Leanne Wong’s Perfection Helps Florida Defeat LSU

Flifth-ranked Florida cracked 198 in an exciting, come-from-behind win over #2 LSU 198.150 to 197.950 in front of another sold out O'Connell center crowd of 8,800 plus.

What has become must-see television, LSU and UF was not the top dual meet of the weekend for the sixth consecutive year.

LSU is led by the number one gymnast in the country Haley Bryant with the nation's best 39.733 in the all-around average. Bryant had three perfect 10s this season entering the meet l(bars, beam, floor), along with teammates Aleah Finnegan (floor), Kiya Johnson (floor) and Konner McClain (bars and beam). Florida's only 10, so far, was Wong with a ten on bars against Arkansas. Florida was going to need a special night to have a chance. Six gymnasts competed with the UF having the home rotation of vault, uneven bars, beam and floor. The five highest scores counting. On to the recap:

Vault: (Last week: 49.35, Average: 49.342, 5th in the nation)

-Skylar Draser: Yurchenko 1 ½ landing not far from the table and a hop-9.775 (The dropped score)

-Sloane Blakely: Yurchenko 1 ½ Nice Vault!-9.90

-Victoria Nguyen: Yurchenko 1 ½ Great landing-9.90

-Anya Pilgrim: Yurchenko 1 ½ Stuck landing, great distance-9.95

-Danie Ferris: Yurchenko 1 ½ Slight hop-9.90

-Leanne Wong: Front Pike Vault-9.95

Score: 49.60 Florida leads by .325 after one rotation and a season high on Vault

Uneven Bars: (Last week: 49.425, Average: 49.346, 7th in the nation)

-Sloane Blakely: Slightly off on high beam, stuck landing-9.875

-Victoria Nguyen: Low bar almost falls. Hop on landing-9.775 (The dropped score)

-Gabby Disidore: Short on 1st handstand. Shuffle on landing-9.80

-Ellie Lazzari: Springboard to high bar. Missed a handstand on low bar. Sticks landing-9.90

-Anya Pilgrim: Seemed rushed this week. Hop—9.80

-Leanne Wong: Legs stuck together. Stuck landing. 10??-9.95

Score: 49.225 Florida and LSU are tied at 98.825 after two rotations.

Balance Beam: (Last week: 49.550, Average: 49.425, 2nd in the nation)

-Skylar Draser: Double back handspring. Hop-9.875

-Sloane Blakely: Front to back flip. Twist, balance check. Shuffle on landing-9.850

-Anya Pilgrim: Great 180° leaps. Back flip side landing- 9.975

-Ellie Lazzari: Triple back flip. Almost fell. Stuck landing-9.725 (The dropped score)

-Victoria Nguyen: Front flip to back flip. Back twist landing. Stuck!-9.950

-Leanne Wong: Back flip series. Double twist landing. Stuck!-9.975 Where was the deduction?

Score:49.625 Florida trails 148.600 to 148.450. Down .150 despite a season high on Beam.

Floor Exercise: (Last week: 49.60, Average: 49.404, 12th in the nation)

-Victoria Nguyen: 1st pass: (The long runs from corner to corner) Front double twist. 2nd pass: 1 ½ flip. Sticks landing-9.925 Great start for UF!

-Anya Pilgrim: 1st pass: Front flip to double tuck. 2nd pass: Double pike, great leaps-9.925

-Kaylee Bluffstone: 1st pass: Tuck twist. 2nd pass: Front to front flip, stumble-9.875 Only Kaylee’s second time in the line up

-Sloane Blakely: 1st pass: Front flip to double tuck. 2nd pass: 1 ½ front flip. Big leaps.- 9.975 Sloane seems to be settling down for the season. Putting up great routines!

-Payton Richards- 1st pass: Double layout but injured her ankle or perhaps an Achilles tear. After a stellar 9.925 last week. The arena was totally silent.-2.0 (The dropped score)

-Leanne Wong: 1st pass: Double layout. Perfect! 2nd pass: Backflip combination twist. Florida needs a 9.825 to win the meet as LSU struggles on Beam- 10.0! Leanne’s first 10 on the floor.

Score: 49.70 Florida wins a shootout with another season high score.

What a roller coaster of a meet! After losing a large lead from a season high vault score. (Both UF and LSU struggled on even bars). LSU put on one heck of a floor routine with a monster 49.775. Dropping a low score of 9.9. It was down to the two weakest events for both teams. LSU's worse event is Beam and Florida’s is Floor. However Florida turned it around last week in Missouri on floor and continued that improvement with another season high score of 49.70 on Floor. Leanne Wong’s perfect 10 on floor not only secured the big win but gave Leanne her Gym Slam (Scoring a perfect 10 on every event in her career) She also put up the new high score for all-around score in the nation with a 39.875. All this after Peyton Richards goes down with an apparent serious injury on the 2nd to last floor routine.

This team has something special. All the youth is coming together late in the season. Perhaps they are taking a page out of the basketball team and peeking at the right time. I can definitely see them making the final four in Fort Worth this April. Next step is in Lexington with only three meets left until postseason.