Multiple career-highs led ASU gymnastics to a 196.300-196.250 victory over No. 10 Cal Saturday night in Tempe.
The Sun Devils' (4-3, 1-1 Pac-12) freshmen sparked the team with big performances, helping capture their first top-10 victory since 2014.
ASU started off strong posting a season-high of 49.125 on vault. Freshmen Gracie Reeves, Juliette Boyer and Hannah Scharf led the hot start, with each scoring career-highs of 9.825, 9.850 and 9.875 respectively in the event.
In the second rotation, ASU did not slow down, as they scored a 49.225 on bars, its highest total in any event this season.
Even with the Sun Devils' season-high on bars, Cal freshman Nevaeh DeSouza recorded a career-best 9.900 to win the individual bars title.
A team effort helped ASU hold onto the lead, as five Sun Devils posted scores of 9.825 or better on bars. Reeves once again set a career-high, as she earned a 9.850.
Through three rotations, the Sun Devils still found themselves in the lead despite four Cal gymnasts earning a 9.80 or higher on floor.
Reeves continued to produce to keep ASU ahead, as she scored a third career-high with a 9.825 on beam.
“It’s just really awesome to get your high scores and it feels really good to have your hard work pay off,” Reeves said.
In the final rotation, the Golden Bears (5-4, 1-2) mounted a comeback on beam, but came up just short. ASU graduate student Morgan Wilson secured the win with a 9.800 floor routine, her first time competing in the event since 2016.
ASU head coach Jay Santos was impressed by his team’s performance tonight and hopes that they will be able to build off this success going forward.
“It’s great to see all that preparation work and really come together,” Santos said. “I hope they’re going to take this and run with it, and we can build from here.”
Next up for the Sun Devils is a tri-meet matchup versus Oregon State and LSU in Corvallis, Oregon on February 8 at 12:30 p.m. MST.
Correction: A previous version of this story included an outdated caption using the former name of the Desert Financial Arena. It has been fixed to reflect the current name of the stadium.
Reach the reporter at cfahrend@asu.edu and follow @chris_drop_ on Twitter.
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