Florida Gators

The No. 1 University of Florida (9-0-1, 3-0-1 SEC) gymnastics team turned in the best road score in school history of 197.275 to take the dual meet title Friday over No. 16 Arkansas (3-9, 0-3 SEC) in front of a Barnhill Arena crowd of 2,029. The Gators were the first team to bring the No. 1 ranking into Barnhill Arena for a gymnastics competition, as the Gym'Backs began their program in 2003.

The previous best road score for the Florida program was set earlier this season with its 197.25 tie at No. 2 Georgia on Jan. 27.

Despite feeling a bit under the weather heading into Friday's meet, Gator freshman Amanda Castillo claimed her first collegiate all-around title at 39.45. She finished the meet claiming a share of both the balance beam and floor exercise titles. The winning beam mark of 9.90 was a collegiate-best for Castillo and also marked her first beam title as a Gator. She posted a 9.925 to share her second consecutive floor title with sophomore Corey Hartung.

“Well at least I know I can do it through thick and thin now. I woke up and was just feeling under the weather. I thought I was dehydrated so I drank a lot of fluids and rested all day,” Castillo said. “Coming from Metro (Orlando Metro club), we are taught to push through anything and I have to give a lot of thanks to Jeff (Woods-Metro coach) tonight for teaching me how to work through something like this,” Castillo said.

Junior Ashley Reed was third in the all-around at 39.30. It was her fourth top three all-around finish this season.

Head Coach Rhonda Faehn could sense her team was a bit restrained during pre-meet warm ups.

“Part of that was due simply because Amanda is such a huge part of the energy of the team. With her being sick, everyone was just a little bit more quiet than normal. I spoke with them after warm-ups that we needed to come out with lots of energy and treat this like any other really difficult road competition,” Faehn said. “I was proud of the way they rallied tonight. We didn't have any falls tonight, which definitely helped. So I was really proud of how they stuck with it from start to finish. The team is a little tired, as it is midseason, so they will have a little bit easier practices next week to ensure they will be fresh for our home meet next Friday. But it shows that if we tired or are changing lineups, we are still able to come out with a great score and a great performance.”

Florida swept the top four positions in the final uneven bars standings, using marks of 9.825 or better toward its opening event team total of 49.325. Redshirt freshman Melanie Sinclair is now two-for-two for uneven bars titles in Barnhill Arena this season, claiming Friday's title with a 9.925. Sinclair opened the season Jan. 5 at the Super Six Challenge in Arkansas, sharing the bar title with a collegiate-best 9.975. Senior Samantha Lutz matched her season-best bar mark of 9.875, while UF also got a pair of 9.85s from Castillo and Reed.

Senior Breanne King led the Gators on the vault with her runner-up mark of 9.875, just a fraction off her collegiate-best of 9.90 turned in last Friday versus Auburn. Savannah Evans matched her season-best of 9.85 to take third overall. The vault was won by Arkansas's Michelle Stout, who posted a Lady Back record mark of 9.95.

Corey Hartung and Castillo anchored the Gator floor exercise lineup with a pair of 9.925 marks, as UF tallied a 49.35 on the event. They led a Gator sweep of the top three floor finishers as Reed took third at 9.875.

The Gators finished the meet with a season-best 49.40 on the balance beam, a score that was boosted by a trio of winning 9.90 marks from Sinclair, Hartung and Castillo. The beam set was opened with a pair of 9.85s from Katie Rue and King as UF took the top four positions in the final beam standings.

“It was exciting to have my best beam routine and to get a 9.90,” Castillo said. “It feels really great!”

Florida's beam total of 49.40 ties for ninth all-time for the Gators. Faehn liked how the Gators finished the meet with such a strong performance.

“It was definitely a great beam performance,” Faehn said. “That was the best that Amanda and Corey have done so far this year. So I was really proud of how they stuck with it from start to finish.”

The Florida-Arkansas dual meet will air tape-delayed on Cox Sports Television Friday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. (ET).

Next up, it is the Gators Link to Pink meet with No. 24 Kentucky (3-3, 0-3 SEC) on Friday, Feb. 16 in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The meet is the first home breast cancer awareness meet for the Gator gymnastics program and the first 1,000 fans at Friday's meet will receive pink t-shirts, courtesy of Sun Sports. Admission is $4.00 for adults, while youth 17 and under and UF students with identification are admitted free.