It's off to Fort Worth for reloaded Florida gymnastics team

As if there ever should have been a doubt in anyone’s mind, Florida’s gymnastics team let the whole world know Sunday evening that they’re back. Not that they really ever went anywhere, but when they didn’t score big at the SEC meet in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, there were doubters.

Lots of them.

Silly people. The Gators won the Southeastern Conference championship during the regular season and that’s the only SEC title that counts. Finishing fourth in New Orleans didn’t change a thing except for perceptions, just as Sunday evening at the O-Dome should have changed every wrong perception or misconception imaginable about Jenny Rowland and her Gators.

Case in point, Florida 198.325. Second place Utah, 197.575. The football equivalent is winning by four touchdowns but even if it’s gymnastics, it’s a no-doubter of a blowout. In winning the Gainesville Regional of the NCAA Gymnastics Championships, the Gators posted their highest score of the year and the second highest score in all four the NCAA regionals. Only Oklahoma, which has finished fractionally ahead of Florida to capture the previous two national championships, posted a higher regional score and wouldn’t you know it, it was fractionally better – 198.400-198.325. Florida had a better score than LSU did in winning the Fayetteville Regional and it took a pair of 10s by Haleigh Bryant to get that 198.250.

Florida didn’t have a single 10 Sunday evening although Gators in the crowd of 5,966 at the O-Dome demanded a 10 on at least five different occasions. A Gator didn’t even have the highest score of the evening. That was Michigan State’s Sage Kellerman with a 9.975 vault. But really, who needs a perfect 10 when it’s not until the final rotation when the low score that counts is less than 9.90?  

The only way the Gators could have stuck more landings Sunday night would have been to coat their feet with Gorilla Glue. Florida was so locked in and focused that Utah, Missouri (197.325) and Michigan State (196.625) must have been wondering if anyone got the license plate of the truck that just ran them over and left them in a heap in the middle of the road.

“It was a statement,” is how Florida’s ultra-successful head coach Jenny Rowland described the beatdown. “It was a statement that the Gators are, you know, still around. Many doubters this year because we have a younger team.”

Yes, the Florida Gators are still around. With Trinity Thomas out of eligibility, Kayla DiCello taking the year off to prep for the Olympics and prize recruit Skye Blakely delaying enrollment at UF so she can also prep for the Olympics, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Until he retired back in January, everyone used to say that Alabama under Nick Saban never rebuilt but simply reloaded.  

That pretty much applies to Florida gymnastics. The Gators have won 21 NCAA regionals in their history. Under Rowland, they’ve won six consecutive Southeastern Conference regular season championships, the only ones that matter. Maybe this gymnastics season has been more of a grind than in past years. It isn’t easy replacing maybe the greatest collegiate gymnast of all time in Trinity Thomas. It isn’t easy adjusting to the injury loss of Riley McCusker or having All-American senior Payton Richards out with an injury since March 3.

It also isn’t easy figuring out a rotation that works while factoring in freshmen like Anya Pilgrim, Skylar Draser and Danie Ferris. It takes time to make everything work.

A lot of adversity and uncertainty to overcome for sure, but sometimes the grind brings out the best and the best was on full display Sunday at the O-Dome. When things cranked up the Gators were on the balance beam to start. There was a time in Florida gymnastics history that potential championships went to die on the beam, but that is no longer the case. The Gators rank third nationally on beam this season.

As if to show the other three teams competing just how confident the Gators were, she handed the leadoff assignment to Skylar Draser. It takes confidence to lead off with a freshman, especially on the beam, all of 48 inches off the ground, 16.5 feet long and four inches wide. A case of nerves can spell disaster, but if Draser was suffering from even a mild case of the jitters it didn’t show. When it came time for her dismount, Draser set the Florida standard for the entire meet by sticking the landing. She immediately sprinted to Rowland and leapt into her coach’s arms.

The judges gave her a 9.9. They obviously saw a flaw or two but few in the crowd saw it that way.  

Just the same, a 9.9 from a freshman leading off on the toughest of all rotations in an NCAA regional resonates. Rowland had been seeing it in her own team throughout the week of preparation.

“Really, after routine No. 1 there was no doubt in my mind that this team was prepared and truly, it was something that I shared with them earlier this week, that I actually see them in training believing in themselves, believing in what the coaches knew this team was capable of doing,” Rowland said.

After Draser, the scores that counted (six gymnasts, low score gets thrown out) were 9.925 from Sloane Blakely, 9.90 from Anya Pilgrim, 9.925 from Victoria Nguyen and 9.95 from Ellie Lazzari. Leanne Wong had a rather uncharacteristic wobble and an even more uncharacteristic 9.80. How often does a Leanne Wong score get tossed as the low score?

Five scores of 9.90 or better on an opening beam rotation and Leanne Wong isn’t one of them? That is what you call an obvious sign that you’re about to have a good day. Florida’s 49.600 was a sure sign to Utah, Missouri and Michigan State that they would be playing chase all night long.

“Kudos to our beam team for setting a great standard of what tonight was going to look like,” Rowland said. “It allowed everyone to settle in and just do gymnastics. It really felt like an intrasquad for us. Nothing more, nothing less.”

From beam to floor, the Gators turned in a 49.650. Blakely (9.90), Pilgrim (9.95), Nguyen (9.925), Wong (9.95), Lazzari (9.90) and Ferris (9.925) were so good that one of the 9.90s had to be tossed.

It was halfway and already the other three not named Florida were in a steel cage match to finish second.

The Gators scored a 49.575 on vault, matching their Friday night score. Draser (9.925), Nguyen (9.90), Wong (9.925), Lazzari (9.925) and Ferris (9.90) had their scores count. Pikgrim’s 9.875 got tossed, a vault score that would have counted for Utah, Missouri and Michigan State.

The Gators were so far ahead that by the final bars rotation, they had to count a pair of 9.875s and they still won the meet in a runaway. Wong and Pilgrim scored 9.925s and Draser had a 9.90 as the Gators closed out with a 49.500.

Perhaps because the season was such a grind and there always seemed to be a question mark hanging over their heads that Florida’s dominant win Sunday was particularly sweet for Rowland. She knows winning the regional may have neutralized some of the doubts but more will pop up by the time the Gators reach Fort Worth in 10 days, paired in a bracket with No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 5 Utah and No. 8 Alabama. Oklahoma has won five national championships since 2016 including the last two. During the regular season, Florida’s only loss was to Alabama.

Because the Gators are in such a strong bracket, Rowland likes to think that the Gators will be hunters and not the hunted for a change. She relishes the opportunity.  

“I like being the hunter,” Rowland said. “When somebody tells me I can’t do it or they’re skeptical I love to prove then wrong and I know this team has that grit and fight in them as well. In the end, we’re going to do what we can, work to the best of our ability and continue to try to get that one percent better. That’s something we keep working on, mentally, physically, in the gym, out of the gym and really just controlling our controllables. That’s the only thing we can do.”

Gainesville Regional notes: This was Florida’s 21st NCAA regional championship … Lazzari and Pilgrim shared the all-around title with 39.650. Wong and Nguyen came in at 39.600 as the Gators had the top four all-around finishes … The Gators had the winning score on all four rotations … In qualifying for Fort Worth, Utah became the only team that has made it to the finals every year of the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.

Qualifiers for NCAA Championships in Fort Worth

Gainesville: FLORIDA 198.325; Utah 197.575.

Ann Arbor: Oklahoma 198.400; Alabama 197.450

Fayetteville: LSU 198.250; Arkansas 197.825

Berkeley: California 197.800; Stanford 197.600