-By Head Coach, Jeff Crockett
The 15-year winless streak against our biggest rivals Arizona State is finally over! The Dawgs came back from a 2-point deficit in dramatic fashion on the last event to overtake the Sun Devils with a total team score of 372.3 to 370.1. Let me try to break this down for you to give you a sense of just how close it was…
This was a virtual “head-to-head” competition format. The Dawgs went first on each event, then the Sun Devils, and back and forth it went for the entire meet. Five guys for each team competed on each event and EVERY score counted toward the final team score… no throw away scores!
The first event was Floor, and it was a battle! The Dawgs only had to count one large mistake, and it was remarkably close until the Sun Devils put up a HUGE score with their final guy, putting them up by 1 point going into the second event.
- Floor Team Scores: WASHINGTON: 62.6 – Arizona State: 63.6 (Leads by 1.0)
The Dawgs battled hard on horse. Leadoff man, Sophomore Adam Kerwin absolutely smashed his set, hitting a P.R. 13.0. The next three routines were exceptionally clean, however the Huskies had to count two falls. The anchor on horse has been Sophomore Luka Sisauri, who has struggled to show what he can do all season, but this time turned the momentum around with his best performance ever, winning the event with his P.R., a whopping 13.8!
- Pommel Team Scores: WASHINGTON: 60.5 – Arizona State: 60.8 (Leads by 1.3)
Rings has been a strong event for the Huskies, and at the home meet last month we beat Arizona State on the rings by just .65. The Dawgs had a couple standout routines by Junior Connor Pattison and Ben Bloom who both stuck their dismounts. Bloom won the event with a 13.1, and even though we increased our total rings score, the Sun Devils did too, scoring just .4 of a point higher!
- Rings Team Scores: WASHINGTON: 61.2 – Arizona State: 61.6 (Leads by 1.7)
At the midway point of the competition, the Huskies were beginning to feel the pressure build. Our difficulty on vault as a team for this meet was 1.6 higher than the last meet so we knew there was some risk, but it paid off as EVERYONE stayed on their feet! Our two biggest vaults were from Sophomore Jameel Ali who competed a handspring double front, and Freshman Andrew Layman with a Kazamatsu with 1.5 twists! Even though the Dawgs brought their best game on vault, the Sun Devils were just a little better, outscoring us on vault by .7 of a point!
- Vault Team Scores: WASHINGTON: 68.2 – Arizona State: 68.9 (Leads by 2.4)
The pressure just kept building as Arizona State kept widening their lead with each event, but any rabid gymnastics fan would know that one missed skill or routine can change the game in a HUGE way. Connor Pattison started us off on Pbars with an incredibly clean set and a stuck dismount, tying his P.R. and winning the meet with a 13.0! Next was Sophomore Brody Lusk… who also hit his set. The Sun Devils seemed to be struggling with their routines as we were slowly eating away at the deficit, tenth by tenth. Things got very tense as the next two routines from each team had some critical mistakes and falls and one of Arizona State’s routines scored a 9.6. With just one more competitor left for each team the Huskies had narrowed the deficit to just .6 of a point in the team score. Our own Ben Bloom and the Sun Devil’s Kiwan Watts were the final competitors on the Pbars where Kiwan put up a huge 14.1, which outscored Ben’s 12.5 by almost 2 points. This put Arizona State back up by 2.2 points going into the final event.
- Pbar Team Scores: WASHINGTON: 59.1 – Arizona State: 58.9 (Leads by 2.2)
The last rotation of this competition was one of the most exciting I’ve experienced as a coach or an athlete. The Husky’s all-star line-up started with Oscar Hemmert, who went first for the Dawgs and Hit an EXCEPTIONALLY clean set, scoring a 12.4, starting us off right. Then, Connor Pattison had just one mistake on the landing of his triple back after another clean routine 10.7. By the time Senior Co-Captain Alex May was up, the lead was now down to just 1.3. May has been working on adding the bigger releases into his set but decided to go with a shorter set that he knew he could hit, and that he did! The Sun Devils tried to answer but had a crucial fall which gave the Huskies their first lead of the night, just .2 of a point! With just two competitors from each team left seniors Alex Forcos and Ben Bloom knew they had to hit. Alex hit one of the best sets I have seen from him. With just a step on the landing he scored a 12.4. Then the Sun Devils had another crucial fall, widening the Husky’s lead to 1.9!
With a Yamawaki, a kovacs, and two Tkatchevs, Ben Bloom’s high bar routine is one of the most dynamic and diverse routines ever performed by the Huskies. He has been working tirelessly on this routine for over two years, working on hitting it consistently. At times, he struggled for months to get all these different types of releases to be on all at the same time, and he had yet to hit this routine in competition this season. Neither Ben nor I knew what the lead was at the time, we just knew it was close and we needed this hit to have a chance. What happened next was one of those moments that will never be forgotten, not by anyone in that gym who witnessed it…
Ben Bloom hit the set of his life, and not because it was big score 13.2, or because he stuck the landing, or because it clinched a win that ended a 15-year losing streak against the Sun Devils… but because it was what the team so desperately needed in that very moment. This routine represented not only HIS hard work, motivation, dedication, and perseverance; it represents what I feel this team has had to do to overcome to get to this point. After Ben has stuck his landing, the team erupted and rushed to tackle him before he could even move his feet from where he had landed. The amount of joy and excitement in that gym was palpable, as if they had already won. Little did anyone know that for Arizona State to win, Kiwan Watts would need to put up a perfect score…
- High Bar Team Scores: WASHINGTON: 60.7 – Arizona State: 56.3
FINAL SCORE: WASHINGTON 372.3 (WINS BY 2.2!) – Arizona State: 370.1
The Dawgs now prepare for Collegiate Nationals on May 15th in Daytona Florida. GO DAWGS!!!