The No. 1 University of
Florida gymnastics team (15-2, 6-1 SEC) claimed its second consecutive
Southeastern Conference title Saturday evening in front of 5,395 at the Verizon
Arena. It is the ninth overall title for the Gators.
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Florida Event Winners Saturday
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Uneven Bars:
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Bridget Sloan
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9.950
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Floor Exercise
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Kytra Hunter
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9.950
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Bridget Sloan
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9.950
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All-Around
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Bridget Sloan
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39.75
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Florida
used its highest score ever in SEC Championships competition – 198.00 - to take
the program’s ninth overall crown. Two-time defending NCAA champion Alabama was
second at 197.80, followed by LSU (197.70), Georgia (197.325), Auburn (196.55),
Arkansas (196.40), Missouri (195.525) and Kentucky (194.60).
As
the league expanded this season to eight teams sponsoring gymnastics with the
addition of Missouri, the SEC Championships moved to two sessions of four-teams
each. The sessions were seeded based on national rank and Saturday’s evening
session showed why each of the four participating teams were ranked nationally
among the top 10 as the lead and placing among the teams moved from rotation to
rotation.
As
the top-seeded team, Florida opened the meet on vault. The event is usually a
strong scoring event, as the Gators entered the meet No. 1 on the event. But
steps on landings dinged Florida’s score and the team found itself in fourth
place with its vault total of 49.375 after the opening rotation.
If
the Gators were disappointed in their vault performance, it didn’t show in the
next rotation. Florida turned in a solid 49.50 on uneven bars, thanks to three
marks of 9.925 or above. Freshman Bridget Sloan, who would claim a share
of the SEC all-around title, led UF on bars with her winning total of 9.95,
while senior Marissa King and junior Mackenzie Caquatto each
turned in 9.925s.
“What
I love is we didn’t get upset about that (performance on vault) and they didn’t
take it down to the next event,” UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said.
“That’s the key to a team that’s going to succeed in the postseason.”
LSU
led the meet at the midway point at 99.15 while Florida’s total of 98.875 moved
stood second.
Balance
beam was next and the Gators’ total of 49.50 shared the meet’s highest on the
event. Four marks of 9.90 or better were posted by the Gators. Sloan led with a
9.925 while sophomore Rachel Spicer, Caquatto and senior Ashanée
Dickerson each earned 9.9s.
That
performance put the Gators in the lead by the slenderest of margins, 148.375 to
148.35, over Alabama heading into the final rotation.
Faehn
knew the Gators needed to deliver on their final event to keep the trophy in
Gainesville.
“It
was down to the wire. I can’t say that I love it like that. It was very
stressful,” Faehn said. “But really, that’s what our fans love. I love a
football game where it will come down to the last touchdown or field goal, so
it’s kind of the same thing. It’s an incredible thing when it comes down to the
last event.”
A
big score on floor exercise would win it for the Gators and that is exactly
what the team delivered. Its floor total of 49.625 equaled the meet’s highest
of the event and gave them the margin needed over Alabama who earned the meet’s
highest vault total of 49.55 on the final rotation.
All
six Gators earned floor marks of 9.90 or better. Hunter and Sloan each earned
9.95s, King a 9.925 and senior Randy Stageberg, sophomore Kiersten
Wang and Dickerson each posted 9.9s.
Faehn
spoke about the team’s determination.
“It
was outstanding. It was a different team, a different chemistry, different
makeup this year,” Faehn said. “They were not going to go down without winning
a conference championship this year.
A
pair of unusual scoring deductions was taken after the meet concluded. Georgia
questioned a floor exercise out-of-bounds deduction and asked for a video
review. The judges reviewed the video and determined the deduction stood. The
rule states that any video review that isn’t affirmative for the inquiring team
results in a three-tenths team deduction. After reviewing the final score
sheet, Alabama determined that two of its gymnasts went of competitive order
the uneven bars, so a tenth deduction was taken off the event score.
Sloan
shared the SEC all-around title with LSU’s Rheagan Courville at 39.75. Those
two picked up some of the league’s highest honors yesterday, as Sloan was named
the SEC Freshman of the Year and Courville was named the SEC Gymnast of the
Year. The total matches Sloan’s collegiate-best set March 1 and the 39.75
stands behind Hunter’s 39.80 as the nation’s second-highest of 2013.
Sloan
is the second consecutive Gator freshman to win the SEC all-around, as Hunter
took the 2012 title. This is the eighth time a Gator has won the SEC all-around
title.
Three
Gators competed as all-arounders Saturday and all finished among the meet’s
final four. Hunter took third at 39.60 and Dickerson shared fourth at 39.475.
Sloan
also shared two other event titles, including one with a fellow teammate.
Hunter and Sloan were among a five-way tie for the floor title with
season-bests of 9.95. Sloan also used that same mark to share the SEC uneven
bars title with Georgia’s Brittany Rogers.
LSU’s
Courville used the evening’s only 10.0 to take the vault win. Courville, Rogers
and UGA’s Shayla Worley shared the beam win at 9.95.
Next
up, the Gators await the NCAA’s announcement Monday at 3 p.m. ET to find out which
teams will be sent to Gainesville for April 6 NCAA Regional action. The top two
teams at each of the six regional sites will advance to the NCAA Championships,
set for April 19-21 at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
