Florida Gators

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – In a dual meet which featured two teams that won the last four NCAA Championships, it was Alabama taking the win tonight in front of a Coleman Coliseum crowd of 13,778. The Tide posted a season-high 197.40 while the Gators turned in a 196.80.

Florida had no falls in their uneven bars lineup, but handstands not to vertical and steps on dismounts hurt the Gators marks Friday. Freshman Alex McMurtry led UF on bars with a 9.825. Vault got off to a good start when senior Kiersten Wang opened competition by matching her collegiate-best of 9.9. Senior All-American Kytra Hunter's season-best of 9.975 shared the event title with Alabama's Katie Bailey. McMurtry took third with her 9.95.

Florida's final two floor exercise performers – Hunter and Bridgette Caquatto – led the team on the event. Hunter's season-best 9.975 gave her the event title and Caquatto posted a 9.9 to share second overall. On Florida's closing event, balance beam, the Gators again looked hesitant, leading to balance checks and wobbles which dinged the team event total. Sophomore Claire Boyce used a 9.90 to share the event title with Alabama's Katie Bailey.

Hunter collected her third consecutive all-around title Friday with a season-best 39.55. She has won all-around in each of Florida's 2015 competitions.

Gator Performance Notes:

·         Hunter won vault and floor with season-best marks of 9.975. It was the 25^th floor win of her career and the 18^th vault victory. The 9.975 on floor equals the nation's high on the event entering this week.

·         Hunter's all-around win is the 15^th of her career. The win puts her in sole possession of eighth place on UF's Career All-Around Victories chart.

·         Boyce's beam win tonight is the third for the sophomore and her second win on the event in Coleman Coliseum. She won her first last season when she set her collegiate-best of 9.925 at Alabama on Feb. 28, 2014.

Records: Alabama (2-1, 1-1 SEC), Florida (2-1, 1-1 SEC).

The Series: Alabama leads 70-37-2.

Quotes:
On tonight's performance:

“We started off on bars and really dug ourselves a big hole. We were really timid and held back. I don't think we got one landing. When you start off that way, it takes the emotional energy to another level for the team. A couple of the vaults were not as great as usual. Kytra [Hunter] and Alex [McMurtry] did a great job on vault and Kiersten's [Wang] was really good, but the rest of them were not up to what they were capable of.

“When I look at the entirety of the competition, we probably only hit five of the 24 routines cleanly. That is frustrating. But this was our first road competition of a challenging magnitude and it's important for these athletes to be in that environment. We have a very young team and they need to learn. I'm also looking for the upperclassmen to step up, show some energy and compete aggressively. The gymnasts need to look at their performances to figure out if they responded how they wanted to or if not, then learn from it. We have other road competitions that will be equally, if not more, challenging than tonight.” - Florida Head Coach Rhonda Faehn

Building on this experience:

“Two years ago, we were at LSU for our second meet and lost. We competed timid and I was not happy with our performance. Last year we came here to Alabama and again we competed timid. I didn't like our performances on bars and beam that night. Those experiences made our team stronger and better. This is something very similar. We've got to get our athletes more consistent. We've got to learn from this and the only way they can learn is to experience it first-hand.” - Florida Head Coach Rhonda Faehn

Alabama Event Winners:

Miss the SEC Network Live Broadcast?

Friday's broadcast of the Florida at Alabama meet re-airs on the SEC Network on the following dates and times:

·         Jan. 24 at midnight ET

·         Jan. 24 at noon ET

Find what channel the SEC Network is on in your area with the SEC Network Finder site.

National Rank:

Florida – Florida is No. T-1 in the Jan. 19 GymInfo rankings. The current rankings are based on total season average.

Alabama – The Tide is No. 7 in the GymInfo rankings.

Up Next:

The Gators return home to play host to No. 10 Georgia (1-2, 1-0 SEC) on Friday, Jan. 30 in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The first 500 fans Friday receive light-up sunglasses. You'll want to be in the O'Connell Center stands wearing your new shades by 6:45 p.m. to welcome the Gators to the arena.

Georgia plays host to Kentucky Saturday, Jan. 24 at 4 p.m.

The Florida-Georgia dual will air live beginning at 7 p.m. ET on the SEC Network (Gainesville/Ocala Cox cable channel 68 or 1068). A live stream can be seen at SEC Network+ for all SEC Network subscribers.