Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida's team win Friday in the Gators Link to Pink was dampened by an injury to the meet's final competitor, senior All-American Kennedy Baker.
 

Hey you guys?? unfortunately my Achilles is torn. I love you all so much.... this is not the way that I wanted to end my senior season, but there's no way I could've made it this far without all of your support. Thank you guys for being the best fans in the world??

— Kennedy Baker (@KennBaker15) February 24, 2018

Baker, who earned her third career 10.0 on floor exercise in her last performance in the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on Feb. 9, tore her Achilles tendon on her second tumbling pass and was carried off the floor exercise mat by UF medical staff. She will have surgery next week to repair the season-ending injury.
 
Meet Wrap-Up
The Gators took the win tonight at 197.725, which stands as the nation's 10^th highest mark of 2018. Arkansas turned in its high road score of 196.875.
  
Three of the nation's top 10 team totals now belong to Florida – No. 2 198.15 (Jan. 26), No. 8 197.85 (Feb. 9) and No. 10 197.725 (Feb. 23).
 
The Gators swept the event titles Friday, including junior All-American Alicia Boren taking her fourth consecutive all-around win at 39.525. Boren also won floor at 9.95.
 
Alex McMurtry shared each of the meet's opening three events with a Gator named Rachel. She and fellow senior All-American Rachel Slocum tied at 9.95 for the vault win. Florida's other Rachel, sophomore Rachel Gowey, shared the uneven bars (9.925) and balance beam (9.95) titles with McMurtry.
 
GATOR NOTABLES:

• Seven Gators turned in 12 season and/or collegiate best marks Friday
• Florida opened the meet with season-best team totals of 49.525 on vault and bars
• McMurtry's three wins tonight give her 61 event titles for her career. She is one of eight in the program's 46-year history to total 60 or more event titles.
• Boren now has 10 all-around wins. She is one of 12 in UF's history to win 10 or more all-around titles.
• Slocum posted her season-best vault (9.95) on her 22^nd birthday. The O'Connell Center crowd of more than 8,000 sang "Happy Birthday" to her after the first rotation
• Gowey claimed two meet event titles for the second time this season, as she also won bars and beam at Kentucky. Her 9.95 on beam equaled her collegiate best set versus LSU on Jan. 12.
• McMurtry received her third perfect vault mark of 2018 with the 9.95 on her Yurchenko full (9.95 start value). She also received a 9.95 for the same vault at Auburn and a 10.0 for her Yurchenko double (10.0 start value) versus Oklahoma.
• Tonight's crowd of 8,321 stands as No. 12 in the program's history.

 


RECORDS: Florida (7-1, 5-1 SEC), Arkansas (2-8, 2-5 SEC).
 
THE SERIES: Florida leads the series 40-3.
 

#GatorsWin! Way to go @GatorsGym on Link to Pink night! #GoGators pic.twitter.com/Jc8YDDmBJi

— Florida Gators (@FloridaGators) February 24, 2018

 
ABOUT LINK TO PINK:
Tonight was the 12^th Annual Gators Link to Pink meet. These meets are part of a Southeastern Conference initiative and most of the league's teams will participate in a "pink" meet this season. Team colors are set aside as the teams wear pink to show their support for the breast cancer fight.


 
HEAR FROM THE GATORS:
Thoughts on tonight's meet:
 "Overall this team did a fantastic job tonight. Before we started the competition, our Gator of the Day was Kennedy [Baker] and she talked about family with this team. She has their backs and they have her back. That's the core of this team this year, of these athletes this year. They did a fantastic job of building off of each other all the way through from beginning to end tonight – performance after performance. The little details we have been working on in practice really shone through tonight, so that was really awesome to see.
 
"We have been working on rhythm. These athletes are spectacular and perfectionists, so there are times when we have to dial it back and distract them from things other than what they have to do perfectly and rhythm is a good way to do that. They did a fabulous job supporting each other, executing and having fun out on the competition floor. We are very thankful to have that support from Gator Nation tonight." – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland
 
On Alex [McMurtry] returning to floor:
 
"In my opinion, she has adjusted very well. Knowing Alex over the last two years and how she has evolved during that time, she did a spectacular job both tonight and last week leading up to floor. Very proud that she was able to focus and concentrate on each event in that moment. This week it may have been a little too early for her, she ran out of juice at the end, however, she fought hard and fought through and had three great events leading up. She has handled it better and better each year." – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland
 
On the inspiration from the breast cancer survivors:
"It is one of the most memorable of our seasons that I have experienced at Florida. I explained to our team, especially our freshmen, to prepare them for the fulfillment of emotions that they will probably experience. I wanted them to be prepared and ready for that. The empowerment is an amazing feeling and it is a platform that these athletes have the ability to raise awareness for. They did a fabulous job and we are so thankful to have all of those women down on the competition floor supporting us." – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland
 
On her performance tonight:
"I thought I had a really good night. I definitely started not as well as I could have and wanted to on vault, but Jenny said 'breathe. Take it one thing at a time, and put a smile on your face. Get ready for the next event because it's over.' And I tried my best to do that. I did okay on bars, and I did a better job of doing it on beam, and then I got to floor." – junior All-American Alicia Boren
 
On the Link to Pink meet:
"It definitely means a lot because I know that we compete for ourselves and each other as a team; we're doing this for each and every one of them, and we're doing it for the Gator Nation. And now we have a bigger audience that we can do it for, the survivors of breast cancer. They have this fight that they go through, and it's nice to be able to help them go through that and be able to do this for them." – junior All-American Alicia Boren
 
On her performance tonight:
"Starting on vault is always a great start for us. So I was definitely hyped by everyone in front of me, and I just went up there and did my job that I was supposed to do. Then rounding out on floor felt really nice. It was great. Everyone's energy was really high." – senior All-American Rachel Slocum
 
On the Link to Pink meet:
"We think we have struggles just being college students, but they are definitely fighting a harder battle than us. So to see their strength really empowers us to do our best." – senior All-American Rachel Slocum
 
On her performance tonight:
 "I think I just went into the night with confidence in myself knowing I had a really good week in the gym. Just working on the details, the dismounts, the sticks and the presentation of my routine. So I think going out tonight and having a lot of confidence in myself and knowing that we're home, and we have the Gator Nation behind us was really cool." – sophomore Rachel Gowey
 
ROAD TO NATIONALS RANK:
Florida – The Gators are No. 5 in the Road to Nationals rankings.
Arkansas – The Razorbacks are No. 11 in the Road to National rankings.
 
UP NEXT:
Florida finishes Southeastern Conference regular season action at No. 20 Missouri next Friday. The meet is available via SEC Network + at 7:45 p.m. ET.
 

Florida Event Winners Friday
Vault:	Rachel Slocum	9.95
	Alex McMurtry	9.95
Uneven Bars	Rachel Gowey	9.925
	Alex McMurtry	9.925
Balance Beam:	Rachel Gowey	9.95
	Alex McMurtry	9.95
Floor Exercise:	Alicia Boren	9.95
All-Around:	Alicia Boren	39.525

 

No. 5 Florida versus No. 11 Arkansas Final Team Totals
Feb. 23, 2018 – Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Memorial Coliseum (8,321)
Team	Vault	Bars	Beam	Floor	Total
Florida	49.525	49.525	49.575	49.100	197.725
Arkansas	49.125	49.375	49.150	49.225	196.875