March 8, 2013
COMPLETE RESULTS
No. 16 Arizona gymnastics posted a 196.125 to earn its second highest season score in a second place finish to No. 2 Oklahoma, 197.875.
"It's very bittersweet to score our second highest score here," head coach Bill Ryden said. "We are happy about getting one of our highest scores, but we know we could have gotten an even higher score than last week against ASU."
The team opened the evening on bars. Despite an early misfortune, the Cats were able to make five of their six bar sets count towards their team total. After difficulties on bars last week, the Cats started off with a great effort and scored a 49.200.
Aubree Cristello led the Cats with a 9.875. Jordan Williams, Molly Quirk, and Allison Flores contributed three scores of 9.850. Danielle Buchanan and Lexi Mills also contributed scores of 9.775 and 8.775, respectively.
Quirk made her line-up debut after missing the last two meets for the Cats.
"It's good even with the little mishaps," Ryden said of Quirk's return. "She has high scoring potential. She's a leader."
The Wildcats took on the vault for their second rotation of the night.
Shana Sangston began the rotation with a 9.700. The scores remained consistent thereafter with Buchanan, Wobma, and Klarenbach each scoring 9.825, consecutively. Freshman Shelby Edwards continued her success on vault this week with a 9.875. Cristello ended the rotation with a 9.775 contribution.
Leading into the third rotation, the Cats scored a vault total of 49.125.
"We had some difficulties on our first three floor performances," Ryden said. "We didn't start floor like we should have, but the last three did a super job. That really helped us."
On floor, Flores began the set with a 9.750. Sangston and Wobma added a 9.700 and 9.650, respectively. Jessie Sisler had a strong routine with a 9.850. Cristello completed the event with a 9.875. However, the story of the night came with Klarenbach's 9.900 score.
"The mistakes she made in previous meets were landing errors on an incredibly meticulous set," Ryden said. "Tonight she did phenomenal. It was an outstanding floor routine. "
The Wildcats ended the meet in a final beam rotation. Despite beam being their most challenging event of the night, Flores and Mills began the rotation with contributions of a 9.750 and 9.600, respectively. Wobma scored a 9.800 and Edwards had the Cats high score of the night with a 9.825. Cristello ended the night with a twin score of Flores' 9.750. Quirk also attended to the beam and contributed a 9.525.
"Beam was rough this week," Ryden said. "We had some good efforts overall but we missed points with some wobbles, balance checks, and missed connections. We are still getting better. I want us to get to our best. It just wasn't our best beam."
Cristello was Arizona's lone all-around performer and took third place with a 39.275.
Despite having problems on each set, Ryden believes the best is to come from Arizona Gymnastics.
"We've yet to hit our potential but if we do, I feel good," Ryden said. "It's moderately frustrating because we left some tenths on the table. But this will definitely help us in the rankings. To score over 196.000 shows our progress. We will keep moving forward."
The team will end its regular season next weekend, at home in McKale Center, taking on Missouri. The meet will take place on Saturday, March 16 at 4:00 p.m. MST.
