meet, right? It’s a rivalry. You never want to come up short on the rivalry. I think we had a great day, our team really looked good. They performed well all day long.”
High scores are to the Sun Devils’ benefit as it will help their postseason seeding and location.
ASU started out strong with freshman vault specialist Anaya Smith’s 9.900. Sophomore Hannah Scharf and senior Cairo Leonard-Baker both scored 9.875. Sophomore Jordyn Jaslow made her collegiate debut after an early injury and scored 9.800. The team came out on top and stayed above 49.000 for the third meet in a row.
Freshman Emily White set a career record of 9.925 and won the event title for the uneven bars. Emily White also captured the balance beam with a 9.900, while Hannah Scharf won floor and posted the highest score of the meet with a career-high 9.950.
The Wildcats will return to Desert Financial Arena on March 6. Arizona stepped in this week for Stanford after the Cardinal canceled their second meet due to training restrictions. Stanford has yet to compete in the 2021 season.
ASU travels to Washington to compete against the Huskies Sunday.