BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It came down to the vault for top-ranked Florida at the Southeastern Conference Gymnastics Championship on Saturday.
And why wouldn't it? Florida, tied with No. 2 Alabama at No. 1 in the vault nationally, trailed the Crimson Tide heading into the championship's final rotation.
The Gators rebounded from a poor balance beam performance and stood within arms reach of another SEC trophy.
But despite turning in its best rotation with a score of 49.4 on the vault, Florida fell one-tenth of a point from beating Alabama and claiming its second consecutive conference championship.
Florida coach Rhonda Faehn said the loss was a setback for the team, but noted the mistakes were minor that kept the team from winning.
"We knew we had a little bit of an uphill battle going into the last event," Faehn said. "We would have had to have been near perfect. We had to do better throughout the competition in little areas here and there.
"We know what we have to work on. These things are all fixable. The important thing is to get (Mackenzie Caquatto) healthy and ready for the all-around."
Caquatto, normally a candidate to compete in the all-around, performed in only one rotation.
"We need to get the lineup set so that they can get the momentum again and feel the rhythm after we've had to shuffle things around lately," Faehn said. "Hopefully, we'll get (Caquatto) healthy ... and get them back on track and ready for regionals and nationals."
On the floor for the Gators, Ashanee Dickerson shined on the vault and floor exercises. Dickerson finished first on the floor and second overall on the vault.
Freshman Alaina Johnson showed well for Florida as well, tying for second overall on the bars.
Florida finished ahead of Georgia, Arkansas, LSU, Auburn and Kentucky. Of the seven teams competing, six were ranked in the top 25 heading into the meet.
Faehn said that finishing second could serve as motivation heading into NCAA regionals.
"They're already working on refocusing now," Faehn said. "Of course, they're disappointed. They know we have to go back in and the changes we have to make.
"It's heartbreaking because we want to win the SEC championship, but more than anything we want to win the national championship."
