Arizona GymCats collapse in final rotation to end season in Tempe Regional’s opening round

TEMPE—The Arizona GymCats landed in the opening round play-in meet against Arizona State largely because of disastrous bars rotation at the Big 12 Championships. They had a chance to rectify that right from the start of the dual meet against the Sun Devils, but they weren’t able to carry that redemption through to the end. This time, the last rotation of the day did them in.

Arizona head coach John Court said earlier in the week that he just didn’t want the team to beat itself, but that’s ultimately what it came down to.

“We 1000 percent beat ourselves,” Court said.

Arizona went into the final rotation with a 0.375 lead over ASU, but had two falls in a row off the balance beam and two major balance checks. First, it was Aubrey Krohnfeldt falling on one of her tumbling passes. Next, Jessa Janicke fell. They were followed by Sophie Derr, who didn’t fall but had a big balance check at the end of her routine. Then came a major balance check by Tirzah Wise.

“We only needed 9.7s,” Court said.

They couldn’t get them because they were forced to count a fall yet again. Court noted that they had counted a fall in every single meet away from McKale Center this year.

“I take responsibility for that,” he said.

There was good news for Arizona fans before that opening bar rotation, though. Lineups posted on social media had senior Emma Strom set to go on floor, an event she could conceivably perform at nationals. Strom tore two ligaments in her ankle on senior night three weeks ago. She has been hurriedly rehabbing it, trying to get back for the final few meets of the year.

“Emma willed it,” Court said. “We needed her to play, and she did.”

There were other things to take care of before Strom and her team could take the floor. First was getting that redemption on bars.

Scores on bars were tight for both teams. Only three scores of 9.800 were handed out between both teams. Two of them—the highest two, in fact—went to Arizona.

The GymCats looked like they were performing solid bars routines, but scores of 9.675 and 9.700 popped up for Hillary Puleo and Sadie Smith to start the opening rotation. Two 9.775s followed, then the big scores came. Derr and Krohnfeldt scored matching 9.875s to round out the rotation. The GymCats hit 49.000 on the nose after scoring 47.400 on the event last week.

Still, ASU was getting big scores on vault. That’s an event that Arizona has to maximize because it has no 10.000 start values in the lineup. When it was the GymCats’ turn, those start values didn’t matter.

While the tight scores on bars affected ASU, the looser scoring on vault and some stuck landings helped Arizona. The team scored 48.950 on vault, giving away just 0.100 on that event. The GymCats had already made that up by outscoring ASU on bars 49.000 to 48.550. The visitors had the lead halfway through the meet.

That brought them to floor and Strom’s return.

Two weeks ago, ASU’s director of home meets said that they brought in new floors to make the regional more in line with the other sites. Whether that had any effect on the GymCats or it was just the occasion, they often appeared to be moving just a bit more slowly than usual and some of the scores seemed to reflect that lack of flow.

Arizona opened with a string of scores in the 9.7s before Abigayle Martin came through with a 9.825. Strom took her turn. It wasn’t the 9.9+ that she’s accustomed to, but her 9.850 tied for the highest score on the event with ASU’s Halle Gregoire.

The GymCats didn’t need anything close to their best score on beam. That was even more true when ASU scored just 48.900 on floor exercise. But the huge let down in the final event allowed the Sun Devils to run past the Arizona and win by 0.525, a comeback of 0.900 in just one rotation.

“My phone is blowing up with people telling me that we were the better team, but we weren’t the better team or we would have closed it out,” Court said.

That brings to an end the careers of seniors Gianna Lenczner, Elizabeth LaRusso, and Sophia Stephens. Strom (floor exercise), Martin (all-around), Wise (balance beam), and Jessa Janicke (vault) all qualified to compete as individuals and try to get to nationals.