Since the 2006 season, the ASU gymnastics team has become familiar with winning titles in the all-around, eclipsing scores of 9.9 and receiving Pac-10 and national recognition.
Junior Nicole Harris brought that to the program when she started as a Sun Devil two and a half seasons ago, becoming a fundamental component for ASU gymnastics in the years to come.
But that relationship ended prematurely this week after Harris resigned her scholarship as of Wednesday. She notified the coaching staff last week of her decision to part ways with the program.
"I knew what was best for me, and that was to stop torturing my body," Harris said in a phone message Thursday. "It was just painful to sleep at night, and that's when I knew. Unfortunately, the timing sucks, and yes, I'm letting a lot of people down, but I have to listen to what my intuition is telling me."
ASU coach John Spini said the team was "shocked" when Harris announced her departure from the team.
"It was a hard hit for us," he said.
Spini also said Harris has "been fighting a lot of personal issues."
"She just wants to kind of do her own thing right now," he said. "I think Nicole is done with gymnastics."
Harris leaves the team during a season in which she's posted the team's highest score on bars and floor and is tied at the top with juniors Ashlee Hinkle and Tia Orlando on beam. She's been a consistent leader for the Sun Devils as a competitor in the all-around, but there came a time when she knew a decision had to be made.
"I'm completely OK with the decision besides the fact of letting everyone down, but I also know that five, 10 years from now it won't matter," she said in the phone message. "I'm proud of myself, and I can't really complain about anything other than my body hurting and that needs to be listened to."
The team is now left to fill Harris' void while moving forward with its quest to secure an appearance at the national tournament.
"We look at building up our confidence without her," Spini said. "It's very critical for us to come forward."
The No. 20 ASU gymnastics team will compete in its second meet without Harris tonight when it hosts No. 21 Penn State and No. 22 Boise State.
The organization of some of the events has been changed as Spini said he's working to improve upon the team's confidence. Beam is one event that's received a revamped rotation after counting two falls last meet.
"Hopefully we're putting those strong kids in the back (of the rotation)," Spini said.
Orlando and freshman Mary Atkinson have both been training on floor, an event that Orlando hasn't competed in yet this year. Atkinson has appeared in the floor rotation three times this season but has struggled to establish consistency.
"We need Mary to step up," Spini said.
Although Harris was one of the anchors on vault, Spini doesn't envision a letdown in that event.
"We're not going to see a big difference on vault," he said.
While patching the holes in the lineup left by Harris' departure has taken some work in practice this week, the attitude of the team has remained positive.
"I haven't seen a letdown in any of the athletes here," Spini said. "If anything, I've seen more determination."
Orlando said the team "pulled together quickly" after the news about Harris, and now the team can approach the next competition with the right perspective.
"We wanted to go out and show that we didn't need (Harris)," Orlando said about last week's meet. "This week we have our team set. We know we have to get it done now."
Reach the reporter at: sarah.mclellan@asu.edu.
