GAINESVILLE, Fla. – This is a trend the Gator gymnastics team wants to break. Top-ranked Louisiana State edged Florida 197.25 – 197.125 in front of a sellout crowd of 9,661 Friday evening at the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
The margin of victory – 0.125 of a point – marks the fifth time among LSU's last eight wins against UF (dating back to 2015 season) that 0.150 or less resulted in a Tiger victory.
Florida made its Friday Night Heights debut this week and the meet certainly provided great competition for the O'Connell Center crowd and those watching on the SEC Network.
The Gators led the meet after the opening rotation, but trailed LSU by 0.175 at the midway point. Florida only could gain a quarter of a tenth on each of the final two rotations, not enough to close the mid-meet gap.
Florida senior
Alex McMurtry won her second consecutive uneven bars title of the season with a 9.925. Sophomore
Rachel Gowey's 9.95 on balance beam equaled the high mark of the evening. That scored set her collegiate best to give Gowey her second consecutive beam win.
LSU's Lexie Priessman took the vault win at 9.925. Myia Hambrick used a 9.95 to win floor exercise. She also was the all-around winner at 39.55.
The win gives the Tigers a key win toward claiming the program's second consecutive regular-season title. 2017 was the first year the Southeastern Conference awarded a gymnastics champion for regular-season competition. The Tigers took the 2017 title with a 7-0 league record. Florida was runner-up at 5-2.
SELLOUT NOTES:
- Tonight's crowd of 9,661 is the first sellout in Gator gymnastics 46-year history. It is the fourth largest crowd for the program, as the O'Connell Center gymnastics capacity was larger before the venue's renovation prior to the 2017 season.
- Three Florida crowds came in at 10,000-plus – 10,855 vs Georgia (1-18-08), 10,651 vs Alabama (2-20-89) and 10,013 vs Georgia (1-24-14).
RECORDS: Florida (1-1, 0-1 SEC), LSU (2-0, 2-0 SEC).
THE SERIES: Florida leads the series 69-39.
HEAR FROM THE GATORS:
Thoughts on tonight's meet:
"This Gator team likes to keep it interesting. We did improve over a point from our last competition. We talked a lot about 'filling the bag' this week, which means making everything count – doing everything you can to control the controllables in order to be fulfilled in the end, no matter the outcome. This team did a good job fixing the little things that we needed to fix from the first meet.
"We worked together extremely well as a team. We still have a lot of new players this competition, which is a really exciting time for us. Our freshmen did a great job for us, there were a few mistakes, but it is okay, we have a long season ahead of us. Everyone is getting ready for postseason and that is when it counts."
"Most importantly, it doesn't have to deal with gymnastics; it has to do with coming together as a team. This team was close throughout the entire competition, I saw them arm-in-arm throughout the meet. That was something we missed last meet – the energy was low. But tonight, they brought the energy and Gator Nation really helped in that respect.
It was my first sellout, which was exciting.
"The team improved on a lot of things that they were able to control. There are still some jitters in competition, but that is going to come with time. Our seasoned veterans did a great job and Slocum had a little hiccup [on vault], but the team was there to pick her up." – Florida Head Coach
Jenny Rowland
On having so much depth:
"It has been a challenge this year, especially for the upperclassmen. They have never had to fight as hard as they have had to fight this year for a lineup spot. These freshmen came in ready to fight, determined and nothing is going to stand in their way. We are going to have the opportunity to rest some of our athletes a little more, which they haven't experienced much. We have a plan for everyone and we want to give everyone the opportunity to compete." – Florida Head Coach
Jenny Rowland
On tonight's close loss:
"I actually didn't watch a single LSU routine so I didn't necessarily know where they stood. What I was focusing on was where we were. You would have thought it was March or April with the team we had out there. We just had so much energy. So I was just proud of our team. Yeah, it was a bittersweet ending when we looked at the final score but I just can't get over how proud of the team I am." – senior All-American
Alex McMurtry
What can a close meet against LSU do for the team early in the season:"It can just give us more confidence. Yeah we didn't win everything, but we really are trying to be normal, that's been our goal. To do what we practice and if we keep doing that and keep learning to be confident as a team, have confidence in each other and most importantly have confidence in ourselves, we can take this meet and use it to better ourselves for each meet moving forward." – junior All-American
Alicia Boren
On freshman Alyssa Baumann's performance:
"Alyssa did a fabulous job. She is used to competing in front of a larger crowd, but it is a completely different atmosphere than what she is used to. She has her team behind her and 9,000 behind her and she handled it with a lot of poise and grace. I could tell before she went up on beam that she was nervous, but she was calm and collected." – Florida Head Coach
Jenny Rowland
On Megan Skaggs recovering from a miss on bars to score a 9.925 on floor:
"Definitely something that everyone learned from the last meet. As long as we are learning from our mistakes and moving forward, that is a good thing. As a freshman, it is difficult to do, but not only was Megan able to do it, but she anchored our floor team, so kudos to her." – Florida Head Coach
Jenny Rowland
What it was like to perform in front of a sold out crowd of more than 9,000."I couldn't even explain it … At the end is kind of when I hear the roar and it was just so exciting to have them cheering for me." – junior All-American
Alicia Boren
On what it was like to see the floor projections during the intros:"I couldn't even explain it. I was so excited. We had saw the beginning earlier in the week but we didn't get to see our headshots with confetti … It was amazing and we are spoiled to have that whole thing. It was just amazing." – junior All-American
Alicia Boren
On the competition with LSU…
"Obviously we wanted to beat LSU, but we improved so much before this meet. We had mistakes, but everyone had each other's back, and I think that was really important for this meet." – senior All-American
Kennedy Baker
On her floor routine…
"It was three seconds into the routine and I heard a huge roar, and I was like 'oh my God' and then I was just lit the whole routine. It was so much fun. I think this was the most fun routine I've ever had, and seeing my teammates fall when I whipped them was the icing on the cake." – senior All-American
Kennedy Baker
On her mistake during vault…
"I'm still trying to mull that over in my brain, but I think it was just a counting issue. It was a fluke thing, and I will definitely get it together before post season." – senior All-American
Rachel Slocum
[Background: Slocum balked on her first vault attempt as her steps on approach were off. On her second attempt, the steps still weren't correct. She didn't have the power or momentum to complete her front handspring pike-front half twist vault, resulting in a score of 8.55]
NATIONAL RANK:
Florida – The Gators are No. 7 in the
Road to Nationals rankings.
LSU – The Tigers are No. 1 in the Road to National rankings.
Friday was the 18th consecutive meeting between the two team that both brought a top-10 ranking.
UP NEXT:
Florida continues SEC action when it meets No. 6 Kentucky next Friday in the
Memorial Coliseum. Meet time is 7 p.m.
Friday's meet airs live on the SEC Network and can be found on WatchESPN.
No. 7 Florida versus No. 1 LSU
Final Team Totals |
| Jan. 12, 2018 ? Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center (9,661) |
| Team |
Vault |
Bars |
Beam |
Floor |
Total |
| LSU |
49.35 |
49.15 |
49.400 |
49.35 |
197.250 |
| Florida |
49.20 |
49.125 |
49.275 |
49.425 |
197.125 |
