GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida gymnastics team closed 2017 regular-season action with a win over West Virginia Friday in front of 5,285 at the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
The Gators tallied a 197.60, equaling the team's fourth-highest total of the season. The Mountaineers' 196.10 was just off its season-best of 196.30 set at the end of January.
The Gator Event Winners:
The Gators swept Friday's event titles, with each apparatus win coming with a mark of 9.925 or higher.
Junior
Rachel Slocum nailed her handspring pike-front half twist vault for a 9.95 to claim her sixth vault of the season.
The final two Gator uneven bar performers shared the evening's event title at 9.925 –
Amelia Hundley and
Alex McMurtry. It was Hundley's fourth win on bars this season and McMurtry's third.
On the next rotation, McMurtry added another event title. She claimed the balance beam win by equaling her collegiate-best of 9.95 for the third time this season.
Junior
Kennedy Baker was nearly perfect in her return to the floor exercise lineup, taking the win at 9.975. It was Baker's third win in her four floor performances this season, with each of the five routines earning a 9.925 or better.
Freshman
Rachel Gowey claimed her first all-around win Friday at 39.275. She is the fourth Gator to win an all-around title this season, joining Baker, Hundley and
Alicia Boren. A Gator has taken the all-around win in nine of the team's 10 meets of the regular season.
Four different all-around winners matches the largest variety of winners in the program's history. Florida set the largest number of all-around winners in a single season in 1987 and equaled that total in 2007, 2008 and 2016.
GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:
- Slocum claims her sixth vault title of 2017 and her fifth of the last six meets. Seven of her nine vault performances in 2017 have score a 9.925 or better.
- McMurtry posted a 9.95 on balance beam tonight to take the win. She's posted her collegiate beam best mark eight times as a Gator and three times in 2017.
- Two Gators have combined to win the uneven bars title in seven of the nine previous meets. Tonight those two, Hundley and McMurtry, shared the bars win at 9.925. For the season, McMurtry has six wins on the event and Hundley now has three.
- Baker showed no signs of her four-meet layoff from floor competition, as tonight's 9.975 nearly equaled her school-record mark of 10.0 set in her third performance of the season. An ankle injury kept her out of the vault and floor lineups for the past few weeks, giving the injury time to heal.
- Florida has used five different gymnasts as all-arounders this season. Gowey is the fourth to claim an all-around win.
- Collegiate bests set or equaled by the Gators tonight: Sierra Alexander – vault (9.875), Hundley – beam (9.90), McMurtry – beam (9.95)
- Kennedy Baker returned to the Gators' balance beam lineup, posting a season-best 9.875.
SENIOR NIGHT:
Friday was Senior Day and two Gators were honored post-meet – senior
Claire Boyce and team manager
Lindsey Walker. Boyce, a two-time All-American, announced last month that her collegiate competitive career was over due to continued pain in her hip. She has now moved into a new role as student coach.
NATIONAL ANTHEM SURPRISES:
There were a pair of surprises during tonight's national anthem.
Luke Boyce stepped into the spotlight to sing the national anthem – a surprise that touched his sister, Claire.
She shared her surprise in the post-meet press conference.
"No, I did not [know he was singing]! It was a surprise. I was like, 'Luke Boyce? That kind of sounds like my brother's name!' I was shaking and I teared up," Boyce said. "It was amazing."
Baker quickly shed her Gator jacket after pre-meet introductions and stepped to the side of the floor exercise mat to take position as a Signing Gator. The Signing Gators present the national anthem in sign language at each Gator athletic event in the Exactech Arena.
"It's my second semester taking sign language, so I wouldn't say I'm fluent, but I could communicate if possible. I thought that it would be really cool if I could sign the national anthem, so I talked to the people that I needed to talk to, and they allowed me to do that," said Baker. "It was a really cool moment for me."
RECORDS: Florida (8-2, 5-2 SEC); West Virginia (12-8, 2-1 Big 12).
THE SERIES: Florida leads the series 32-1.
