The No. 13 Arizona gymnastics team’s three-meet win streak was broken Friday by No. 3 Stanford 196.400-195.375.
Despite the loss, Arizona gymnasts posted several career highs in their first home loss this season.
Arizona (4-2, 2-2 Pacific 10 Conference) and Stanford (8-1, 6-0) were neck and neck after the first two rotations, with the Cardinal ahead slightly.
Then, back-to-back falls by freshman Miranda Russell and junior Karin Wurm resulted in a season-low 48.075 on beam that allowed Stanford to take the lead.
“”Had we hit beam, we could have won the meet,”” said Arizona head coach Bill Ryden. “”But we had two disastrous beam routines. Those weren’t bad; those were disasters.””
Arizona senior Jamie Holton attributed the falls to a new, unfamiliar lineup.
“”We were really hoping to go into beam carrying that momentum that we had from bars,”” she said. “”It was very uncharacteristic for us to have two routines like that back-to-back.””
Despite the falls, Arizona still dominated the beam results. Junior Danielle Hicks, who entered Friday’s meet ranked No. 8 nationally on beam and No. 2 in the Pac-10 behind Stanford’s Nicole Ourada, matched her career-high score of 9.900 to win a second-straight beam title.
Holton came in second (9.875), and freshman Brittney Morgan tied Stanford’s Kelly Fee for third (9.850).
Leading off the bars rotation, sophomore Suzanne Alvey scored a career-high 9.775. Wurm tied her personal best 9.900 on bars for the fourth consecutive week to share first place with Stanford’s Carly Janiga.
On vault, Morgan and Russell earned 9.850s to tie for second behind Ourada, the reigning Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week.
On floor, Holton tied her career-high 9.900 to share the title with Janiga. Russell and Wurm tied for third place with 9.875s, a career high for Russell.
Arizona’s Bree Workman earned a career-high 9.850 on floor.
Morgan finished third in her second career all-around showing with a career-high 39.250. Stanford’s Janiga and Ourada took first and second, respectively.
“”I know that she was really excited when she saw that she was competing all-around,”” Ryden said. “”Good for her, because that’s what she wants. She wants to be an all-arounder badly.””
Said Morgan: “”Nothing was perfect. I had little steps here and there, but overall, I think I did pretty good.””
The team performed especially well considering one of its top all-around performers, senior Aubrey Kelly, is out for six weeks with a broken foot, Ryden said.
“”They’re not going to give up,”” he said. “”We are not just going to go away, regardless of all these injuries.””
