The No. 8 University of Florida gymnastics team (3-2, 2-2 SEC) dropped a 196.80-195.825 decision Friday at No. 11 LSU (7-2, 2-2 SEC) in front of a Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 3,127.
UF opened the meet with a bar set that had some breaks, but no falls, resulting in a season-low 48.975. The middle of Florida's lineup led the Gators Friday, as juniors Amanda Castillo and Maranda Smith each stuck their landings to earn identical marks of 9.90. They shared second with LSU's Ashleigh Clare-Kearney. LSU junior Susan Jackson won the event with her mark of 9.925.
“It was a little bit of a rough start for us on bars. We really rely on that event to catapult us in the events that we have been a little bit rougher. There was the mistake by Melanie (Sinclair – caught her foot on first release) and then some really rough dismount landings,” UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said. “We really tried to build the team up mentally. I thought they came back strong on vault and floor.”
On vault, the Gators turned in marks of 9.80 - 9.85 throughout its lineup to tally a 49.175. Smith, junior Melanie Sinclair and freshman Nicole Ellis led UF on the event Friday with their matching marks of 9.85. They shared third overall with LSU's Gloria Johnson. Jackson, the defending NCAA vault champion, took the win at 9.90 while Clare-Kearney was second at 9.875.
Florida's floor performers posted a team total of 49.325 – its second-highest total of the season. The top score for the Gators was a 9.90 by both Hartung and Smith, which tied for second overall. Juniors Courtney Gladys and Sinclair also turned in marks 9.85, marking a collegiate-best for Gladys.
The Gators were able to put aside several delays during their beam set due to lengthy judge's conferences to turn in hit routines by their first five competitors. The result of one of those discussions was Gladys' beam score being reduced from a 9.825 to 9.525 after a three-tenths neutral deduction was taken when the springboard wasn't removed after her mount.
“The scores were not indicative of our performance on beam. I think it was actually our second-best performance of the season. Courtney (Gladys) did a phenomenal beam routine. The neutral deduction for the springboard seemed to come out of left field, but now we know. It won't happen again,” Faehn said. “Although there were lots of judge's conferences and start value issues that seemed to really slow up the momentum on beam, we had some nice routines tonight.”
Corey Hartung matched her season-best of 9.90 to earn her second consecutive beam win. She also took third in the all-around with her total of 39.325.
LSU's Clare-Kearney took the all-around (39.625) and floor (9.925) wins. Jackson was runner-up at 39.45.
Tonight's meet will air tape-delayed Saturday, Feb. 14 at 4 p.m. on SUN Sports.
Next week, Florida travels to Michigan State (4-6) to face the Michigan State Spartans. The meet is Saturday, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. ET.