HEAR FROM THE GATORS:
On tonight's win in the regular-season finale:
"It was a very good night. It was an evening that I felt like this team was normal. I think last week we were a bit tired and fatigued. The energy was down a little bit. Tonight, we were back on track, which was really nice to see. We started off strong on vault, and that carried over to bars. I saw some very nice performances and details we've been working on – handstands, little things here and there. That was a really solid event overall. Beam was much better than it has been over the last couple meets – really nothing unusual and exactly what I see in the gym, which was really nice. We finished off with a solid floor performance.
"I think this team did a very good job in the last meet of the regular season. I know everybody's excited to move on to postseason, and I'm just really proud of what this team has accomplished this year." – Florida head coach
Jenny Rowland
On returning to Florida's lineup tonight:
"I really missed competing. It's really hard watching everybody and not being able to contribute. It felt really, really good to get out there and do bars, beam and floor. I was especially happy with floor even though I was really nervous. I'm just really excited to be back." – junior
Kennedy Baker
On how she felt physically:
"It was a bit sketchy the past couple of weeks, but I feel ready. I think that tonight was good for me moving forward this season. This was a really good confidence-builder. I did a pretty good job, and going into the postseason, I feel really good about not just me, but this team. We've definitely built off of each meet, and we're definitely getting to the peak." – junior
Kennedy Baker
On her thoughts about her performance:
"I was more focused on the team environment this week and really bringing the energy. Since I wasn't competing floor, I knew that's what I could do. With a full on vault, I found the landing. Every routine was a little bit better for me this week. I really wanted to put it together. I've been kind of psyching myself out on bars and putting more pressure on myself. Once you have a few mistakes, that tends to happen. I'm happy with my performance tonight and happy with the team outcome." – junior
Alex McMurtry
On winning her first-career all-around title:
"I'm just really glad with my performance. I'm happy I could finally put a meet together and do the best that I could do. I started out on vault. It wasn't the best that I have done, but it was a good start for us, and it started the rest of the team.
"Carrying over to bars, we kept the energy up, and we kept the focus. I think overall, it was just a really great meet for everyone." – freshman
Rachel Gowey
On being honored at Senior Night:
"There were definitely a lot of emotions, but I just wanted to be able to watch everyone have a great meet, and they did. That was really all I could have asked for. It was Senior Night, but it's about them and how the team does. I think they really crushed it and it was a good step into postseason." – senior
Claire Boyce
NATIONAL RANK:
Florida – Florida is No. 3 in the ninth
Road to Nationals poll. The rankings now listed by regional qualifying average (top two road, home and then next two highest totals. The high is discarded, with the total of the remaining scores divided by five to compute RQS).
WVU – The Mountaineers are No. 22 in the Road to Nationals poll.
UP NEXT:
The Southeastern Conference Championships return to the Sunshine State next Saturday. The 2017 SEC Championships is set for Saturday, March 18 in Jacksonville's Veterans Memorial Arena.
Results from the two sessions combine to determine the champion of the meet. Florida won its 10
th SEC title at the 2016 meet held in North Little Rock, Ark.
| SESSION |
TIME (ET) |
Teams (in seed order) |
| Session One |
2 pm |
Kentucky, Missouri, Auburn, Arkansas |
| Session Two |
6 pm |
LSU, Florida, Alabama, Georgia |
Florida is the No. 2 seed for the 2017 SEC Championships and will compete in the evening session.
Tickets range in price from $10-17. One ticket gets fans into both sessions. Purchase your tickets now via
TicketMaster.
Session II airs live on the SEC Network. Olympians Bart Conner and Kathy Johnson Clarke will call the action with Gator grad Laura Rutledge reporting from the sideline. The meet can also be seen on
SEC Network .
No. 3 Florida versus No. 22 West Virginia
Final Team Totals |
| March 10, 2017 – Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center (5,285) |
| Team |
Vault |
Bars |
Beam |
Floor |
Total |
| Florida |
49.450 |
49.350 |
49.425 |
49.375 |
197.600 |
| West Virginia |
48.900 |
48.950 |
49.075 |
49.175 |
196.100 |
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