In athletics, perfection isn’t always required. Often, it comes down to the battle within. This holds just as much truth for gymnasts as for athletes in any other discipline.
The Arizona GymCats demonstrated their fighting spirit when they stunned the No. 10-ranked Georgia team, securing second place in the regional semifinals on Friday afternoon in Seattle. This placement ensured their advancement to the regional finals scheduled for Sunday.
"We omitted many things, yet we remained awake," stated the head coach of Arizona. John Court We stuck to our path. We continued working hard...We encountered curves. We never gave up.
No. 7 Missouri secured the session with a score of 197.650. No. 21 Arizona claimed the last qualifying position with a total of 196.250. No. 10 Georgia received a score of 196.175. No. 26 Arizona State ended up in fourth place with a tally of 196.050.
Besides causing disappointment for Georgia and advancing to the regional finals, Arizona added another win to their in-state rivalry. The GymCats triumphed over the Sun Devils for the third time this year.
ASU has owned us for many years," Court stated. "I'm definitely going to savor every bit of it.
After finishing at the bottom following the initial round, Arizona had to stage a comeback because of a disappointing showing on the uneven bars. Despite not achieving their desired outcome, this moment served as the first display of the team’s determination to secure victory.
Senior Emily Mueller began with a strong start of 9.850 but soon took a downturn. Aubrey Krohnfeldt she fell during her Maloney, which is a move from the lower bar to the higher one where she lets go of the apparatus.
Krohnfeldt’s 9.250 posed a challenge, yet the other three squads were not particularly excelling after the initial two performers. Provided that the GymCats could secure solid scores from their last four participants, they should be okay.
It didn't occur. The situation appeared quite dire during the sophomore year. Sophie Derr Following Krohnfeldt, Derr committed a significant mistake herself. Although Derr failed to smoothly move to the high bar, she managed not to fall off entirely. Instead, she adapted spontaneously, maintained the flow of her routine, and ultimately completed the transition. Despite receiving a relatively modest score of 9.625, Derr’s determination to remain on the bar rendered her performance serviceable.
After leaving the bar, I approached her," Court stated. "I told her that I understood it might not have been what she desired, but I pointed out that she neither backed down nor gave up. I emphasized that this would make all the difference, and indeed it did.
Abigayle Martin, Alysen Fears, and Elena Deets completed their routines with solid scores to conclude the rotation, however, Arizona failed to seize the chance to begin impressively.
Surely, it wasn't how we hoped to begin with the bars," Court stated. "We executed some extremely high-quality routines. The team didn't give up, and we managed to recover the scores. From then on, our aim was to progressively improve.
Prior to leaving for Seattle, Court mentioned that beginning with their two most robust routines could set them apart from competitors. He anticipated that by the final event—vault—he would hope the judges might become more lenient with scoring. Although this isn't always ideal or justifiable, it can occur where judges tend to score more strictly initially during meets. This wasn’t leveraged effectively when competing on the uneven bars.
The team had another chance to showcase their top performance during the second rotation. The balance beam has consistently been a strong event for Arizona recently. This season proved no different. The GymCats entered the competition ranked 20th, which was their highest rank across all four events.
The prospects were even brighter as the beam judges seemed inclined to award substantial points right from the beginning. ASU commenced with the event and scored a 49.225. The Devils recorded just one score under 9.800, which resulted from a misstep. Their top mark stood out significantly. Emily White ’s 9.900.
The 9.825 posted initially by Fears set high expectations for impressive scores during the competition, yet the team from Arizona began to struggle as the routine progressed.
Mueller made a few mistakes and received a score of 9.725. Although this was an adequate mark, it wasn’t enough for Arizona to secure a favorable standing. The situation deteriorated further when Deets, who is in her final year and can achieve up to a 9.925, faltered with a performance scoring only 9.200. This drop significantly impacted their chances.
Martin demonstrated her prowess and resilience by delivering an impressive routine immediately after Deets' fall, earning a score of 9.900. This performance marked Arizona’s first score over 49.
In the meantime, ASU struggled with their floor exercises and managed a score of 48.950. Despite this, they maintained a lead of 0.175 points ahead of Arizona. However, the GymCats were more favorably positioned to turn things around and secure a victory in their rivalry, regardless of whether they made it to the top 16 teams.
The third rotation became particularly exciting. Despite being Arizona’s weakest event, the GymCats have actually scored higher on floor exercises compared to their performances on vault this season. Relying on a series of vaults starting at 9.95 wasn’t enough for them to stand out.
They had to act quickly on the court—if even that would prove to be a difficult challenge. Missouri seemed unattainable, but securing the second position was possible if they could manage sufficiently well. This still meant overcoming two more teams before advancing to the regional finals.
Georgia was among those teams. It was heading to the beam event, where it held the seventh rank nationally.
The Bulldogs failed to meet expectations. Despite achieving two perfect scores of 9.900, the lower scores such as 9.100, 9.300, 9.500, and 9.750 played more significant roles. Their highest total for an event stood at 48.350, which turned out to be the least among all teams across every event.
ASU did not perform significantly better on vault. Although they managed to achieve a score of 9.525, none of their scores reached above 9.800. Consequently, this led to yet another rotational score below 48.
At the same time, Arizona found itself at the bottom of their rankings during the least impressive performance. Despite having recorded several top scores earlier in the season, the GymCats were placed 30th in the floor exercise competition. It’s worth noting that the floor exercise typically yields many high points; therefore, this ranking might not fully reflect their capabilities.
The GymCats demonstrated their capability. They managed to achieve a score of 9.775 which stood as their lowest. Their next best performances included two scores of 9.825 each. However, their highest mark came from a gymnast who scored a 9.900. Emma Strom .
Arizona remained in an uncertain position. They held a .500 advantage over Georgia and a .350 edge over ASU. The team was about to execute a series of vaults starting at 9.95. One factor keeping them at the No. 26 rank for vault is the absence of routines beginning with a 10.0 difficulty score.
The Bulldogs will compete on the floor, where they hold the No. 14 ranking. Meanwhile, the Sun Devils will perform on the bars, with their No. 21 ranking in that event.
The vault competition concluded faster than the other events, allowing Arizona to finish ahead of the other teams. The GymCats ended their performance with a score of 48.975 and then had to wait for the results.
ASU and Georgia both had only one gymnast left. Since ASU couldn't match the GymCats' performance, Arizona wouldn't end up in fourth place. However, could the GymCats hold onto their second-place standing?
Following freshman Jessa Janicke’s score of 9.825 that concluded Arizona’s performance on the vault, Georgia found themselves in a highly challenging spot. Lily Smith had to get a perfect 10.0 merely to match the GymCats. If so, they would have to resort to the tiebreaker, involving the aggregation of all 24 scores.
Smith executed an elegant performance. However, it lacked perfection. The judges awarded a score of 9.925. Consequently, a tiebreaker was not required.
It wasn't just wishful thinking," Court stated. "They believed we had the potential to progress. Not in the manner we anticipated, but during the latter part of the competition, our performance reached championship caliber.
For the first time under the new postseason structure, Arizona progresses to the regional final. They are guaranteed at least a fourth-place finish within their region. The previous occasion they secured such a favorable position in a regional competition occurred back in 2016 when the older system was still in use.
The regional final is scheduled for 5 p.m. MST on Sunday, April 6th. The event will be streamed online. ESPN+ .
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