Cristello lifts AZ Gymnastics over TWU, BYU, UW-W

Feb 6, 2013 by The GymShark

January 19, 2013
(DENTON, TX) Aubree Cristello arrived in Texas Saturday night hoping to maintain the momentum which saw her Arizona Wildcats improve through their first two meets and Cristello win the all-around.

By the end of the night she was acknowledging applause from the near sell-out crowd at TWU’s Pioneer Hall as she was announced the winner of the all-around with a 39.150.

Cristello teamed up with fellow all-arounders Allison Flores (38.975) and Jordan Williams (38.725) to carry the Wildcats to a first place finish with a 195.800.

It was a much needed victory and their first of the season as Arizona defeated BYU (193.470), host TWU (191.475), and UW-W (185.900) in a quad meet.

Arizona started on the uneven bars and probably wished they hadn’t. Maybe it was jetlag or the alignment of the planets, but this team couldn’t land a dismount to save their life.

When the chalk dust settled, the Wildcats had put up a 48.550, their lowest bars score of the year.

The Wildcats rotated to the balance beam and considering their recent history, this is where they could have fallen apart.

But Arizona huddled up and resolved to get this meet turned around – and that they did.

Going six for six with conviction, Arizona scored a solid 49.000. By far their best beam work of the season and a great come back considering their prior effort on bars.

The Wildcats then moved to floor exercise and had their best rotation of the night scoring 49.150, despite their best floor worker, Aubree Cristello, having issues with her tumbling passes.

The vault was Arizona’s last event of the evening and Cristello made the most of it. Showing no fear, she crashed off the vaulting table as if fired out of a cannon. A gorgeous 9.95, it was the highest score of any routine the entire night.

(This article was published late due to technical difficulties)