FORT WORTH, Texas – No. 2 Florida gymnastics won Thursday's second NCAA Championships semifinal to advance to Saturday's team final. That event airs at 1 p.m. ET on ABC.
Three NCAA individual event titles were won Thursday by Gator senior
Trinity Thomas – all-around, uneven bars and floor exercise. Three titles equals Bridget Sloan (2016) for the program's high for NCAA event titles in a single championship meet.
Two Southeastern Conference schools advance from the second semifinal to the NCAA Championships team final – Florida (197.975) and Auburn (197.8375). Joining Florida and Auburn in Saturday's final are the top two teams from Semifinal I - Oklahoma (198.1125) and Utah (197.7125).
Rounding out the opening semifinal results were Minnesota (197.1125) and Alabama (197.10) in the opening semifinal and Missouri (197.20) and Michigan (196.2875) in semifinal II.
SATURDAY'S TEAM FINAL:
Three different conferences are represented in Saturday's NCAA team final:
Big XII Oklahoma
Pac-12 Utah
Southeastern
Florida & Auburn
NCAA Team Final Rotation
| Starting Event |
Vault |
Bars |
Beam |
Floor |
| Team |
Florida |
Auburn |
Utah |
Oklahoma |
Tonight's Meet:
Florida showed a bit too much adrenaline in its opening event as there were extra steps on some Gator vault landings. A 9.9 by
Megan Skaggs and
Trinity Thomas led the Gators on vault .
After the opening four Gators on uneven bars, competition was stopped due to the weight anchors coming loose. The issue was corrected and the first routine following the delay was Thomas' winning mark of 9.975. Freshman
Leanne Wong and Skaggs also earned bars marks of 9.9125.
Florida was in third at the midway point of the meet, but finished with program best totals in NCAA competition on its final two events.
Four Gators earned balance beam marks of 9.9 or better – Thomas (9.937), Skaggs (9.9125),
Sloane Blakely and
Leah Clapper (9.90) – as Florida posted a 49.5125 on the event.
Every score put toward Florida's NCAA Championships record floor total (49.75) was a 9.925 or better. Thomas turned in the first Gator 10.0 on the event in NCAA competition. Florida also got a 9.95 from Wong, 9.375 from Skaggs and
Alyssa Baumann and a 9.925 from
Nya Reed.
Three Gators finished among the top five all-arounders overall – a first in NCAA competition since 2001 (UCLA). Thomas' 39.8125 equals the NCAA high in semifinal action set by UF's
Alex McMurtry in 2017 and equaled by Oklahoma's Maggie Nichols in 2018. Skaggs was third (39.6625) and Wong placed fifth (39.625).
EVENT WINNERS:
Scores are combined from both NCAA Semifinal sessions to determine event winners:
Vault: Jaedyn Rucker, Utah 9.9625
Bars: Trinity Thomas, Florida 9.975
Beam: Sunisa Lee, Auburn 9.9625
Floor: Trinity Thomas, UF 10.0
AA: Trinity Thomas, UF 39.8125
- Trinity Thomas (2022) and Bridget Sloan (2016) are the only Gators to win three individual titles in a single NCAA Championships.
- Thomas' 10.0 on floor exercise is the first in any event since the 2018 NCAA Championships. The last 10.0 for floor exercise in NCAA semifinal or team final came in 2005.
- Her 39.8125 equals the NCAA semifinal high set by Florida's Alex McMurtry (2017) and matched by Oklahoma's Maggie Nichols in 2018.
- Six all-around wins by four Gators in last 10 NCAA meets leads all programs.
- Three NCAA titles is tied for No. 14 among NCAA career leaders.
- Thomas is the 10th in the 40-year history of the event with three or more titles in a single NCAA Championship.
GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:
- Florida advances to its 18th NCAA team final (1994, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022). Florida won NCAA team titles in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
- Gators' team total of 197.975 is No. 2 for the program in NCAA Championships action, second only to the 198.175 which shared the 2014 NCAA title with Oklahoma. It is the fourth highest ever among all programs in NCAA semifinal competition.
- A program has placed three among the NCAAs top five all-arounders four times in event's 40-year history – Utah (1983), UCLA (2000 & 2001) and Florida (2022).
- Florida has the top two floor exercise event totals in NCAA history – 49.75 (2022 semifinal) and 49.725 (2013 NCAA Super Six)
- Nine graduates or 5th year competitors earned 16 All-America honors Thursday. Six of those honors were earned by Gator graduates Alyssa Baumann (1) and Megan Skaggs (5).
