Florida Gators

The No. 1 Florida (2-1, 1-1 SEC) gymnastics team claimed a come-from-behind win over No. 17 Auburn (0-3, 0-3 SEC) Friday evening in front of a Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum crowd of 1,653. The Gators turned in a 195.25, while the Tigers posted a 194.75. The difference was the fourth consecutive time the Florida at Auburn dual meet margin of victory was 0.50 or less.

The Gators trailed the Tigers by more than six-tenths after the opening rotation and chipped away at the lead, taking a narrow 0.05 lead into the final rotation. A six-for-six balance beam set gave the Gators the meet's top six spots on the event and sealed the narrow win for Florida. The UF coaching staff reminded the team of last week's slender 0.025 loss to No. 2 Georgia and that the team needed to fight for every tenth.

“I was pleased with how we hung tough for balance beam,” UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said. “They didn't give up. That is something we talked about – fighting for every tenth because it is never over until it's over. I felt they did fight for every bit on beam and I'm proud of that. We will gain experience from it. It is a young team as far as depth goes and they just need to learn from it.”

Florida had its problems in the meet. For the second consecutive week, the Gators were forced to count a fall toward its team total. Prior to the Jan. 18 Florida versus Georgia competition, UF had gone 28 meets without counting a fall toward its team total. This time Florida's opening two floor exercise performers registered a fall during a tumbling pass and the team could only manage of 48.30 on the event.

Bars didn't start the meet off well for the Gators. One Gator fell and another caught her leg on her second release move, causing a sizable deduction that was kept Florida's score down to 48.475. Florida was led on the event by seniors Nicola Willis and Ashley Reed, as each turned in marks of 9.775 to share second overall. Auburn's A.J. Mills posted the high bars mark of the evening at 9.85.

The Gators shook off their slow start to use marks of 9.85 or above to post a team total of 49.35 on vault. Willis shared the meet title on the event with AU's Lindsey Puckett at 9.90. The mark ups Willis' collegiate-best from 9.85 last set in Florida 2008 season opener on Jan. 11. Reed and sophomore Courtney Gladys shared third at 9.875. Friday's performance marked the second consecutive week Gladys earned her vault collegiate-best mark.

Sophomore Amanda Castillo claimed at least a share of two event titles Friday. The Gator beam sweep was led by Castillo, who picked up her first beam title of the season by matching her season-best of 9.875. Reed and Corey Hartung shared second on the event at 9.85. Castillo shared the evening's floor exercise title with AU's Puckett at 9.85. Hartung finished third at 9.80.

For the third consecutive meet, a different Gator picked up the all-around win. Tonight, the title went to Reed, who posted a 39.275 to claim her ninth collegiate win.

Tonight's meet will air tape-delayed Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. on COX Sports (Cox Cable channel 67 in Gainesville/Ocala)and also airs tape-delayed Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. on CSS.

Next week, the Gators return home to play host to No. 10 Arkansas on Friday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. for Dodge and WGFL-CBS 4 Night. The first 500 fans, 12 and under, will receive a t-shirt courtesy of Dodge. U.S. National Team member Alicia Sacramone will be on hand to sign autographs for fans from 5:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. The Gator team will autograph posters post-meet. Check out the complete list of UF-Arkansas meet promotions here.