For the
third week in a row, a Gator is the pick for Southeastern Conference Gymnast of
the Week, the league office announced Tuesday. This week, Bridget
Sloan (Pittsboro, Ind.) earned her first such honor as she was the SEC
Freshman of the Week for the opening week of the season. Georgia’s Kaylan Earls
is the SEC Specialist of the Week and Auburn’s Caitlin Atkinson is the SEC Freshman
of the Week. Sloan is the first freshman to be named SEC Gymnast of the Week
this season.
Sloan claimed her first collegiate all-around win as No.
1 Florida defeated No. 22 Arkansas on the road on Friday. She posted an
all-around total of 39.55, a collegiate-best for her, sharing the title with teammate
Ashanée
Dickerson.
Sloan also upped her collegiate-best to 9.925 to take
her second balance beam title of 2013 and finished second in the bars standings
at 9.90, just off her collegiate-best of 9.925 set the previous week. Sloan
owns five event titles this season.
In the latest national rankings, Sloan is No. 5 in the all-around
(39.488) and No. T12 in vault (9.894). Sloan is a six-time (and current) member
of the U.S. Senior National Team. She is the first World Championships’
all-around champion (2009) to compete as a collegian.
The Florida-Arkansas meet airs on CSS tonight at 9 p.m.
ET and CST (Gainesville/Ocala Cox cable 259) on Feb. 7 at 1 p.m.)
The top two teams in 2012 NCAA Championship competition
meet Friday in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center for one of the nation’s top dual
meets of the 2013 season. Florida plays host to defending NCAA champion and No.
5 Alabama on Friday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. The first 1,200 through the door Friday
receive an orange or blue light up stick. Look for Domino’s pizza box toppers
for buy one, get one free admission coupons for the Florida-Alabama meet.
