No. 3 Gator gymnasts trounce UGa on a Spurrier-influenced night

Selena Harris-Miranda finishes off her floor routine vs. Georgia (UAA Photo)

On a night when the 3rd-ranked Gators wore a spectacular leotard that was actually designed at Spurrier’s Gridiron Grill in Gainesville and named after the Head Ball Coach, Florida gymnastics coach wore a commemorative Steve Spurrier No. 11 jersey for the Gators’ Southeastern Conference meet with 13th-ranked Georgia.

When Spurrier became Florida’s football coach in 1990, Georgia seemed to have a hex on the Gators, but over the next 12 years the Gators dominated the Bulldogs, winning 11 of 12 games. There was a time when Georgia used to dominate Florida in gymnastics, but no more. Picking up where Rhonda Faehn left off, Rowland has beaten Georgia eight out of 10 years.

Friday night at a sold out O-Dome, a crowd of 9,108 saw the Gators post the highest score in the nation so far, routing the Gymdogs, 198.125-196.825, Rowland’s sixth straight win over Georgia.

“Just have to truly thank Coach Spurrier for the support that he gives the Gators and especially women's athletics,” Rowland said. “He's been a huge supporter of gymnastics. He's one of the first people to reach out to me after a big win and congratulate me and just that alone just says a lot. He's committed, he's invested, and he truly cares. So really, really grateful for his support to the Gators.

“The leotard was pretty spectacular tonight. I would say not our norm, classic, kind of elegant leo, and it was very on point with the Gator brand and extremely exciting. It was designed in Spurrier's restaurant, so that is where the name came from, and we were just super grateful that he was able to be here with us tonight and have a little side of our video shoot and a release. He told me, he's like, ‘Well, Jenny, I've never had a leotard named after me.’ I said, ‘Coach, you know you’ve made it big when you get a leotard named after you. He and Jeri are both amazing people.”

Lighting up Georgia with the Spurrier leotard and jersey made the night special, but Rowland might savor this one more than some of the other wins over Georgia because she had no idea who on her roster would be available after a week in which the flu bug made practice an adventure.

“So extremely proud of this team,” Rowland said. “It was a rough week, I could say a little bit. We had a lot of under the weather athletes. Throughout the week, several missed a day here or two there. And, you know, at the same time, it's coming back. It's trusting your training. Everybody has been prepared. They've done what they needed to this fall in order to come out, even though they may have missed a practice or two, to come out and just trust their training. So extremely proud of the confidence, of the resilience, of the unknown, the uncertainty of them being able to step up and be ready. We didn't even call lineups last night. The message was if you train an event, be ready to warm up an event because we didn't know who was going to feel well enough to compete.”

Among the almost casualties who toughed it out Friday night were Selena Harris-Miranda, whose 39.625 all-around total was a season high and her second straight all-around win. Sloane Blakely, who who missed one day, finished second in the all-around with a 39.620. Anya Pilgrim, who didn’t miss a day, finished third at 39.55.

The Gators won all four events, posting nation’s best scores on the vault (49.55) and balance beam (49.675). The Gators scored 49.40 on the uneven bars and 49.50 on floor.

Harris-Miranda got a jolt of confidence when she finished off the vault rotation with a 9.95. Freshman Ly Bui and Leanne Wong both scored 9.925 and Sloane Blakely came in at 9.90.

What Harris-Miranda did to maintain her focus was to keep reminding herself to trust her training.

“I was sick for two days,” Harris-Miranda said. “I didn't go to practice. So I think the whole day today, I was just like, you've done this before. You've done this before. Just do it.” 

On the bars, freshman Skye Blakely and Pilgrim both scored 9.90 to tie Georgia’s Ady Wahl for the event title. Blakely, still on the mend from an injury that kept her from competing at the Paris Olympics, got her first event win as a Gator.

On the balance beam, Sloane Blakely, Victoria Nguyen and Pilgrim all scored 9.95 while Harris-Miranda had a 9.925 and Skylar Draser led off with a 9.90.

The Gators scored 49.50 on floor for the second straight week with Sloane Blakely and Wong winning the title with 9.925. Harris and freshman Taylor Clark came in at 9.90.

SEC GYMNASTICS

Friday night scores

No. 3 FLORIDA (4-1, 1-1 SEC) 198.125, No. 13 Georgia (2-3, 0-1 SEC) 196.825

No. 1 Oklahoma (8-0, 2-0 SEC) 197.550, No. 10 Alabama (1-2, 0-2 SEC), 196.300

No. 17 Arkansas (3-4, 1-1 SEC) 196.875, No. 2 LSU (4-2, 1-1 SEC) 196.600

No. 12 Auburn (8-1) 197.025, No. 9 Oregon State (3-2) 196.975

Sunday’s meets

No. 6 Kentucky (3-1, 0-1 SEC) at No. 11 Missouri (5-2, 0-1 SEC)