The Sun Devils recently concluded their regular season with a 10-10 record. Nevertheless, navigating adversity amid the loss of key lineup components, the introduction of new gymnasts and unexpected injuries, the team finds itself in the NCAA Washington Regional.
To get there, the team had to rely on their strengths and analyze their weaknesses to reach their goals and improve during the season.
"Our biggest thing that we focus on is staying united," graduate all-around Jada Mangahas said. "From the beginning of the year, we really focus on goals that we felt that we all agreed on and goals that really intertwined us as a team."
One of those goals was to gain trust as individuals and as a team. They focused heavily on this during practices to build a stronger mentality and to define what it is they needed to improve on – not individually, but what they can improve on altogether.
This is a facet the Gym Devils feel confident in because of the close relationships they've made with one another.
"This team has been doing a great job of staying within ourselves," graduate all-around Emily White said. "Still working hard throughout everything, even though sometimes it seemed during preseason there was no end in sight."
In their work, White also said when they gather together to reflect, they often "go back to the basics" and build from there by taking a look at how they performed during each event after meet days.
"It's focusing on the process of a routine rather than the outcome of the score," Mangahas said.
This is something the coaches and gymnasts remind themselves of when looking at what needs to be adjusted before each meet.They would rather focus on trusting and finding confidence in their gymnastics to improve on the tiny details naturally as they go.
"Judgment fluctuates a lot of times," Mangahas said. "If we start hitting those handstands, if we stick our dismounts, and step smaller on vault, the score is going to come."
The Sun Devils have different perspectives of each event and what they put their attention toward when performing in all four.
Vault and floor combine to be two of their stronger events. They will head into Regionals with a combined score of 49.000 or higher in their recent meets.
The team views these events as ones they can sell more on performance rather than technique. While that remains important, transferring the crowd's adrenaline into their artistic performance and not worrying about falling off equipment helps them to be fully in the moment.
The presentation of their gymnastics is one of their strong suits. White said it's the sharp finishes, eye contact, confidence and the impression they give off when celebrating their routines that benefit them scoring-wise. From time to time, judges tend to remember how they sold a performance rather than the few mistakes they made.
Mangahas and White are two of the University's strongest gymnasts in these events. On vault, Mangahas has two event titles and two 9.900 scores in the season, earning her a spot on the All-Big 12 Team for vault. White earned her spot on the All-Big 12 team on floor with four event titles and six 9.900 scores or higher on floor.
Due to the emphasis on artistic performance, the physical strength the events take sometimes goes unnoticed. To maintain themselves physically, the team alternates between events when practicing to avoid wearing out their legs.
Alternating not only helps them physically but also gets them in a competitive mindset during practice to carry into meet days.
"In practice, we really just put ourselves in that competition mindset," junior all-around Kimberly Smith said. "That way, it translates really well when we do compete."
READ MORE: Gym Devil Kimberly Smith's battle through adversity results in new all-around talent
As opposed to vault and floor, bars and beam are the more "nerve-wracking" events. Unlike the other events, these require them to focus more on spotting landings and having space awareness. These Sun Devils must control what they put their attention toward and stay relaxed due to the technical challenges each event possesses.
Regardless, there are still some advantages they have, more particularly on bars, that can help them succeed.
"We all look confident when we go up there, and we can throw these big releases and know how to catch them," Smith said. "We don't have to try to control them and make them small. We're able to do big gymnastics."
A few gymnasts with an edge in these tough events are White, who has four event titles on beam; graduate all-around Sarah Clark, with three event titles on bars, two on beam and four 9.900 scores or better, resulting in being named to the All-Big 12 Team on bars; and Smith, who showed consistency on bars scoring 9.800 or higher in all but one meet.
The Gym Devils now have a chance to extend their season as they head to Seattle, Washington for the NCAA Regionals on April 4. The University will perform against an intimidating set of teams, but the Sun Devils are ready for the challenge.
"It's not about worrying about winning, doing better than the other team, or overpowering their crowd," Mangahas said. "It's focusing on what we want to achieve at a competition and thinking of the mentality of us versus us at a competition rather than us versus them because that's where we get the pressure."
Edited by Henry Smardo, Alysa Horton and Katrina Michalak.
Reach the reporter at linunez@asu.edu and follow @laurentahuka on X.
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Lauren is a junior studying sports journalism with a minor in digital audiences. This is her third semester with The State Press. She has also worked at Blaze Radio Sports, WCSN and Sun Devil Athletics.
