The No. 5 University of Florida gymnastics team (6-2, 1-1 SEC) claimed its second win of the season over perennial power Alabama (5-3, 1-1 SEC) 196.55-196.35 Friday evening in front of a Stephen C. O'Connell Center crowd of 3,947.
Before the arrival of UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn, the Crimson Tide had recorded 14 consecutive wins over the Gators, dating back to the 1999 campaign. Since taking over the UF program in 2003, Florida is now 4-4 versus the Tide, including a win in the 2005 Super Six Challenge earlier this month.
Looking at the two team's rankings heading into Friday's contest (No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Florida) it looked to be a tight competition. The meet lived up to expectations, as neither team owned a lead of more than .275 at the end of any rotation. Florida led the meet after the first and second rotations, but trailed the Tide by two-tenths heading into the final event. Florida responded by posting its season-best floor exercise total to move past Alabama to take the win.
Florida opened the meet by matching the fourth-highest vault total in school history with its season-high total of 49.40. Two Gators turned in marks above 9.90 Friday, with freshman Tiffany Murry collecting her first vault title with her collegiate-best mark of 9.95. Senior All-American Orley Szmuch took second with her 2005 best of 9.925.
The Gators weren't as clean on the uneven bars as a week ago when they turned in a season-high event total of 49.35 as they tallied a 48.70 Friday. Freshman Ashley Reed led the Gators on the event with a 9.80. The Tide swept the uneven bars, with 2004 U.S. Olympian Terin Humphrey winning the event title at 9.925.
The beam produced some solid marks for the Gators, as the team turned in a 49.075. Sophomore All-American Samantha Lutz shared second on the event with UA's Shannon Hrozek at 9.85. Humphrey collected her second title of the evening with her beam score of 9.925.
It was no secret what was needed on floor to put UF in position to win. Four Gators matched or set season-best floor marks Friday, as UF turned in a season-best total of 49.375 for the event. As the final performer of the evening, sophomore All-American Savannah Evans knew that she needed to hit her routine so that the Gators wouldn't be forced to count a previous miss. When Evans finished, the standing ovation by the O'Connell Center crowd told her she was successful.
"It was a floor routine and you are supposed to have fun with it when you perform, so I went out and had fun with it. We don't concentrate on the score. We try to focus more on our routines, so I went out and did what I could do for my team," Evans said.
Evans matched her collegiate-best floor mark of 9.95 to share her first event title of the season with the defending NCAA floor champion, Ashley Miles of Alabama. Sophomore All-American Breanne King also matched her collegiate-best on floor to take third at 9.925.
"After competing on beam, we knew as a group we needed to get our energy level up and everyone did a great job of that, even those who weren't competing. It really helped and gave us the confidence we needed going into the floor event," King said. "To win this meet is so exciting. Everyone was able to work out some kinks and we improved in this meet and we moved to the next level."
Faehn was pleased how her team responded to the challenge.
"They certainly did come through for us, especially Savannah (Evans) finishing up at the end and that was under a tremendous amount of pressure, because we had the miss before her. She just performed it and showed it off even more so than she's done all year and didn't show a bit of nervousness or pressure. That just shows the maturity of her gymnastics, which is just great," Faehn said. "Samantha (Lutz) came through again with another tremendous floor routine and I think Breanne (King) showed improvement as well."
Although pleased with the win and the advances the team showed, Faehn knows there is room for improvement.
"I spoke with them when the meet was over and congratulated them for their win and told them they did an unbelievable job, yet there are still certain areas that we need to improve upon if we want to win SECs and NCAAs," Faehn said. "It's not going to be this type of performance that's going to win, and they all know that. They were all very focused and know that they can still be better."
UA's Miles collected her third all-around title of the season with a 39.35. King was runner-up at 39.25.
Next up, the Gators travel to meet defending Southeastern Conference champion Georgia on Friday, Feb. 4. Meet time is set for 7:30 p.m. in UGA's Stegeman Coliseum.
