Feb. 22, 2013
COMPLETE RESULTS
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Despite counting a fall, the No. 15 Arizona women's gymnastics team came away with a second place finish in Oregon. Oregon State won the meet with a total 196.825, the Wildcats earned a 194.900 and Seattle Pacific rounded out the competition with a 191.400.
The team began the meet on bars, where junior Jordan Williams and freshman Lexi Mills were the highlights of the event. Williams earned third place on the event with a score of 9.850, and Mills totaled a new career high 9.825.
“Both Jordan and Lexi did a great job. Lexi has been working really hard, and she is conscientiously trying to get better. That effort is paying off and we really need that, and we appreciated it tonight,” Head coach Bill Ryden said. “As far as Jordan is concerned, it was just a matter of time. She has beautiful lines and stuck her landing tonight – it was a beautiful routine.”
Other contributions on the event came from sophomores Aubree Cristello. The three earned scores of 9.725, 9.625 and 9.775 respectively.
The second event was a difficult one for Arizona: the team counted a fall for a 48.000. Freshmen Jessie Sisler and Mills had twin scores of 9.700 and freshman Shelby Edwards tied with Cristello with scores of 9.750.
The team did not give up, however, and fought for a 49.025 on floor. Junior Shana Sangston began the lineup with a 9.750 to tie with Williams, Sisler earned a 9.800, Cristello posted a 9.850 and sophomore Kristin Klarenbach took third place with a 9.875.
“Overall floor was very good, but it wasn't our best. We gave away a few tenths we would like to have back, but I'm proud of the team for shrugging off such as disastrous beam performance and not just folding. They weren't perfect by any means, but they showed resiliency and fought back.” Ryden said.
The team's highest score of the night came in the final event, led by Cristello who tied for second with a vault score of 9.900. Klarenbach and Buchanan also had stellar vault rotations, tying their career high scores of 9.850 and 9.800 respectively. Another highlight of the event was the emergence of Edwards into the lineup, as she scored a 9.750 in her first vault of her collegiate career. Sangston rounded out the contributions with a score of 9.775.
“We tried some new things and some new people on vault this week, and all things considered we had a good vault rotation. I felt good about this rotation; you watched it and said to yourself, 'this is a vault team.' Was it our best work? No, but the team didn't give in and they showed heart, that's for sure.” Ryden concluded.
Cristello was the lone Wildcats to compete in the all-around, taking third place with a score of 39.275.
From here the Cats return to McKale to take on in-state rival and conference opponent Arizona State next Saturday, March 2 at 3:00 p.m. MST.
