It’s going to be a season of change for the Sun Devils, as they’re set for their debut season as a member of the Big 12 Conference and must find a new face of the program after the graduation of Hannah Scharf. Doing so may be challenging, as depth wasn’t plentiful a season ago, leaving much of the responsibility of filling lineups to NCAA newcomers.
2024 Rewind
No. 16 overall | No. 6 at Pac-12s | No. 22 in regular season | Regional finals
After finishing the regular season outside the top 20, a regionals semifinal upset over former Pac-12 foe UCLA was a great way to end 2024, earning the program back-to-back regional final appearances. Since that top 16 status only came via upset, the challenge only gets tougher for Arizona State when it comes to replacing routines, and debuting in the Big 12 with a statement won’t be easy, either, with longtime conference foe Utah the heavy favorite in that race.
Losses & Gains
| Returning | In |
| Fifth-Years Sarah Clark Jada Mangahas Emily White Seniors Alex Theodorou Juniors McClaine Daigle Isabella Kowan Kayla Lee Caroline Lichtman Kimberly Smith Sophomores Halle Gregoire Lilia Purler Chloe Seaga Chavala Shepard | Freshmen Halle Braaflat Nina Laurito Tiara Platkin Jenna Timmons Transfers Jenna Blair (Northern Illinois) |
| Out | |
| Graduated Skye Harper Gracie Reeves (VT, UB, BB) Cienna Samiley (UB) Hannah Scharf (AA) Transferred Cassi Barbanente (UB) Anaya Smith (VT) | |
| Injury Update | |
| Standout freshman Jenna Timmons underwent knee surgery in early 2024, so her ability to contribute to lineups is currently unknown. | |
Fresh Faces
With the status of the Sun Devils’ top recruit, former four-star Jenna Timmons, questionable, a pair of former three-stars in Nina Laurito and Tiara Platkin will lead the way—particularly on bars, where their college-readiness will be extremely valuable. Former Georgia recruit Halle Braaflat is a wildcard but has the power on the leg events to eye some legit lineup time.
Apparatus Deep Dive
Vault
2024 Event Ranking: No. 16 | NQS: 49.275 | Average: 49.160
| Event Overview: There’s a bit of cause for concern for the Sun Devils on vault, as they lost the better-scoring half of their 2024 lineup and didn’t add any standout vaulters to the roster in the offseason. The consistency that carried Arizona State to success on vault last season will be relied upon by its returnees more than ever. | ||
| Locks: Halle Gregoire, Jada Mangahas, Alex Theodorou The only 10.0 start values options for the lineup come from Halle Gregoire and Alex Theodorou, so they’re surefire bets for the top six along with Jada Mangahas’ sturdy Yurchenko full. Landings will be paramount for this trio every single meet. | ||
| Contenders: Halle Braaflat, Lilia Purler, Jenna Timmons, Emily White If Timmons is healthy, the Yurchenko one and a half she once competed would be incredibly valuable here for difficulty, but any vault from the former elite is beneficial in terms of depth. Lilia Purler and Emily White saw lineup time in 2024 to give the Sun Devils five vaulters with collegiate experience while Braaflat’s full may become necessary with depth the nagging concern. | ||
| Wildcards: Jenna Blair, Nina Laurito While she did not compete on vault last season, Jenna Blair did vault three times for the Huskies in 2023. |
Bars
2024 Event Ranking: No. 24 | NQS: 49.225 | Average: 49.196
| Event Overview: Like vault, bars is an event where Arizona State must cope with losing a lot of routines. The outlook here is better, though, as the top three gymnasts by NQS are back and the rookies are much more capable of contributing on bars immediately. | ||
| Locks: Sarah Clark, Jada Mangahas, Emily White The mainstays of the lineup for years aren’t going anywhere, especially with the rest of the lineup to replace. Look for Sarah Clark to have a bounce-back year on bars after a few off routines in 2024 soured her usually stellar average. | ||
| Contenders: Nina Laurito, Tiana Platkin, Kimberly Smith, Jenna Timmons Thankfully, both Laurito and Platkin excelled on bars pre-college, and they’re both likely to see the lineup early and often. A floaty Pak highlights Platkins’ set while Laurito brings variety with an intricate Ricna to overshoot combo. Kimberly Smith hasn’t competed on bars yet collegiately, but she has been swinging in preseason videos. | ||
