Florida Finishes 3rd at SEC Gymnastics Tournament

By DAN BOND

GatirBaitMedia.com

Florida finished third in Birmingham at the SEC Gymnastics Championship. LSU is your back-to -back Champion with a score of 198.200, Oklahoma is second- 197.925 and Florida scores 197.825, despite an NCAA Record high on the Uneven Bars.

Selena Harris-Miranda would be the SEC individual Vault Champion and Leanne Wong and Riley McCusker would be crowned Co-Champions on Bars. Coach Rowland commented about the record setting routine:

“That bar routine is something that I've never seen in in my history of coaching. So proud of this team for building off of the momentum. It was just one stick after another stick after another stick and really just being calm and doing what they do in practice and was just super super exciting and it was so fun be a part of. ”

The meet marked the first one this season where the Gators had to compete Podium Style. That is where the equipment is raised off the floor. Often this takes some adjustment by the athletes because it is more bouncy. The tournament was broken into an early session with the four through eight seeds, Alabama was high score (197.100) and the evening session that included the top three teams in the nation #1 LSU, #2 Oklahoma and #3 Florida. Six gymnasts competed, the top five scores counted, with Florida having the rotation of Floor Exercise, Vault, Uneven Bars and Balance Beam. On to the recap:

Floor: Last Week: 49.725. NQS: 49.545, 4th in the Nation

-Victoria Nguyen: 1st pass (The long runs from corner to corner)- Twisting Flip into a sissone leap. 2nd pass- Front Layout flip. Small hop- 9.875

-Gabby Disidore: 1st- Back flip. Big hop on landing. 2nd- 1 1/2 front twist to layout.- 9.850

-Taylor Clark: 1st- Double backflip layout. Stuck. Nice 180 degree splits. 2nd- Jump leap to double flip. Stuck. Best hit routine of the night.- 9.90

-Leanne Wong: 1st- Double layout flip. Small hop. 2nd- Back flip while twisting. Stuck.-  9.850

-Selena Harris-Miranda: 1st- Front flip to double backflip. Stuck. 2nd- Front fliip to back flip into a leap.- 9.90

-Danie Ferris: 1st- Back tuck twisting tuck flip. Stuck. 2nd- 1 1/2 to front layout. Lands with a wobble.- 9.80 (The dropped score)

49.375- Florida is in 3rd place, behind .225 after the first rotation. LSU and Oklahoma start off on fire. Not the score they need to start.

Vault: Last Week: 49.700, NQS: 49.485, 2nd in the Nation

-Anya Pilgrim: Yurchenko 1 1/2. Stuck- 9.925. Great Start!

-Victoria Nguyen: Yurchenko 1 1/2. Hop- 9.850

-Danie Ferris: Yurchenko 1 1/2. Big step forward.- 9.825 (The dropped score)

-Ly Bui: Yurchenko 1 1/2. Small hop- 9.850

-Leanne Wong: Twisting Vault, landing towards the table. Small hop on landing.- 9.875

-Selena Harris-Miranda: Yurchenko 1 1/2. STUCK! Lands straight as an arrow. Has to be a 10, right?- 10.0. The first 10 of the SEC Championship this year and only the 9th on Vault in SEC Championship history. (Career Best)

49.500- Florida is in 3rd place, behind .175 after the second rotation. OU and LSU continue to lead

Uneven Bars: Last Week: 49.550. NQS, 49.495, 2nd in the Nation

-Anya Pilgrim: High to low bars. Legs stuck together. Full twisting double backflip dismount. Small hop- 9.900 (The dropped score)

-Skye Blakely: High to low bars start. Handstands a little short. Layout twisting dismount. Stuck- 9.950. (Career Best)

-Leanne Wong: Great swings from low to high bars. Legs glued together. Long handstands. Double front twisting dismount. Stuck - 10.0. Back to Back weeks Leanne gets a 10! (Career Best)

-Selena Harris-Miranda: High to low start. Huge handstands. Double layout dismount. Stuck. Another 10?- 9.950 Looked as good as Leanne’s routine.

-Alyssa Arana: Low to high bars. Legs together. Double layout dismount. Stuck- 9.950 (Career Best)

-Riley McCusker: Nice handstands. Legs pointed. Twisting dismount. Stuck.- 10.0. Riley’s 1st career perfect ten. (Career Best)

49.850- Florida is in first place over LSU by .050 and OU by .275 going into the final rotation. Florida’s Bars score is the highest score in NCAA History breaking Georgia’s 1996 record of 198.825.

Beam: Last Week: 49.650. NQS: 49.555, 2nd in the Nation

-Skylar Drasser:  Side mount. Back handspring to full turn. 180 spits. Back twisting dismount. Stuck- 9.850

-Anya Pilgrim: Springboard candle mount. Double back handspring. Balance check.  Front arial. Split leap. Back handspring side dismount. Stuck - 9.800

-Victoria Nguyen: Side mount. Back handspring changing direction mid flip. Back handspring to 1 1/2 twist dismount. Hop - 9.850

-Leanne Wong: Side split mount. Front arial combination. Missed the connection of moves. Big deduction. Back handspring. Leap series. Front tuck dismount. Stuck .-9.675 (The dropped score)

-Selena Harris-Miranda: Side split mount. Triple series back handspring. Twisting dismount. Small hop- 9.825

-Alyssa Arana: Double back handspring. Switch  Leaps. Side twisting dismount. Hop - 9.775

49.100- Florida turns in a very low score while LSU finishes on Vault, their best event and OU scores high on floor. Florida falls to 3rd with a final of LSU-198.200, OU-197.925 and Florida-197.825.

Victoria Nguyen on Floor. UAA photo.

The post-season has four judges compared to two during the regular season. They drop the High and Low scores to come up with an average. That makes getting perfect 10’s even more of a challenge.

The Gators had six of the nation’s twenty two 10’s coming into the night and had the Tigers by the tail until the final Beam Rotation where they turned in a subpar performance. LSU leads the nation in Vault and showed that as they pulled ahead on their final rotation. Getting 9.9+ on 4 Vault tries. This was definitely a preview of the National final in Fort Worth later in April. Coach Rowland added:

“What at night it really was four on the floor type competition tonight and really grateful to be here and really excited to be a part of such an amazing environment. Extremely proud of the Gators. We had some amazing highs tonight and we have some things that we still need to work on and can work on. So great start for the postseason and looking forward to our last four meets left of 2025.”

Florida finds out where it competes March 24 at Noon on ESPNU. Regional sites are April 2nd- April 6th. Penn State, Utah, Alabama and Washington are hosting.