- Trinity Thomas' 10.0 on floor exercise extends her 2022 national lead to 11 perfect marks. That is second all-time nationally (No. 1: UCLA's Kyla Ross 14 in 2019; UCLA Jeanette Antolin also had 11 in 2004)
- Thomas' career total of 10.0s is now 19 – No. 8 in NCAA history.
- Collegiate bests tonight:
GATOR ALL-AMERICANS:
Five Gators earned 16 All-America honors in Thursday's NCAA semifinal competition. That equals the program high of 16 All-America honors set in 2012 and matched in 2013. That total also was tops among programs participating in 2022 NCAA semifinal action.
There were two gymnasts earning the maximum of five All-America honors – and both were Gators.
Trinity Thomas joins
Bridget Sloan (2016) as the only Gators earning All-America first-team honors in the five events in a single NCAA Championships. Graduate
Megan Skaggs joins Thomas, Sloan,
Kytra Hunter (2012) and
Alaina Johnson (2012) with five All-America honors in a single NCAA Championships.
Alyssa Baumann earns her third floor All-America honor in NCAA action (2022, 2021 and 2018).
Nya Reed collects floor All-America honors for the second consecutive season.
The U.S.'s top all-arounders at the sport's most recent highest level events both led all freshmen with four All-America honors each - 2020 Olympic all-around champion Sunisa Lee of Auburn and 2021 World Championships all-around silver medalist
Leanne Wong of Florida.
| 2022 Gator All-Americans |
| Name |
Event |
Semi I Score |
All-America team |
|
|
|
|
| Alyssa Baumann |
Floor Exercise |
9.9375 |
Second team |
|
|
|
|
| Nya Reed |
Floor Exercise |
9.925 |
Second team |
|
|
|
|
| Megan Skaggs |
All-Around |
39.6625 |
First team |
|
Vault |
9.900 |
First team |
|
Uneven Bars |
9.9125 |
Second team |
|
Balance Beam |
9.9125 |
Second team |
|
Floor Exercise |
9.9375 |
First team |
|
|
|
|
| Trinity Thomas |
All-Around |
39.8125 |
First team |
|
Vault |
9.900 |
First team |
|
Uneven Bars |
9.9750 |
First team |
|
Balance Beam |
9.9375 |
First team |
|
Floor Exercise |
10.0 |
First team |
|
|
|
|
| Leanne Wong |
All-Around |
39.625 |
First team |
|
Vault |
9.900 |
First team |
|
Uneven Bars |
9.9125 |
Second team |
|
Floor Exercise |
9.950 |
First team |
|
|
|
|
COACH ROWLAND SAID:
"I'm really proud of this team. Really great fight, great heart all the way through. Started a little a little slow as far as just tight, tense. They kept battling, kept fighting. We talked about taking small bites today and not looking at the huge picture of having to advance. Take those small steps, take those small bites and do what we know how to do.
"The Gators did a fantastic job of that. Taking our steps forward, staying in our Blue Zone, competing against the Florida Gators. That's all we can control. And this team did a great job of controlling the controllables and we get to keep dancing." – Florida Head Coach
Jenny Rowland
UP NEXT:
NCAA Championships team final air Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on ABC.
Apparatus video stream available with Olympic medalist & Gator Great Bridget Sloan (bars), Ashley Miles Greig (vault), Olivia Karas (beam) and John Roethlisberger (floor) calling the action.
No. 2 Florida at NCAA Semifinal II
Team Totals |
| April 14, 2022 – Dickies Arena |
| Team |
Vault |
Bars |
Beam |
Floor |
Total |
| Florida^ |
49.2375 |
49.475 |
49.5125 |
49.750 |
197.9750 |
| Auburn^ |
49.350 |
49.4375 |
49.475 |
49.575 |
197.8375 |
| Missouri |
49.2500 |
49.1125 |
49.425 |
49.4125 |
197.2000 |
| Michigan |
49.425 |
48.6750 |
48.7000 |
49.4875 |
196.2875 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| NCAA Semifinal I |
| Oklahoma^ |
49.3500 |
49.5750 |
49.5125 |
49.675 |
198.1125 |
| Utah^ |
49.4250 |
49.2125 |
49.6000 |
49.475 |
197.7125 |
| Minnesota |
49.2500 |
49.3875 |
48.9750 |
49.500 |
197.1125 |
| Alabama |
49.1250 |
49.2000 |
49.3250 |
49.450 |
197.1000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ^ advance to Saturday's NCAA Team Final |
|
|
|