| Wildcards: Halle Braaflat, Alex Theodorou The Sun Devils can use all the depth they can get, and while Braaflat has some built-in deductions, she’s an option, just like Theodorou, who hasn’t competed on bars regularly since her freshman season. |
Beam
2024 Event Ranking: No. 19 | NQS: 49.305 | Average: 49.152
| Event Overview: It’s tricky to pick the Sun Devils’ best event in 2024 with how consistent they were across the board, but beam was a slight notch better than the rest. It’s where they scored their best event total of the year, breaking 49.500, and likely the place where they’ll shine in 2025. | ||
| Locks: Sarah Clark, Kayla Lee, Emily White Once again, Arizona State returns its three best routines by NQS to give itself a core to build around. White should still serve as the anchor, but look for Lee to slide to a spot later in the lineup and relinquish the leadoff role she had been thriving in. | ||
| Contenders: Nina Laurito, Jada Mangahas, Kimberly Smith, Jenna Timmons Bolstering the top three are Mangahas and Smith, who should get the lineup nods early as they bring crucial experience to the most infamously nervy event. Expect Laurito to factor in early with plenty of lineup holes and a strong set to work with while a healthy Timmons could put pressure on the top six for a spot as well. | ||
| Wildcards: Halle Braaflat, Isabella Kowan, Tiana Platkin, Alex Theodorou This is another event where lack of depth may force Theodorou onto an event she hasn’t competed in years after serving as a vault specialist in 2024. There could also be a possible NCAA debut here from Isabella Kowan, who has been featured on beam in the Sun Devils’ preseason training videos. |
Floor
2024 Event Ranking: No. 37 | NQS: 49.295 | Average: 49.152
| Event Overview: The one event where depth isn’t a huge concern, the Sun Devils bring back more than a lineup’s worth of gymnasts who have competed floor in a meet. That doesn’t include transfer Blair, who isn’t the only newcomer capable of breaking through. Arizona State didn’t notch any jaw-dropping event totals on floor in 2024, but it was ever-consistent. | ||
| Locks: Halle Gregoire, Kayla Lee, Jada Mangahas, Kimberly Smith, Emily White The five stalwarts of the 2024 lineup are locked in for 2025, as they bring the E passes and consistency a successful top six needs. The key for this group will be minimizing the little mistakes to turn their constant 9.8s into frequent 9.9s to be more competitive with the top 15. | ||
| Contenders: Halle Braaflat, Sarah Clark, Lilia Purler An opening full-in could be the difference maker for freshman Braaflat to grab the final lineup spot over Clark or Purler, who bring experience to the table. Clark was a fixture in the floor lineups for Arizona State in 2022 and 2023 but appeared just once a season ago. | ||
| Wildcards: Jenna Blair, Alex Theodorou, Jenna Timmons Floor was where Blair competed most for Northern Illinois and where she was brought to Tempe to contribute to depth. Theodorou has also competed on floor sparingly in her career. |
Records Watch
Team: 198.450 | AA: 39.875 | VT: 49.650/10.000 | UB: 49.600/10.000 | BB: 49.875/10.000 | FX: 49.825/10.000
The Sun Devil on 10-watch is Sarah Clark, who has been as high as 9.975 on her pet event, bars, in her career. That mark came in 2023, so expect the super senior to strive to see at least one more judge flash her a 10 before she concludes her career.
The Big Picture
The expectation for Arizona State in the 2020s has been to be a top 20 team, and it has accomplished the goal more often that not. Continuing that success will be as challenging as ever at the halfway point of the decade, as the program ushers out a key group of gymnasts and has yet to find the new face of the Sun Devils. Last season they got by thanks to consistency (their RTN consistency chart is a work of art), but with double-digit new routines to integrate into lineups, the odds of thriving on hits becomes less likely.
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Article by Brandis Heffner
