FORT WORTH, Texas – It was a stellar outing for the two Sun Devil Gymnastics individuals at the 2024 NCAA Championships on Thursday. Senior Anaya Smith scored a 9.9375 to be the national runner-up and earn First Team All-America status, and senior Jada Mangahas earned a strong 9.8750 for her bars routine.
Smith is the first All-American on vault since Mary Atkinson in 2010, who was also the last first team honoree for Arizona State. She's the 29th Sun Devil to be an All-American, 16th on vault. The last All-American for Arizona State was Hannah Scharf in 2022 in the regular season. Scharf was also the last to earn an All-America nod at nationals, which she did on bars in 2021 (second team).
What an ending to a fantastic career ??#GymDevils /// #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/AG7PCFtcov
— Sun Devil Gymnastics (@SunDevilGym) April 19, 2024
Both Mangahas and Smith rotated with Arkansas. In the third rotation, the Gym Hogs set up Smith with a strong vault rotation to give her the momentum. She stuck her yurchenko one and a half to score a 9.9375, which ended up being the second-highest score in the championships.
STUCK ON THE BIGGEST STAGE???? 9??.9??3??7??5??, the best score of the day so far for @anayasmith_!!!
??: ESPN2#NCAAGym /// #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/SelFM3CHsZ
— Sun Devil Gymnastics (@SunDevilGym) April 18, 2024
In the fourth rotation, Mangahas flew through her bars routine and stuck her dismount. She scored a 9.8750, which was tied for 15th in a high-scoring bars session.
Yes @jadamangahas!! She scored a 9.8750 on bars ??
??: ESPN+#NCAAGym /// #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/j2XLGSOUVc
— Sun Devil Gymnastics (@SunDevilGym) April 18, 2024