COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 2 Florida gymnastics team opened 2020 road action with a 196.85 – 195.60 win Friday at No. 19 Missouri.
Anticipation of severe winter weather led to the University of Missouri announcing campus closure for Friday. The icy rains likely led to the decision for many fans to tune in for SEC Network's Friday Night Heights coverage of the UF-MU contest.
TONIGHT'S MEET
Junior
Megan Skaggs led the Gators on their opening event with an uneven bars mark of 9.875, which placed second. Freshman
Payton Richards opened Florida's bars set with a collegiate best 9.85 to tie for third. The evening's bars title was claimed by Missouri freshman Helen Hu at 9.95.
Sophomore
Nya Reed matched her collegiate-best of 9.875 again to claim her second consecutive vault win. Richards took second on the event at 9.775.
Florida raised its season-high floor exercise total to 49.475 Friday. The three Gators with marks of 9.90 or better swept the floor awards.
Trinity Thomas won the event for the second consecutive week (9.95), while
Alyssa Baumann (9.925) and
Rachel Gowey (9.90) posted season-highs to claim second and third, respectively. Gowey's 9.90 equals her collegiate-best set last season.
Thomas claimed her second-straight balance beam title Friday with her mark of 9.925. Gowey shared second at 9.90 with MU's Hu.
GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:
- Trinity Thomas raised her career event titles total to 32 tonight with wins on beam (9.925) and floor (9.95)
- Nya Reed opens 2020 by winning vault in both meets. She equaled her collegiate-best of 9.875 in both outings.
- Four marks tonight equaled or set collegiate bests:
- Florida's 49.475 on floor is a season high.
- The 196.85 is Florida's fourth highest in a road opener.
WHAT THE GATORS SAID:
What message did you have for the team after the meet?
"They fought hard but we were too conservative from the get-go. That is something we need to improve. First road meet and lessons were learned. It is something we can work on.
"Starting off on bars is an easy event to get tight on. But bars is one of this team's strongest events. We need to start out on a great note and keep the energy going throughout the competition." – Florida Head Coach
Jenny Rowland
Preparing for LSU:
"We are going to keep trying to improve every day. That is our goal each day is to see where we can get better - mentally, in preparation, execution. We will learn a lot of lessons coming away from this competition. Everybody can do their gymnastics. Just not super sharp tonight. We will continue to grind and work on that in training. " – Florida Head Coach
Jenny Rowland
Two meets and two vault wins. What's led to your success?
"My focus in practice has been to get the landings because it was a struggle sometimes last year. I'm trying my hardest to see the landings and so far, so good. All the drills with Adrian [Burde – UF Assistant Coach] have been really paying off." – sophomore
Nya Reed.
First collegiate road meet:
"First road meet went well. It was super fun but was very different than home. I would say the atmosphere [was the biggest difference]. Coming in [to the meet] and having my teammates telling and walking me through everything was super helpful. Like staying in your own bubble and not focusing on the crowd or the other team. We need to stay focused on the team and who is next. Also, need to take each skill one at a time and being calm through the whole meet. It was fun." – freshman
Payton Richards
What was Coach Rowland's post-meet message to the team?
"We can improve but she's excited for where we are. We did have some mistakes, but she knows we can go out there and do our best." – sophomore
Nya Reed.
RECORDS: Florida (2-0, 2-0 SEC), Missouri (1-3, 0-2 SEC).
THE SERIES: Florida leads the series 26-1.
NATIONAL RANK:
Florida – Florida is No. 2 in the
Road to Nationals standings.
Missouri – The Tigers are No. 19 in the Road to Nationals rankings.
UP NEXT:
It's a top-10 matchup when No. 7 LSU visits Gainesville.
When: Friday, Jan. 24 at 7:15 p.m. ET
Venue: Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center
TV: ESPN2
Promotions: First 1,000 fans get a Gator gymnastics scrunchie.
First 500 UF students get a 2019 SEC Champions t-shirts
Tickets: Reserved - $8
General admission - $5 (adult); $1 (youth 12 & under)
UF Students w/ Gator1 ID – free
FloridaGators.com/Tickets
No. 2 Florida at No. 19 Missouri
Final Team Totals |
| Jan. 17, 2020 ● Hearnes Center (528) |
| Team |
Vault |
Bars |
Beam |
Floor |
Total |
| Florida |
48.925 |
49.125 |
49.325 |
49.475 |
196.850 |
| Missouri |
48.650 |
49.200 |
48.850 |
48.900 |
195.600 |
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