Florida Gators

The No. 1 University of Florida (13-0-1, 5-0-1 SEC) gymnastics team claimed its first win over No. 7 Utah (8-3) in the Utes' home arena Friday evening, posting a 197.05-196.725 victory in front of a Huntsman Center crowd of 12,202. It was the Gators' sixth visit since 1984 to Huntsman for a regular-season competition. Florida is only the fifth team to post a regular-season win over Utah in the Huntsman Center since 1979, as the Utes own a 194-5 record during that period.

To claim their first dual title at Utah, the Gators had to overcome a .175 deficit after three rotations. Although the team rarely knows the exact scores during a meet, the Gators had a pretty good idea that they had some work awaiting them on the final rotation.

“They showed the score and the crowd went crazy, so you kind of have an idea that you aren't winning,” junior tri-captain Ashley Reed said. “We don't look at scores that often, so we didn't know exactly what the difference was.

A six-for-six balance beam set put UF position to win, as the Gators tallied a 49.30 on the event. The Utes did have trouble on the floor, as two out-of-bounds and some low landings put the meet out of reach for Utah. It was the first home loss of the season for Utah and its first home defeat since dropping a 197.10-197.075 decision to Georgia on March 6, 2006.

“It's not an ideal situation to have your team in a deficit going into the last event on the road, but I have faith in this beam team because they are extremely strong,” UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said. “They have been in pressure situation on the balance beam a number of times this season. It was nice to see that they continued with the same aggressiveness that they've had in the meets before and they didn't let anything they couldn't control affect them.”

The Gators collected two event titles Friday. The evening's vault title actually was shared by five gymnasts – three Gators and two Utes. UF's Amanda Castillo, Breanne King and Ashley Reed shared the title at 9.875 with Utah's Kristina Baskett and Ashley Postell. Castillo won the evening's floor title, her third of the year, with her mark of 9.925.

Postell, the 2002 World balance beam champion, took that title with her mark of 9.95. She also shared the bars title at 9.925 with teammate Nicolle Ford. Postell won the all-around at 39.525, while the Gators took the next three spots –Castillo (39.475), Corey Hartung (39.425) and Reed (39.375). Castillo has finished among the top three in seven of her eight all-around competitions this year. The total was a season-high for Hartung, who was competing in her second all-around of 2007.

Other Gators among the top three placers included Hartung taking second on balance beam at 9.925 and Reed taking third on bars (9.90). Hartung and Savannah Evans shared third in the final floor standings at 9.85.

Florida led the meet by just .05 through the first two rotations after posting event totals of 49.275 on bars and 49.30 on beam. The vault total matches Florida's second-highest of the season for the event. Florida's floor score of 49.175 was held back by some extra steps and a bit of control trouble on some of the tumbling passes. The Utes took the lead after a strong beam set of 49.375, but was hurt by their floor total of 48.825 on the final rotation.

“We had a rough competition,” Faehn said. “We missed a lot of handstands on bars, a lot of landings and had a couple of mistakes on floor. It wasn't our best meet, but it was a wonderful learning experience for our athletes. We don't want to put ourselves in that situation, but if we get there, we know how to get ourselves out.

Next up, the Gators continue their road trip with a dual meet at Boise State on Sunday, March 11. Meet time is set for 4 p.m. (ET) in the Taco Bell Arena. The Florida at Boise State streaming video feed is a bonus meet for GatorVision subscribers. For more information, click on the GatorVision icon at www.GatorZone.com.