Florida Gators

The No. 3 University of Florida gymnastics team (4-1, 3-0 SEC) collected a 195.475-194.45 win over No. 22 NC State (3-2) Friday in front of a Reynolds Coliseum crowd of 2,495.

Friday's meet was originally set as a triangular, but George Washington pulled out of the competition Thursday afternoon. As much as 12 inches of snow is predicted to hit the Washington DC area Friday evening, which would make return travel difficult for the Colonials.

To perform aggressively was the Gators' goal heading into Friday's competition. There were some bright spots and some areas that showed they still need some polishing, but UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn liked the way the Gators performed Friday.

“We actually had an overall very good performance. We still had some mistakes here and there, but I was proud with how they performed with a lot of heart. We felt that some of the routines were greater than what the score indicated, but they didn't let that inflate them.”

Another testing point for this young Gator team came as there were misses early in the uneven bars and balance beam lineups. The remainder of the lineup responded with hit routines, giving Faehn another reason to be pleased with how this Gator team is developing as the season progresses.

“I was proud of the way misses in the lineup didn't impact the remaining competitors. It was an uncharacteristic mistake by Ashan?e (Dickerson) on bars but everyone rallied and hit after that. Same on beam as Rebekah (Zaiser) fell as our lead-off. But the next five hit – six if you count Randy (Stageberg) who was performing an exhibition beam routine. This shows that this young team is very strong mentally.”

Florida opened the meet with its second-highest uneven bars total of the season, 49.125. The five routines used toward the team total all finished among the meet's top four scores. Two Gators used marks of 9.85 to pick up their first event wins of the season – senior All-American Amanda Castillo and freshman Marissa King. For King, it was her first title as a Gator and a collegiate-best mark. Junior All-American Alicia Goodwin used a 9.825 to take third.

Marks of 9.85 also gave the event win to a pair of UF vaulters. Senior All-American Maranda Smith shared the title with freshman Ashan?e Dickerson. It was Dickerson's third vault win of the season and Smith's second.

A pair of Gator freshmen led UF on the balance beam Friday. Liz Green picked up her third consecutive beam win at 9.825 and shared that title with Dickerson. It was Dickerson's first win on the beam. NC State's Jess Panza also posted a 9.825 to be among the tie for the evening's beam win.

Dickerson turned in a 9.825 in the evening's floor competition to take second overall. She has finished first or second on floor in each of Florida's five meets this season. Stageberg shared third overall at 9.80 with NC State's Panza and Brooke Barr. Taylor Seaman claimed the floor win for the Wolfpack with her mark of 9.90.

Barr took the evening's all-around title at 38.925. King was runner-up at 38.85 and Dickerson took third (38.70).

Next week, Florida travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face No. 1 Alabama on Feb.12. Meet time is set for 8:30 p.m. ET in the Coleman Coliseum. That meet will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on ESPN2 on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 11:30 a.m.