Florida Gators

The No. 12 University of Florida gymnastics team (4-2, 0-1 SEC) was edged by No. 20 Louisiana State University (2-2, 1-0 SEC ) 195.625-195.55 Friday evening in front of a Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 2,040. The final margin of .075 is indicative of the series, as it is the fifth time since 1997 that the two teams have been separated by less than two-tenths of a point.

The Gators got off to a rough start on the uneven bars, as a fall was counted in the team's event total of 48.40. Florida was led on the event by sophomore Breanne King, who posted a 9.825 to take fourth. Sophomore Samantha Lutz finished the Gator bars set with a 9.80, placing fifth overall. LSU swept the final bars standings, with April Burkholder and Annie Gagnon sharing first at 9.925 while Lisa Rennie was third at 9.85.

At the midway point of the meet, the Tigers led by .625 after turning in two team event scores free of falls. Florida was impressive on the vault, turning in a team total of 49.175. Sophomore Katie Rue picked up her first event title of the season and her third collegiate vault crown Friday with her mark of 9.90. Gator freshmen Tracey Rai and Tiffany Murry shared second in the final vault standings with LSU's Kelly Phelan at 9.85.

The Gators took a .325 lead into the final rotation after going six-for-six on floor while the Tigers were forced to count a fall toward their balance beam total. Murry opened her floor routine with a solid full-in, leading to the meet's high floor mark of 9.925. King and Savannah Evans also posted 9.85 floor marks to share second with LSU's Kelly Phelan and Ashleigh Clare-Kearn.

Both teams hit their first five routines on their final event, but while the Gators were turning in a 48.75 on beam, the Tigers tallied a 49.125 on floor to pass Florida in the final standings. King claimed her second consecutive balance beam title of the season, matching her Super Six Challenge winning mark of 9.85. Sophomore Katie Rue was second in the beam standings at 9.80.

King claimed her first collegiate all-around title Friday with a total of 39.275. LSU's Burkholder was second at 38.90.

"We continue to have problem on bars," UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said. "The positive note on that is that we put Katie (Rue) up as an exhibition on bars and she hit for a 9.80. It looks like we will definitely make changes in our bars lineup for the next meet versus Nebraska. We can put Katie in there and get Erinn Dooley back in the bars lineup because she is always a solid performer for us. We can make some changes in our lineup until we can get more experience for our freshmen as they can learn to hit under the pressure situations. We can do better.

"We had a much better performance on floor tonight so that was promising. Vault was decent – we still need to work getting the stick landing. We hung together on beam with some solid routines," Faehn continued. "Bre (King) was once again a very steady and reliable performer for us. It is great that she was able to get the all-around win."

Florida returns home to play host to two weekends of home action versus perennial gymnastics powers. No. 14 Nebraska comes to Gainesville for a K-Country night on Friday, Jan. 21. The first 1,000 fans will receive Cowboy hats courtesy of Gator Gymnastics. Then Alabama returns for Dodge Night on Jan. 28. Both meets begin at 7 p.m. in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Tickets are $4.00 for adults while children 17 and under plus UF students with identification are admitted free.