Gym Devils post big Pac-12 win over Stanford

By Scott Mammoser

TEMPE, Ariz. – Cairo Leonard-Baker achieved Sunday’s highest-score on the final performance of the meet, posting a 9.95 on floor to give the No. 19 Arizona State gymnastics team a 196.375 to 195.000 win over No. 24 Stanford.

ASU (5-4) bested the Cardinal on every event, but was highest on floor (49.425). Bars, of which the Gym Devils are 15^th in the nation, was the team’s third-strongest apparatus in the win, with a 49.150.

“It’s a good day,” ASU coach Jay Santos said. “I saw a lot of fight in the last two events. They weren’t holding back, and they were really going at it.”

Morgan Wilson scored a 9.8 on vault to lead ASU, while Jasmine Gutierrez and Justine Callis each recorded  9.85s on the balance beam.

“It was so awesome to come out here and do a clean routine for the first time,” said the freshman Gutierrez. “We need to keep building off what we already have.”

Despite the high performance on the beam, Callis notched a personal-best on the uneven bars at 9.8.

“I landed and knew it happened,” Callis said of her career high. “There was so much energy out there tonight.”

Leonard-Baker led all athletes with a 9.925 on bars and totaled a 39.325 all-around score. Annie Kuhm posted a 39.175 all-around for ASU, as well, while Kyla Bryant had 38.825 for the Cardinal. Bryant recorded a 9.9 on bars and 9.925 on floor, while Aleeza Yu scored a meet-high 9.825 on vault, and Wesley Stephenson led her team on beam with a 9.825. Stanford dropped to 2-4, and after falling to California, UCLA, and Washington, has now lost four consecutively.

Prior to returning home at 7 p.m. on Feb. 22 to face No. 11 Oregon State, ASU will participate in the Perfect 10 Challenge at 3:45 p.m. on Friday at the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Oklahoma City. In addition to No. 15 Washington and George Washington, the No. 1-ranked Oklahoma Sooners will be in the building.

“It’s the same way we prepare for everything,” Santos said. “We’re not basketball or football, where you are defending somebody; we just need to go out and perform. We had UCLA and Utah, and we’re not expecting anything different.”

The next meet for Stanford will be on Friday against No. 5 LSU and No. 13 Missouri at St. Charles, Mo. Tabitha Yim is in her first season as Cardinal coach, after the former U.S. champion and world medalist previously guided the University of Arizona.