Arizona Gymnastics show steady improvement in loss to Stanford

The Arizona Gymnastics team performed consistently in McKale Saturday night making no major mistakes but still came up short.

The Wildcats came up short again, this time against another hot Bay Area school, the No. 13 Stanford Cardinal, losing 196.150-196.00. The loss was by .15; one can argue it was almost a tie.

Elizabeth Price, an all-around gymnast for Stanford, may be the best in the Pac-12, and some consider her the best in the country.  Arizona seems to be competing against other Pac-12 teams when they are hot and with extra special talent.   No doubt the Pac-12 schools are psyched to compete against the Arizona GymCats; Coach Tabitha Yim must be taking the program in the right direction.

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What to do?  Build on the meet before, and that is working.  Earlier in the week against California, the Wildcats had some unusual falls and mistakes but finished with a strong beam performance.  Saturday Arizona cleaned up the falls and stayed inbounds on the floor exercises.  They also carried the momentum from Monday’s beam performance into the Stanford meet.

The story within the story is Coach Yim is a 14-time All-American gymnast, graduating from Stanford in 2008.  She also was an assistant coach at Stanford until she was hired at Arizona before the season started, so she knows the Stanford gymnasts well.  The last time Arizona beat Stanford was March 26, 2005, Coach Yim’s freshman year.

The Wildcats’ goal was to accumulate at least 49 points during the vault rotation, the first rotation of the night.  They did, scoring 49.05.  Several fans in McKale held up “Perfect 10” signs when senior Shelby Edwards completed her vault.

The Wildcats moved on to the uneven bars and scored 48.95 as a team.  During the third rotation, the balance beam, the gymnasts were poised and competitive.  The most enthusiastic gymnast of the night, Shelby Edwards, led off with a 9.85.  She was clearly on fire and having a blast throughout the competition.  Krysten Howard also scored a 9.85 with a unique dismount that can’t be described.  It might have been a super hero dismount of some sort since she loves superheroes and it was superhero night at McKale.  Arizona handled the pressure of the beam well and scored 49.125 combined.

The floor exercises started great, with Maddy Cindric hitting her passes, after falling on her first pass last week against California.  All was looking good, in fact, Jessie Sisler scored a 9.90!  Sophomore Kennady Schneider made her only appearance to wrap up the evening.  She waited a couple of extra seconds to begin her routine because the music didn’t start.  Schneider started with no music, and she did great; she did not need the music.  However, the judges docked her .10 for her delay.  Coach Yim argued with the judges, but to no avail.  It was a dissapointing ending for both Schneider’s individual performance and the entire Arizona Gymnastics team as a whole.

Schneider started with no music, and she did great; she did not need the music.  However, the judges docked her .10 for her delay.  Coach Yim argued with the judges, but to no avail.  It was a dissapointing ending for both Schneider’s individual performance and the entire Arizona Gymnastics team as a whole.

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Next Monday the GymCats will travel to The School Up North to take it to the Sun Devils.  The meet will air live on Pac-12 Networks on Monday, February 22 at 7 p.m.  However, there is a huge Wildcat fan base in Phoenix.  Let’s fill Wells Fargo, wear Wildcats Red and Blue, be loud, and watch the #ArizonaStick.