Joy Restored, Winning Takes Care Of Itself For Florida Gymnastics

Selena Harris-Miranda, Bridget Sloan, former NCAA champion and SEC gymnastics analyst eMjae Frazier (Chris Spears Photo)

When LSU’s pixies marched into the O-Dome Sunday night, they had the look of a team every bit as good as the one that won the 2024 NCAA title.

Maybe the best word to describe the difference in the gymnastics team that seemed to be making a living out of close call losses and the one that got a flip-for-flip, stuck landing-for-stuck landing win over 2^nd-ranked LSU at the O-Dome Sunday evening is joy. As in 4^th-ranked Florida re-discovering the joy of simply competing after an uneventful win in a quad-meet in Texas a week ago.

Talent has never been an issue for the Gators, but something has been missing all season long and it showed in those Roseanne Rosannadanna finishes. If you’re old enough to remember the early days of Saturday Night Live, you remember Roseanne and her signature line: “It just goes to show you it's always something. If it isn't one thing it's always something else.”

When it comes to Florida’s 2026 gymnastics those words from 40-plus years ago seem almost prophetic because that was Florida’s inconsistent season. The Gators weren’t bad. You can’t be bad and rank fourth nationally, but if you watched the Gators compete then you knew something was missing. If it wasn't one thing, it was always something else.

There were issues with the vault rotation. A 49.175 nearly cost Florida a win over Alabama early on. A week later the Gators beat Auburn in spite of a 48.600 vault. On Link to Pink Night at the O-Dome, the Gators turned in a 48.975 that cost a chance to spring the upset on big, bad No. 1 Oklahoma. There was the loss on the road at Missouri where Florida’s uneven bars rotation went Murphy’s Law. Whatever could go wrong went wrong. The nation’s best bars rotation did a 48.450. It would have taken an act of God for the Gators to lose the quad meet with Arizona State, Texas Women’s University and Fisk a week ago but the vault reared its ugly head once again, this time with a 48.175. Fortunately for UF, the other three teams were totally outmatched.

When LSU’s pixies marched into the O-Dome Sunday night, they had the look of a team every bit as good as the one that won the 2024 NCAA title. The Gators meanwhile came into the meet ranked second on vault, second on bars, third on beam and first on floor. The Gators came into the LSU meet without a single gymnast ranked in the top 30 in the all-around. This is a program that has produced the likes of Bridget Sloan, Alex McMurtry, Trinity Thomas and Leanne Wong, four of the greatest all-arounders in collegiate gymnastics history.

What the crowd of 9,925 crammed into the O-Dome and the national television audience saw was the Gators putting all their inconsistent ways behind them. That’s what it took to beat LSU. Final score, Florida, a nation’s best 198.450; LSU, a marvelous effort but a fall that made the Tigers eat a 9.70 on bars, 198.325.

Now LSU coach Jay Clark probably fumed on the plane ride back to Baton Rouge about a 9.30 leadoff on bars due to a fall and the follow-up 9.70. A 9.875 would have given LSU the win, but the difference Sunday night went far beyond anything LSU did or didn’t do.

It had everything to do with leaving the pressure of winning in the rearview while re-discovering the joy of competing. That’s what Jenny Rowland preached. That’s what the Gators delivered.

“Tonight they did not chase the win,” Rowland said proudly. “They allowed the win to happen tonight and I think that's something that has been hindering this team a little bit over the last couple weeks, or I think we've gotten better over the last couple of weeks. They were present, they were mindful. They trusted themselves. And that's when you know the win is going to happen.”   

Florida’s vault rotation was decent. Considering the way it’s gone this season, 49.375 is nothing to sneeze at. Despite the fall, despite eating a 9.70, LSU was dead even with the Gators after the first rotation and while Florida was pulling off an excellent 49.625 on bars, LSU went into a stuck landing frenzy on vault with three consecutive 9.975s for a 49.70, the second best score in the country this year.

Down at the midway point of the meet, there was no panic in the Gators, who went 49.700 on the balance beam and 49.750 on floor. LSU was very good on both rotations – 49.600 on floor and 49.650 on beam – but Florida was better to the point that when Harris-Miranda closed out the meet with a 9.950 on floor, the Gators could have thrown out her score and still won.

On the beam Florida a 9.925 from Skye Blakely and 9.950s from EmJae Frazier and Kayla DiCello. Then came Selena Harris-Miranda with a perfect 10 and the roaring O-Dome crowd began to sense the Gators were in for a win.

It didn’t necessarily feel like a 10 for Harris-Miranda.

“Like, this is probably the worst beam routine I’ve done this season in nine out of ten,” she said. “So it was fabulous to know that no matter what, it’s up to the judges.”

The beam routine was fabulous, but so were the 9.95s she scored on vault, bars and floor. As close as those were to perfection, the judges didn’t see it that way. Even so, Harris-Miranda won the all-around title with a 49.850, just .025 behind the country’s leading score so far this year.

Harris-Miranda was so focused on executing what she does in practice every day that she was unaware that the Gators could have dropped her 9.95 on floor and still won the meet.

“Personally, I didn’t even know what the score was going into the floor,” Harris-Miranda said. “It was more about wanting to just stay present, staying in the moment … We talk about it all the time, staying with each other, staying in the process, taking it one skill at a time because that’s what’s most important. At the end of the day, if we are ourselves and normal, then the outcome comes out the way we want it.”

Florida was so good on floor – the second best team total in the country this year – that the Gators had to drop Gabby Disidore’s 9.90. In addition to Harris-Miranda’s 9.95, Blakely and Frazier both came in at 9.975 while DiCello and Danie Ferris both scored 9.925.

The joy was back. The scores were high. Winning took care of itself.

“It just goes to show when you have a little fun and you shut out the noise, take the pressure off yourself and not worry about what anybody else is doing, and you’re doing what you do and own it, great things can happen,” Rowland said. “You don’t have to be perfect, but these Gators are excellent.”

The Gators were excellent and so was LSU in this meet that had the intensity and drama that is normally reserved for Fort Worth when the nation’s 12 best teams gather to decide the NCAA championship. LSU finished the meet with six scores of 9.975 and two 9.95s. Florida finished with the 10 by Harris-Miranda, three 9.975s and six 9.950s.

Rowland tweaked her lineup a bit with Harris-Miranda, DiCello, Blakely and Miranda all competing in the all-around. Finishing second to Harris-Miranda (49.850) was LSU’s Kailin Chio (39.775). DiCello finished at 39.725, Blakely at 39.70 and Frazier at 39.625.

“They were fierce tonight and just calm, relaxed and having a lot of fun and celebrating each other,” Rowland said. “This is what we’re capable of and we’ll continue to keep it going.”

It’s amazing what happens when the pressure to win is replaced by the joy of competing. A month ago, the Gators might have been written off as NCAA championship contenders. Sunday night, their joy restored and the fun back in competing, winning took care of itself.    

Note: Of the 12 meets in NCAA gymnastics dual meet history when both the winning and losing team scored 198 or better, Florida has competed in eight of them, winning five.