2025 Gym Devil Season Preview

The 2024 Sun Devil Gymnastics season kicks off next week, featuring a talented mix of returning student-athletes and newcomers eager to showcase their skills in the first season in the Big 12 Conference. 

2025 Outlook
Sun Devil Gymnastics is gearing up for an exciting 2025 season, facing a tough lineup of opponents and hosting four home meets throughout the year. Ninth-year head coach Jay Santos and the team will compete against eight opponents who finished the 2024 season ranked in the top 25, including four that placed in the top 10 of the Road to Nationals rankings: California, Utah, Stanford, and Denver. The Sun Devils begin the season ranked No. 20 in the WGCA preseason poll, with six of their opponents also ranked in the top 25 of the same poll.

In Big 12 play, the team will face new conference opponents in Iowa State, West Virginia, BYU and Denver, while competing against familiar conference foes Arizona and Utah. 

Last Season
The Gym Devils finished the season with an 8-5 record and ranked No. 16 on the Road to Nationals. This marked the seventh-consecutive year they have ended the season ranked in the top 25. Though the Sun Devils did not receive a seed to kick off the NCAA Regionals, they managed to advance to the NCAA Regional Finals for the third time in four years. The Gym Devils put together a solid regular season, remaining in the top 25 with an NQS of 196.920. The team finished the regular season with a winning record for the third-consecutive season, the longest such streak since the early 2000s. To close out Pac-12 conference play, the Sun Devils pulled out a huge win against No. 10-ranked UCLA. The season high of 197.600 came on senior night against Southern Connecticut, which is the 11th-highest team score in ASU history.

Preseason Awards
The Gym Devils have three gymnasts on the 2025 Big 12 Preseason Team. Graduate Jada Mangahas received a nod in the all-around, graduate Sarah Clark is on the beam team and graduate Emily White is honored for both beam and floor.

Returners
Three seniors announced their return for a fifth year in 2025: Clark, Mangahas and White. Between them, they had 26 scores of 9.9 or better last year, led by 12 from White. They also have 16 combined event titles in 2024. Other contributors returning in 2025 are senior Alex Theodorou, juniors Kimberly Smith and Kayla Lee, and sophomores Halle Gregoire and Lilia Purler. 

Clark had an outstanding season, consistently excelling on bars and beam. She competed in every meet on both events, earning five scores of 9.900 or better on bars and four on beam. Clark won a total of five event titles, including three on beam and two on bars. Clark tied for the beam title against Washington with a season-high 9.925, and she won the bars event title at Stanford with a career-best 9.950. 

Mangahas had an exceptional senior season in 2024, competing in all but one meet and participating in 10 all-around competitions. She consistently led off on vault, scoring 9.800 or higher in all but two meets, and never scored below a 9.800 on bars, earning three scores of 9.900 or higher. On floor, she maintained consistency, scoring 9.800 or better in all but one meet. Mangahas won four event titles, including three in the all-around and one on vault. She qualified for the NCAA Championships on bars after scoring a 9.900 at the Cal Regional, going on to score a 9.875 at the championships. Mangahas scored 9.925s on both bars and beam during the season, the bars score matching her career high and the beam mark a new personal best. Notably, she earned a career-high 39.450 in the all-around at Stanford. 

White had a standout senior season as well, competing in every meet on bars, beam, and floor and appearing in the all-around in the final four meets. She earned seven event titles, including three on floor, two on beam, and one on bars and in the all-around. White scored at least a 9.800 in all but two meets on bars, and had five scores of 9.900 or higher on beam, where she anchored the team all year. On floor, she scored 9.900 or better in six meets. Her career-best all-around score of 39.625 at Southern Connecticut, which ranks 15th in program history, highlighted her impressive performances. 

Juniors Lee and Smith had impressive seasons in 2024. Lee competed in every meet on beam, leading off in each, and participated in all but one meet on floor, also in the lead-off spot. She scored below 9.825 on beam only twice, with two scores of 9.9 or better. At Denver, she won her first career event title on beam with a 9.925, a career-high. Smith competed in every meet on floor and in six on beam. She scored at least 9.825 on floor in all but three meets, culminating in a career-high 9.925 at NCAA Regionals, the highest floor score for ASU in the meet.

In 2024, Theodorou competed in nine meets on vault and scored at least a 9.800 in six of those appearances. She won two vault event titles, including a three-way tie against Washington and a new season-high 9.900 at Arizona.

In her freshman season, Halle Gregoire had an impressive debut, competing in every meet on vault and all but two on floor. She consistently delivered on floor, never scoring below 9.850 and recording three scores of 9.900. On vault, she earned two scores over 9.900, including a career-high 9.950 at the NCAA Regional Finals, the highest score of the night for ASU. Gregoire won two event titles, one on vault and one on floor, including a career-first floor title with a 9.900 against Washington. 

Lilia Purler competed in four meets during her freshman season, performing on vault and floor. She made her collegiate debut with a 9.750 on vault at Oregon State and matched that score on floor at the home opener against Central Michigan. 

Newcomers
There are four freshmen for the Gym Devils this season in Halle Braaflat, Nina Laurito, Tiara Platkin, and Jenna Timmons. The freshman class is geographically diverse, with four competitors hailing from Canada, Florida, North Dakota and Texas. Additionally, senior transfer Jenna Blair joined the team after three seasons at Northern Illinois University.

Up Next
The Gym Devils will begin the season on the road at the San Antonio Invite on January 11 against Auburn, Maryland, Penn State and Temple at 11 a.m. MST.