Gators Close Season, Finish Fourth at NCAA Championship
Gators head coach Jenny Rowland and freshman Skylar Draser at Saturday's NCAA Championship. (Photo: Molly Kaiser/UAA Communications)
Photo By: Molly Kaiser
Saturday, April 20, 2024

Gators Close Season, Finish Fourth at NCAA Championship

UAA Staff Report
The Gators gymnastics team came up short for the national title on Saturday afternoon.

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FORT WORTH, Texas — The Gators gymnastics team's bid for the program's fourth national title came to a close Saturday afternoon with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championship.

LSU claimed its first national title, followed by runner-up Cal, Utah and the Gators. Florida's 197.4375 score was well off the pace set by the Tigers (198.2250). Cal (197.8500) and Utah (197.8000) gave LSU a battle through three rotations before the Tigers closed with a school-record beam score.

LSU joins Alabama (6 titles), Georgia (10) and Florida (3) as the fourth Southeastern Conference team to win a NCAA Gymnastics team title. No other league has more than one team claiming titles – Pac-12 (UCLA, 7), Big 12 (Oklahoma, 6), Western Athletic (Utah, 9) and Big Ten (Michigan, 1). Utah, part of the Pac-12 since 2011, was a member of the WAC when it won its NCAA titles.
 
"Extremely humbled, proud, grateful for the opportunity that this team put themselves in a position to even be here this evening. It may not have been the exact outcome that we wanted but sometimes you don't always get what you want," Florida Coach Jenny Rowland said. "Just reflecting on a very memorable year. A year filled with peaks, a year filled with valleys, a year that there were so many people who doubted the Gators would even be able to be in this position. This team fought and continued to show up day after day, getting one percent better. I couldn't have asked for anything more."
 
THIS AFTERNOON'S MEET:
Florida was assigned Olympic rotation for Saturday's final. The vault landings didn't come as easily as Thursday with only Danie Ferris breaking 9.9, leading the team at 9.9125. Fellow freshman Skylar Draser led off with a 9.875 and senior Victoria Nguyen posted a 9.85. Florida tallied a 49.25 on vault.
 
Florida found those sticks on the next rotation with each of the six hitting her dismount. Draser equaled her collegiate best of 9.9 and Leanne Wong anchored with the day's winning mark of 9.95. Anya Pilgrim posted 9.8875, with Nguyen (9.875) and Sloane Blakely (9.8625) also adding into UF's bars total of 49.475.
 
   
Balance beam opened with two Gators equaling their collegiate best - first Draser (9.90) and then Blakely (9.95). Pilgrim earned a 9.875 and Ellie Lazzari anchored with a 9.85. Some balance checks and a miss dinged the scoring potential, as the Gators tallied a 49.2375.
   
The floor exercise lead-off and anchor led the Gators, with Nguyen starting off at 9.9125 and Wong finishing with the day's high floor mark of 9.95. Lazzari earned a 9.8875 with Blakely and Pilgrim contributing 9.8625s toward UF's total of 49.475.
 
EVENT WINNERS:
Vault Haleigh Bryant LSU 9.950
Mya Lauzon California 9.950
Uneven Bars Leanne Wong Florida 9.950
Grace McCallum Utah 9.950
Balance Beam Konnor McClain LSU 9.9625
Floor Exercise Leanne Wong Florida 9.950
All-Around Haleigh Bryant LSU 39.7125
eMjae Frazier California 39.7125
No 10.0s were awarded in 2024 NCAA semifinal or team final competition. The last time no 10.0s were scored at the NCAA Championship site was 2021.
 
GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:
  • Skylar Draser equaled two collegiate bests Saturday with 9.90s for both uneven bars and balance beam. She finished her freshman season with four consecutive beam 9.9s – all coming in NCAA Regional or NCAA Championship action. Draser started off the Gators' beam lineup with a 9.9 six times in 2024.
  • Sloane Blakely scored her collegiate beam best of 9.95 for the fifth time of her Gator career and for the first time in 2024 in today's NCAA Team Final. She shared second on the event Saturday. Blakely joins All-American Bridget Sloan (2013, 2014) as the only Gators with a 9.95 in NCAA Team Final competition.
  • Marks of 9.95 gave Leanne Wong both the day's uneven bars and floor exercise wins. She finished 2024 with a collegiate-high 23 event wins to lead Florida in 2024. She is 10th on Florida's Career Wins chart (61).
  • This is the second consecutive year Wong won bars in the NCAA Team Final, sharing the 2023 win with teammate Kayla DiCello at 9.975. A Gator has won at least a share of the NCAA Team Final bars title every year since 2021: Wong (2024), Wong/DiCello (2023), Trinity Thomas (2022) and Megan Skaggs (2021)
  • Collegiate bests today:
 




NEXT UP:
The NCAA Championships ends the 2024 collegiate gymnastics season. Four join the Gators next season.
Florida signed Lily Bruce and Taylor Clark in the fall. Skye Blakely also signed with the Gators in fall of 2022, but deferred enrollment until fall of 2024 as she looks to earn a berth on the 2024 U.S. Olympic team. In February, the Gators announced that Alyssa Orgen also joins the 2025 team.
 
No. 4 Florida at NCAA Semifinal II
Team Totals
April 20, 2024 – Dickies Arena
Team Vault Bars Beam Floor Total
LSU 49.400 49.450 49.7625 49.6125 198.225
California 49.500 49.500 49.4750 49.375 197.850
Utah 49.300 49.4375 49.475 49.5875 197.800
Florida 49.250 49.475 49.2375 49.475 197.4375
 


 
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