No. 8 Florida Gymnastics Opens SEC Season with Win at Kentucky

The No. 8 Florida gymnastics team (3-0, 1-0 SEC) upped its season-best total to 196.275 Friday to open its 2012 Southeastern Conference season with the win at Kentucky (2-3, 0-2 SEC) in front of a Memorial Coliseum crowd of 1,697. The Wildcats posted a total of 194.075.

Gator Event Winners Friday
Vault	Kytra Hunter	9.925
Uneven Bars	Kytra Hunter	9.875
	Marissa King	9.875
Balance Beam	Kytra Hunter	9.85
Floor Exercise	Ashanée Dickerson	9.85
	Marissa King	9.85
All-Around	Kytra Hunter	39.475

Freshman Kytra Hunter claimed at least a share of four event titles Friday, including collecting her third consecutive all-around crown with a collegiate-best 39.475. The all-around win streak makes her the first Gator since Ashanée Dickerson in 2010 to open their premiere collegiate season with wins in the first three meets.

A late addition to the all-around, Hunter stepped into the floor exercise lineup after the three-minute touch warm-up when fellow freshman Rachel Spicer was held out of the event due to a sore calf.

“We weren’t going to put Kytra in on floor. But one of her teammates was a little sore so Kytra said she could go and just did an awesome job. I’m just really proud of her,” UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said. “She’s very strong mentally as a competitor and she has a lot of experience behind her. She was able to utilize her past experiences to stay focused and aggressive tonight. I think she’s getting more comfortable out there on the competition floor and it showed tonight.”

Did You Know…

Kytra Hunter has won the all-around in the Gators’ first three meets of the season. The last to do that was teammate Ashanée Dickerson in 2010. The gap in years was much larger to find the Gator prior to Dickerson who opened career with a trio of wins. Melissa Miller also opened career with three all-around wins – in 1986.

Hunter showed that she’s getting more comfortable in the collegiate arena right from the Gators’ first event. She was one of two Gators to post marks of 9.875 to share the meet’s uneven bars title. The bars win was the first for Hunter and first for junior All-American Marissa King since 2010, as she was out of most of UF’s bar lineups last year due to a torn pectoral muscle which limited her preseason training. Sophomore All-American Alaina Johnson completed the Gator sweep with her bar mark of 9.85.

Florida opened up the meet with a 49.175 bar set – just a fraction off the season-best set last weekend.

The Gators’ season-best vault total went to 49.275 Friday as Florida’s final two posted marks of 9.9 or better. Hunter used Florida’s season-best of 9.925 to claim her first vault win as a Gator and Dickerson matched her season-best of 9.90 set a week ago to take second. Senior Nicole Ellis finished the Florida sweep of the event with her third consecutive vault score of 9.85.

Florida’s King and Dickerson shared the evening’s floor exercise win with identical marks of 9.85. Hunter took third at 9.825 as the Gators turned in a floor total of 49.00.

The Gators completed their sweep of the top three spots on each apparatus with their performance on the balance beam. Florida went six-for-six on their final event, led by Hunter’s collegiate-best 9.85. Johnson was runner-up at 9.775 while junior Randy Stageberg and Spicer shared third at 9.75. On the event, the Gators tallied a 48.825.

For the second time this season, Florida took the top three spots in the all-around. Dickerson and King shared second at 39.125. That same duo also tied for second in the all-around at the Jan. 6 season opener at North Carolina State.

Faehn liked the mindset the Gators showed Friday. Scoring seemed low at times, but the team stayed focused on the things they could control – their performance and execution.

“I was thrilled. I think they did a really great job right from the start on bars. They were aggressive and we were able to capitalize on so many stuck landings. We carried that momentum over to vault and all the way through. I thought we finished especially strong on beam,” Faehn said. “I was pleased with how they stayed aggressive and didn’t let anything affect their mind set. There were some really nice improvements from the last two competitions.”