The
scene Friday night at the O'Connell Center could not have been more different
than the one 10 months ago at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.
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Florida Event
Winners Friday
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Uneven Bars:
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Mackenzie
Caquatto
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9.950
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Bridget Sloan
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9.950
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Balance Beam
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Mackenzie
Caquatto
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9.925
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Floor Exercise
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Ashanée
Dickerson
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9.975
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All-Around
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Bridget Sloan
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39.675
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On a
tension-filled afternoon at the Gwinnett Center about 30 miles from downtown
Atlanta, the national championship came down to the final rotation.
The
Gators were on floor, the Crimson Tide on beam. Florida finished its floor
routine and then could only watch as Alabama's Ashley Priess performed on the
beam, the final performance of the meet.
Priess
nailed it and Alabama won its second consecutive national title, edging the
Gators by .075 points. The Gators were so close to their first national title
but had to return home holding the national runner-up trophy instead of the big
one.
Now
fast forward to a lively O'Dome on Friday night where the ninth-largest crowd
in school history (8,074) showed up to watch the first meeting between the
Gators and Crimson Tide since last April.
Once
again, the final rotation had the Gators on floor and Alabama on beam.
But
whatever tension existed had long left the building. An orange-and-blue party
was in full swing, punctuated by a dynamic floor routine by senior Ashanée
Dickerson.
Dickerson's
career-best 9.975 floor score highlighted the No. 1-ranked Gators' victory over
their SEC rivals.
"That
was the best routine of her four years here, it really was,'' Gators coach
Rhonda Faehn said. "That was amazing."
The
Gators finished with a team score of 198.100, the second-best mark in the
program's history behind only the 198.225 in a narrow loss to UCLA (198.250) in
the regular-season finale in March 2004.
The
Gators finished their dazzling performance Friday with a score of 49.650 on the
floor, matching the best score in school history in that event.
There's
still a lot of season left, but the Gators made a bold statement in front of
the home fans Friday night: they are determined as ever to win the program's
first national title and join Alabama, UCLA, Utah and Georgia as the only
programs to do so.
"Come
NCAAs, SECs, Regionals, we're going to put our best team out there, and as of
right now, I have no worries about what our team is going to look like,'' said
freshman Bridget Sloan, who won the all-around title Friday night with a
collegiate-best 39.675.
Sloan's
score matched the NCAA's second-best all-around total this season behind only
teammate Kytra Hunter's 39.70 earlier this season versus Auburn.
"Each
meet we get a little better and better as a team,'' Sloan said. “We are on just
on fire right now and I hope we can stay there."
What
made Florida's performance even more impressive is that Hunter, the NCAA
defending all-around champion, had an off night. Hunter fell off the bars and
on the beam before regrouping and scoring a 9.95 on her floor routine.
Faehn
said Hunter was unable to practice for three days leading up to the meet while
battling stomach flu.
What
does that say about how loaded this Gators team is?
"I
think it means we just have an incredible team,'' said Sloan, a freshman and
2009 World All-Around Champion. “There is so much talent on this team right
now. It's nice to know that even if you rest a week, there is someone who can
take your place who will nail that routine.
"That's
a great feeling."
Still
beaming 20 minutes after the meet ended, Faehn shared Sloan's optimism
following Florida's fourth consecutive victory after a road loss at LSU in the
season's second meet.
"What
I'm loving about this team is that everyone is just completely involved and
stepping up,'' Faehn said. "No one is stepping back and saying, 'well, she
is going to take care of it.' They all want to be a part of it. That is making
this team better."
Simply
put, the Gators were on top of their game. Other notable marks from Friday:
--Florida’s
49.475 on vault equaled the 11th-best performance in school history.
--The
Gators' 49.575 on bars equaled the eighth-highest score in school history.
--The
198.100 team score is the nation's top mark this season.
--Florida
now has three of the nation’s top four team totals of 2013 (through Feb. 8
competition).
Oh,
and there was that electric crowd that gave the Gators a standing ovation at
the end.
"They
were loud, they were on their feet, they were cheering,'' Faehn said. "I
feel it was the best atmosphere we've ever had, at least in the 11 years I've
been here. The girls deserve that. That's what they live for, is performing for
the crowd."
The
Gators gave them plenty to cheer about this time, defeating an Alabama team
that has six national championship trophies back in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama
coach Sarah Patterson said before the meet that she has voted the Gators No. 1
all season. Don't expect that to change any time soon if Florida strings
together more performances like Friday's.
The
soft-spoken Dickerson was at the Gwinnett Center last spring when the Gators
walked off the floor disappointed and with tears in their eyes.
Dickerson
was all smiles on Friday when she finished her floor routine, mobbed by her
teammates in what amounted to a victory celebration.
The
quest now is to keep smiling.
"We
were just ready to get out there and prove ourselves,'' Dickerson said.
"We know that we can beat them. We are going to go up from here, I can
feel it."
Faehn
would be fine with that.
"They
weren't intimidated,'' she said. "They didn't even focus on anything but
what our job was. It was incredible. It was exactly what we were looking for
from our athletes and how to respond in a high-pressure situation. They fought
for every little thing. That was impressive. Everyone competed with fire and it
really showed."
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No. 1 Florida versus No. 5 Alabama
Final Team Totals
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Feb.
8, 2013 ● Stephen C. O’Connell Center (8,074)
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Team
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Vault
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Bars
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Beam
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Floor
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Total
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Florida
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49.475
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49.575
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49.400
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49.650
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198.100
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Alabama
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49.325
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49.175
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49.025
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49.325
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196.850
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