Typically college gymnastics meets don't come down to the wire, and success is often measured not on wins and losses but on final scores.
Still, coming up a fraction of a point short of upsetting the second-ranked team in the nation hurts, as the ASU gymnastics team found out Friday night.
Competing before 1,521 spectators, the third largest crowd in the program's history, the Sun Devils showed they have the ability to hang with the nation's elite squads in a 196.175-196.100 loss to No. 2 Utah at Wells Fargo Arena.
"We weren't supposed to win if you look at the rankings, but I know what my team is capable of doing," ASU coach John Spini said. "Is it disappointing? No. But I'm mad. I personally just don't like to lose, but at the same time, I'm happy with how exciting this team is when they're competing. I think this is the best team that I have ever put on the floor since I've been here. We're going to challenge for a national championship."
The Sun Devils began the meet competing well as they earned scores of 49.075 on the vault and 49.200 on the uneven bars, respectively. Senior Ashley Kelly had the high scores on both events for the Sun Devils, a 9.875 on the vault and a 9.950 on the bars to win that event. Despite ASU's strong performance, the Utes led after the two events, 98.525-98.275.
But next up was the Sun Devils' specialty, the balance beam, for which they are ranked the best in the nation as a team. They suffered no major mistakes on the apparatus, cruising to a 49.000 score as Kelly again led the way with a mark of 9.90. Meanwhile, on the floor exercise, Utah stumbled its way to a 48.500 mark.
Thus, entering the fourth and final event, ASU held a 147.275-147.025 advantage as it prepared to take the floor while Utah took the beam. In her only event of the day, freshman Ashley Toner stuck her routine with a 9.825 score, and freshman all-arounder Nicole Harris added a 9.875. Junior April Boone then came to the floor to execute a near-perfect routine, which earned a 9.925 mark and energized the crowd.
"Walking off the floor felt so good when you know you just nailed it and just went out there and did all you could," Boone said.
Then things began to unravel for ASU, as freshman all-arounder Tia Orlando fell on all three of her tumbling passes in her routine. Though ASU could drop one of its six scores from the event, it could not afford any more mistakes. Then Kelly fell backward on one of her tumbling passes to cost ASU. Junior Cassandra Jusino earned a 9.900 to finish the event, but it was not enough, as Utah scored a 49.150 on the nearby beam to claim the meet.
"We're really happy with the good score because it's going to move us up in the rankings, but I'm just disappointed in myself," Kelly said. "I mean .075, if I would have stood up [on the floor exercise], we would have won. But we're really excited, and we have a lot to look forward to."
Both Harris and Boone tied to win the all-around competition at the meet with a score of 39.350.
"It's like we were right there," Harris said. "They [Utah] were scared of us; we got them shivering. We gave it our best shot but we'll just do it at regionals and nationals."
Reach the reporter at christopher.drexel@asu.edu.
