Arizona gymnastics falls to Washington in Seattle

Arizona competed against Washington in Seattle this weekend, but fell to the Huskies, who posted a score of 196.025, their season high. Arizona came up short with a score of 195.200.

Arizona started off the night on bars and Washington on vault. Two of the Huskies’ vaulters, Lauren Rogers and Aliza Vaccher placed first and second, respectively.

Amber Wobma from Arizona finished third overall in vault posting 9.750, leading her team.

Two Wildcat gymnasts who usually excel on vault, Kristin Klarenbach and Aubree Cristello both took significant steps out of their dismounts, putting them in the 9.6 and below score range.

“In my 23 years here it’s usually the other way around, you are hoping the vaulters can get more air to get to their feet, and we’re trying to calm them down,” Arizona head coach Bill Ryden said. “It’s not like they can’t vault, they over-vault.”

On bars, the two teams excelled, but Washington pulled out its strengths to score 49.175. Arizona wasn’t far behind, performing only a tenth off of Washington’s score. There was a four-way tie for second between three Washington gymnasts and Cristello.

Jordan Williams jammed her knee on her dismount off high bar but still managed a 9.8.

The Wildcats posted 48.775, their highest score in beam this season, but Washington swept the top three.

Although Washington took the top spots in beam, Arizona pulled out competitive routines all around. Molly Quirk and Cristello each put up a 9.8. Allison Flores and Shelby Edwards matched each other with 9.750.

For the last rotation of the night, Washington was on floor and Arizona on beam. The floor was another close match up; Arizona scored 48.950 to Washington’s 49.075. Vaccher placed first with 9.9 followed by Cristello posting 9.85.

“When we had our team meeting after this meet, they were upset, not like crying upset, they were angry,” Ryden said. “They really are competitors and they knew that something just happened that really never should have happened.”

Arizona will travel to Chicago, Ill. to take on Pittsburgh, Texas Woman’s and Illinois State on Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. CT.