Saturday, February 5, 2011

Top-ranked UF gymnastics cruises vs. No. 6 Crimson Tide

Give the top-ranked Gators an “A” on their first true test of the year, and give freshman Mackenzie Caquatto an “A-plus” for her first collegiate all-around competition.

The No. 1 Gators put on another impressive display in the O'Connell Center, topping their winning score of 197.500 from last week that ranked No. 1 in the nation with a 197.550 mark that ties for the ninth-best in UF history to roll the sixth-ranked Crimson Tide from Alabama (195.450) in an SEC dual gymnastics meet Friday night.

Cheered on by an energized crowd of 6,783 that included the Gator pep band, UF came out firing on all cylinders, posting a season-high 49.475 on their first event, the vault, and never looked back. The Gators capped the meet with a remarkable 49.675 on the floor exercise, their final event, that tied the all-time school mark.

Caquatto, meanwhile, made her much-anticipated all-around debut a memorable one, winning the competition against four other gymnasts who were all ranked in the top eight in the country coming into the meet. And, her winning score of 39.575 is the highest in school history for a debut performance.

“I'm kind of shocked right now,” said Caquatto, who won the first two event titles of her college career with a 9.90 on the uneven bars and a 9.925 on the balance beam in addition to winning her first all-around crown.
“I just came in today and tried to focus on each event as I went through it. It was just one event at a time and one skill at a time, just like I do in practice every day.”

Sophomore Ashanee Dickerson claimed second in the all-around with a 39.350, while Alabama's Geralen Stack-Eaton (38.825) took third.

“It was a fantastic job. I was really proud of the way the athletes performed,” coach Rhonda Faehn said. “They just were really relaxed but yet competed aggressively again.”

The Gators (6-0, 3-0) were understandably ecstatic after their performance.

“We showed up today on fire,” senior Maranda Smith said. “An hour and a half before the competition, we were so pumped up in the locker room, and we just carried that through the warm-up and the whole competition. That energy and drive definitely carried us to the end.”

Smith, a sixth-year senior, was outstanding in her two specialties, matching her collegiate-best by winning the vault with a 9.95 and later scoring a 9.925 on the floor to place third.

“I'm so happy for Maranda,” Faehn said. “That was one of the best vaults I've ever seen her do. Just the enthusiasm when she stuck that landing really energized the team.”

While the Gators were energized by their opening event, the Tide (6-1, 1-1) were anything but. Two ‘Bama gymnasts had falls on the bars, and as a result, the Tide only scored only a 48.075, putting them more than a point (1.4) behind UF. They would not recover.

Sophomore Marissa King, who placed second on the vault with a terrific effort that netted a 9.925, put an exclamation point on the win. The last competitor of the evening, King tried a tough double layout on her first pass on floor and nailed it, bringing the crowd to its feet and winning the event with a career-best 9.975 that ties for the third-highest mark in Gator history.

As with Dickerson's outstanding beam routine last week, King received a perfect score of 10 from one judge that brought a huge ovation from the crowd and had the British Olympian jumping for joy, but a 9.95 from the second judge left her a mere .025 short of perfection.

“We had planned to put that (double layout) in for the Auburn meet in two weeks,” King noted. “When I landed, I was like ‘Oh my God, I stuck it.' It was a totally overwhelming feeling. I couldn't breathe for a second.”

Overall, it was yet another impressive performance by what certainly is shaping up to be a very special Gator squad.

“Every time it's somebody else stepping up, which is nice to see,” said Faehn. “There were a few little mistakes here and there, but what was great again was how they responded to those. It was a lot of fun out there tonight.”

The meet will be aired on a tape-delayed basis Thursday, Feb. 10, at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.