The University of Arizona has sponsored gymnastics for 50 years as of this season. On Saturday afternoon, the program honored its alumnae from five decades as it defeated West Virginia 196.625 to 194.650 at McKale Center.
The team was led by all-around performances by Abigayle Martin and Sophie Derr. There were a number of strong performances from event specialists, especially on floor exercise. All five scores that Arizona counted were 9.825 or better and the final rotation ended with a pair of 9.900s
by Derr and Emma Strom.
The floor exercise score was a career high for Derr, who also earned a 39.275 in her first collegiate all-around competition. The effort earned her the Gymnast of the Meet nod by the Arizona coaching staff.
A parade of former GymCats came out after the first rotation to be honored as a group. After the second rotation, the program read off the names of its 20 Ring of Honor inductees, then listed those in Arizona Sports Hall of Fame on the video board. Next came the names of Arizona’s two NCAA individual champions and honoring the Super Six team of 1996. Over 100 alumnae attended the weekend’s events.
“The response was incredible,” Arizona head coach John Court said. “There are people showing up that didn’t sign up, so we made some adjustments, but that’s what Arizona gymnastics is about. You know, it’s about family, and they’re sisters.”
The intermission was punctuated by honoring the late Heidi Hornbeek, whose jersey hangs in the rafters of McKale as a result of winning the AAI American Award as the nation’s top senior gymnast her final season. Arizona’s most decorated gymnast became a surgeon after her competitive career was over but passed away at the age of 36 in 2013.
On the meet floor, the current GymCats were making a statement. They scored over 49 on three events and got close on vault with a 48.950. It was a big improvement over last week when Arizona continued the road struggles it has had this season. The team scored a 195.350 in a loss at Denver last week.
“We weren’t sharp last week,” Court said. “We didn’t stick anything. This time of year, you really have to execute from A to Z, salute to salute, and last week, we didn’t do that. We did on floor, I thought, last week, but that was really about it. And even though there were some good individual performances, none of us were happy with the team performance last week, and it’s been a hard week of practice. We’ve been here for four days, which is good. Normally it’s two days, and then we take off. So we were able to make a few adjustments, and went 24 for 24.”
It took a little while for the GymCats to start sticking things on Saturday, too. They had a number of vaults that looked nice in the air but there were slight hops back on the landings. With a rotation of 9.950 start values, it’s just not the way to do business.
Jessa Janicke put a stop to that with a stuck vault that earned her a 9.875. It was a huge score for a vault that can only score 9.950 if performed perfectly. One judge gave her a 9.900 while the other awarded a 9.850.
Things got even stronger on the second rotation when Arizona moved to bars. All five scores that ended up counting were 9.800 or better. They were led by Martin’s 9.900. Arizona was able to drop a 9.775 and ended with a 49.225 on the event. The GymCats were up 98.175 to 97.550 halfway through the meet.
Gianna Lenczner led off on beam with a career high 9.900, making it look like this could be a huge night on beam.
Things were a bit more bumpy for some of her teammates. Strom had a major balance check. She almost fell off the beam but was able to regain her balance without touching the apparatus. That kept her from taking a full 0.500 deduction. It was still a pretty hefty ding on her score, which came in as a 9.450.
Derr was up right after Strom, and she ran into a balance issue, as well. Her foot came off the apparatus and she had to make a noticeable bend to recover. Still, it was a 9.750 when all was said and done.
The final two competitors came in with scores of 9.825 or better. That was enough for a 49.125 on beam and a 147.300 to 145.900 lead in the meet with only one rotation to go.
What a rotation it was. The low score was a 9.725 and no one else scored below 9.825. The two scores of 9.900 from Strom and Derr ended the meet on a huge note.
“[Strom is] No. 1 in the Big 12 for a reason on floor,” Court said. “Another 9.9. I mean, seven meets, five scores of 9.9. This routine was good. Did a good job. Closed it out. Anchored the lineup. We all had each other’s backs.”
Arizona was scheduled to go to Iowa State next week for a Big 12 meet. The Cyclones abruptly cancelled their season last week, one week after cancelling a meet against West Virginia. While the ISU athletic department initially claimed that there were not enough athletes to compete safely, it later released a statement stating that ongoing conflict in the program had led to the cancellation.
There is ongoing speculation that ISU is set to end the program completely and that it’s linked to finances and revenue sharing for other sports as much as anything within gymnastics. ISU has not completely dismissed the idea that the program may not continue. The head coach’s contract ends after this season.
The impact stretches far beyond Ames, Iowa, though. The NCAA made changes to the NQS this year that puts far more emphasis on away meets. The changes were made after schedules were put together, so coaches were simply in a holding pattern until next year.
Arizona got a very low score in its first away meet. That score was going to hang around as part of the NQS until at least the Big 12 Championships, but Court hoped it would go away after that. The cancellation of the away meet at ISU meant that score would never drop from Arizona’s NQS and could endanger its postseason hopes.
There’s hope, though.
“We got a waiver from the NCAA,” Court said. “We’re going to go to New Orleans next week, and we’re competing in a podium meet at a neutral site outside of Baton Rouge, and it’s going to be Arizona, LSU, North Carolina and Alabama.”
The GymCats have two days of practice, then it’s off to an impressive meet where they get to perform on a podium. Podiums are used at select meets, including the Big 12 Championships, so the practice is advantageous for Arizona beyond simply getting another road score.
They must take advantage of that opportunity, though. The GymCats have not been stellar on the road all season. Their best road score so far is 195.825 at the Metroplex Challenge, another podium meet.
