The GymCats went 5-0 at home, 5-1 in the Big 12, and 14-3 overall in the regular season
Senior night put a cap on a historic regular season for the No. 21 Arizona GymCats. The team defeated No. 31 Utah State 196.400 to 195.875 to finish the regular season 14-3 overall and 5-1 in the Big 12. Both were dramatic turnarounds from last year.
The GymCats went 9-9 in the regular season and 2-5 in their final Pac-12 season last year. They had not earned double-digit victories in the regular season since 2015 when they went into the Pac-12 championships at 10-4.
That year was also the last time they had more than two wins in their conference. They finished the Pac-12 regular season at 3-3 in 2015. They won a total of 10 conference matchups over the ensuing nine seasons.
The three true seniors and one fifth-year senior on the roster had a big say in this year’s accomplishments. They performed half the team’s 24 routines most weeks, including in the final home meet of their careers.
“A lot of routines, a lot of personality,” said Arizona head coach John Court. “Can’t say enough great things about them in their time here in our program. They loved Arizona. Arizona loved back on them.”
Senior specialist Elizabeth LaRusso got the meet started as the leadoff on vault. Senior all-arounder Emily Mueller wrapped it up as the anchor on floor. In between, the pair joined senior all-arounder Alysen Fears and fifth-year specialist Elena Deets in navigating the ebbs and flows of a meet they led for the final three rotations.
“It felt really special,” Fears said. “I really was just trying to soak in every moment of it, and I feel like I did do that, so I’m really happy about that. And it’s a night that I’m gonna remember forever. And I’m super grateful that it went well for my team and myself. So I couldn’t have asked for a better way out.”
Arizona’s started on its weakest event. The GymCats are ranked No. 29 in the country on vault. Their opponent started on uneven bars, where they are ranked No. 27. That’s the highest of the four events for the Aggies.
UA earned scores of 9.800 or better on four of its six vaults. LaRusso’s 9.725 was dropped. USU had a narrow 48.050 to 48.025 lead after the opening event.
“Liz could score higher if she went later in the lineup,” Court said. “We all know that, but she’s so steady going first. Someone has to go first.”
Things started to get interesting for Arizona on bars, which is usually their second-best event. Mueller had a rough start with an 8.950 after falling on her Tkatchev. They looked to be on the way up when freshman Aubrey Krohnfeldt got a 9.750. The scores kept climbing with the next three at 9.800 or better, but Fears had a relatively low score for the anchor position with another 9.750. The ‘Cats ended with the first of two sub-49 scores from unexpected places.
Arizona was helped by the Aggies’ performance on vault, where they came in ranked 35th in the nation. To make things worse for USU, they had injuries during the warmup that affected their vault and floor rotations.
The Aggies had to count a 9.625 and a 9.650. Their only score over 9.750 was the 9.825 earned by Kaylie Medrano. The 48.600 vault score for USU allowed Arizona to take the overall lead by 98.000 to 97.650 after two rotations.
It should have been easy for Arizona to pull away in the third rotation. The GymCats were headed to balance beam where they rank 19th in the country. On a typical night, it’s their best event. This wasn’t a typical night.
It started great when Fears earned a 9.850 to lead off. Gianna Lenczner followed with a 9.725, which looked like it might be the drop score. It didn’t turn out that way.
The GymCats didn’t have any falls on beam but they did get some surprisingly low scores for Mueller and Tirzah Wise. Both gymnasts were dinged by the judges for their start values.
Wise performed her routine without a fall. After a long delay, a score of 9.100 flashed on the board. Both judges had given her a start value of 9.500, half a tenth below what all gymnasts intend when they step onto the beam. In her case, it was understandable. She altered her routine in her triple series, doing three back handsprings instead of two followed by a layout stepout. It cost her dearly in bonus for repeating an element three times.
It didn’t stop there. Mueller was next up. This one didn’t have any obvious reasons to ding the start value. She had some balance checks, but it wasn’t clear why the start value would be affected. A score of 9.700 appeared on the board.
This time even the judges didn’t agree on the start value. One gave her a start value of 10.000 but the other had just a 9.700 possible for a perfect routine.
“Anything was questionable, but I don’t feel like arguing,” Court said about the deductions to Arizona’s start values.
Judge 1 gave Mueller the full start value and awarded her a score of 9.800, meaning she took two-tenths in deduction. Judge 2 knocked three-tenths off the start value and gave her a score of 9.600, taking just a one-tenth deduction despite a few balance checks.
The start values led to a 48.975 on beam for Arizona. USU cut into the overall lead by earning a 49.050 on floor exercise, but the GymCats were still up 146.975 to 146.700 going into the final rotation.
What a rotation it was.
Arizona took to their third-best event and put up a season high 49.425. The number tied the 10th best in team history, a number they had scored seven times coming into the night. The last time was on Mar. 4, 2022 against Oregon State.
It started with LaRusso scoring a 9.900 to tie her career high. Fellow senior Fears followed with a 9.850. Next was Krohnfeldt’s 9.800, and then Abigayle Martin scored a second 9.900 for the team. Emma Strom had a 9.875 in the penultimate routine, and Mueller ended the competition with a third 9.900 in the rotation. Even Sophie Derr’s exhibition routine scored a 9.800.
It wasn’t without some drama, though. The judges again conferenced for a long time after Strom’s performance. It was a bit of a surprise when her score finally flashed on the board given how such conferences had affected the GymCats in the previous rotation.
The four seniors have at least two more meets in their careers, although LaRusso technically has another year of eligibility after sitting out last season with an injury. The other three don’t have the option of another year in college, but they have big plans. Deets will start work on her master’s degree in nursing at Arizona in May. Mueller will move to the Phoenix area where she has a sales job lined up. Fears will likely take a gap year or semester, and then she might head off to grad school.
Arizona finished with the second-best record in Big 12 competition at 5-1. They trail only No. 5 Utah, which finished 6-0 in the league.
The GymCats should be in the evening session of the conference championship, which includes the top four teams. NQS affects who performs in that session. Arizona finished third in the Big 12 in NQS behind Utah and No. 18 Denver. The GymCats beat the Pioneers head-to-head, but DU made a big jump in NQS after that.
The coaches will have a virtual meeting on Monday morning to go over seeding and the other details of the championship meet. The meet will be held on Saturday, Mar. 22 at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah.
Despite the accomplishments the GymCats have already notched this season, the team is looking for “as much as we can get” in the final few meets, according to LaRusso.
To do that, they need to finally put it together and perform consistently across all events.
“We haven’t really had it all come together at one point, so I think the peak is moving for us, which is a really exciting place to be going into postseason,” Mueller said. “So I think we’re ready to just let it all hang out, enjoy it, and just keep it going.”
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics