Gymcats upset No. 7 Sun Devils at home


By Michael Irish
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday, January 24, 2005

For the second time in as many weeks, the Arizona gymnastics team beat a top-10 team in comeback fashion, knocking off No. 7 ASU Friday night in McKale Center.

Last weekend, the Gymcats trailed then-No. 6 Michigan State heading into the meet's final event and used a 9.9 performance by senior Katie Johnson to beat the Spartans.

It was much of the same on Friday.

Johnson's score of 9.825 on the vault, coupled with a career-best score of 9.775 by sophomore Jamie Holton, pushed the Wildcats to their first regular-season win over ASU since 1998.

"I kind of surprised myself, but I knew I could do it," Holton said. "I'm from Phoenix, and everyone expected me to go to ASU. It was really great to beat them."

Not only did UA escape with a Pacific 10 Conference victory, but it also snagged all four individual titles.

Johnson again took the titles on both the vault (9.825) and the floor exercise (9.825). Fellow senior Jamie Schell took the uneven parallel (9.825) while senior Monica Bisordi claimed the balance beam title (9.875).

For the second straight week, senior Bisordi earned third place in the all-around competition. Her four individual scores added up to a total of 38.550, placing her behind ASU's Lauren Powell (38.800) and Ashley Kelley (39.250).

"That was the biggest thing for me," UA head coach Bill Ryden said of the team's finish. "We have been in this position before and let it slip away."

The Wildcats travel to Seattle Friday to take on No. 18 Washington, No. 23 Minnesota and Seattle-Pacific.

"I'm not concerned with who we face," Ryden said. "I feel we stack up just fine."