Gym Devils host Central Michigan in final home meet


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The No. 23 Arizona State women's gymnastics team will host Central Michigan in its final home meet of the 2010 season. The meet, which is also Senior Night, will begin at 7:30 p.m. MT. The Sun Devils are looking to earn their first home win of the season and improve on their Regional Qualifying Score.

Special senior
Kaitlynn Bormann, the Sun Devils' lone senior, will be honored in her final meet at Wells Fargo Arena. Bormann has been one of the team's top beamworkers during her time at ASU. Additionally, she is one of the most talented barworkers. This season, she returned to the vault lineup for the first time since her freshman campaign and has been a consistent scorer for the team. Bormann has career-bests of 9.825 on beam, 9.875 on bars and 9.8 on vault.

Gym Devils in the rankings
Maintaining their RQS of 194.51, the Sun Devils dropped to 23rd this week in the rankings. They are 19th on bars with an RQS of 48.79 and 14th on floor with an RQS of 48.99. Junior all-arounder Mary Atkinson is 17th in the all-around, 14th on vault, and 19th on floor.

30 years of Spini
Arizona State University's longest currently tenured coach, John Spini, has entered his 30th year of coaching. In his 30 years at ASU, Spini has sent his Sun Devil teams to 20 NCAA Championships and has had at least one Sun Devil represent ASU at the NCAA Championships 24 out of 28 seasons. He has coached 26 All-Americans for a total of 80 All-American accolades. Six women have won individual NCAA titles under Spini. Additionally, nine of Spini's Sun Devil squads have finished in the top five at the NCAA Championships, including four teams (1983, 1985, 1986, 1997) who were runner-up. The Sun Devils have qualified for an NCAA regional each of the seasons Spini has been the ASU gymnastics skipper.

Scouting the competition
As a team, Central Michigan is 20th on vault and 22nd on floor. They are ranked 28th overall. Katie Simon is the lone individual ranked for Central Michigan. She is 24th on beam.

Miss Mary
Atkinson has emerged into the nation's top all-arounders this season. Against Utah, the junior combined a career-best 39.5 thanks to three career-highs on vault (9.9), beam (9.8) and floor (9.9). She has been incredibly consistent on vault this season as she has scored her career-high of 9.9 four times this season. Bars and floor have also been strong events for Atkinson as she has garnered team-high 9.95 on bars and has been the team's top floorworker this season. She has been consistently improving on beam this season and is the team's anchor in the event.

Leaving it all on the floor
The Gym Devils have been ranked as high as 12th nationally on floor after achieving a season-best 49.275 against Stanford. Atkinson's elegant routine has garnered several high scores (including a career-best 9.9) while the crowd cannot help but dance along to Nickie Johnson's Lady Gaga routine, in which she has delivered a 9.875. Madison Snowden has wowed the crowd each week, including against Stanford when she delivered a personal-best 9.9.

New kids on the block
The Gym Devils 2010 roster is full of new additions to the team. Six newcomers have already made the lineups this season. Nickie Johnson and Christina Salavec are both training in the all around. Carly McMahon earned a career-best 9.825 on vault at Washington. Amelia Rew, who just came to the team this month, is looking to be in the vault and potentially beam lineups. Freshman walk-on Jordyn McIntyre is working hard for a spot on the bars lineup. Another newcomer who will contribute significantly this season for the Gym Devils is sophomore transfer Amanda Davies who has been steady in the team's intrasquads this preseason. Madison Snowden has also been a powerful force on the floor as she has garnered three scores over 9.825 in three meets.

We're cuckoo for Kahoku
Kahoku Palafox has emerged into quite the gymnast for the Gym Devils. Palafox, who has been a starter on bars since her first meet of her freshman season, nailed her bar routine against Arizona to tie for second with a career-best 9.9. Palafox has also been a strong beamworker for the Sun Devils. Against Utah, she led the team with a career-high 9.825. The Sun Devils had their best beam rotation of the season that meet.

Super Frosh
Three of the Gym Devils freshmen have been given spots in the lineup this season. Nickie Johnson competed on three events (Vault, Bars, Floor) this season while Christina Salavec performed on floor and beam. Amelia Rew also competed on vault. Johnson has earned scores of 9.825 on bars and a 9.875 on floor. She has tied for first on floor twice with senior Mary Atkinson. Salavec has notched a 9.775 and has also scored a career-best 9.75. She has yet to miss a routine.

Clever Devils
Brittany Schuett had the highest grade point average in the conference last season with a 4.04 in speech and hearing. For her achievements in the classroom, she was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic First-Team. Mary Atkinson earned Second-Team recognition from the conference. Both Atkinson and freshman Amelia Rew are both members of the prestigious Barrett Honors College here at ASU and are bioscience majors.

Socialize with the Devils
Be sure to follow the Arizona State Gymnastics team on Facebook and Twitter! Links to both are on www.thesundevils.com. Inside information, trivia questions and videos are featured on the fan sites.

Next up
The team will travel to Provo, Utah for their last dual meet of the season. The meet begins at 7:00 p.m. MT on Friday, Mar. 12.