Gators Gymnastics ready for SEC Championship meet

Special to GC

DULUTH, Ga. – The Florida gymnastics looks to claim its 10th Southeastern Conference Championships Saturday at The Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia.

With the addition of Missouri to the league in 2013, the format for the SEC Championships is now two four-team sessions. Teams seeded No. 5-8 (based on March 16 regional qualifying scores) compete in Saturday’s opening session at 2 p.m. ET followed by seeds 1-4 at 6 p.m. ET. Scores from the two sessions are combined to determine the team and event champions. As the top seed in the evening session, Florida earned the Olympic rotation (vault-bars-beam-floor) for Saturday’s competition.

The 2015 SEC Championships streams live on SEC Network+. The championship airs tape-delayed on ESPNU March 26 at 5 p.m. and again March 27 at 3:30 a.m. ET. The meet also airs on ESPN2 March 28 at 1 p.m. ET. The meet re-airs five times on the SEC Network, beginning March 24 at 9 p.m. ET.

About the 2015 SEC Field:
Five of the nation’s top-10 teams (No. 2 Florida, No.3 LSU, No. 5 Alabama, No. 8 Auburn and No. 9 Georgia) are among the eight-team SEC field. Of the nation’s top 20 team scores posted this season, nine came from SEC programs, including six of the top 10.

In addition, an all-around total of 39.60 or above has been posted 35 times this season among the nation’s collegiate gymnasts – and SEC gymnasts have 18 of those marks. The nation’s top three all-around totals of 2015 have been turned in five times by (and only) SEC gymnasts.

Florida in the regular-season finale:
Florida used the nation’s top total of last weekend to finish regular-season action with a 197.90-193.40 home win over Texas Woman’s University. Junior All-American Bridget Sloan<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/sloan_bridget.php> completed her “GymSlam” with her uneven bars 10.0. She is the first Gator in the program’s 43-year history to earn a 10.0 on each apparatus. Sloan is the seventh collegiate competitor to complete a “GymSlam” and the first since Georgia’s Courtney Kupets, who finished her career in 2009. Sloan also returned to the vault lineup – her first appearance since scoring a vault 10.0 at the Jan. 11 season opener – and won the event title at 9.95.

Sophomore Claire Boyce<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/boyce_claire.php> returned to the balance beam lineup to use a 9.925 to take her fifth win on the event this season. She sat out last week’s beam competition to rest a muscle pull.

Senior All-American Kytra Hunter<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/hunter_kytra.php> collected both the floor exercise (9.975) and all-around (39.675) titles in her final Stephen C. O’Connell Center appearance. The all-around win is the 20th of her career and the eighth of the season. She is also one away from tying Florida’s record for career floor wins, which stands at 29. Hunter is the nation’s top all-arounder, based on regional qualifying score and is the only gymnast who appears among the top 25 on each of the five event rankings.

SEC Weekly Honors go to Kytra Hunter and Bridget Sloan
For their performances in the regular-season finale, Hunter picked up her fourth SEC Gymnast of the Week honor and Sloan shared the SEC Specialist of the Week award<http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=30152> with LSU’s Lloimincia Hall.

At least one Gator has picked up league honors in nine of 10 weeks of the regular season - SEC Gymnast of Week: Hunter-Week IV, VI, IX and X; Specialist of the Week: Sloan-Week I and X; Alex McMurtry<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/mcmurtry_alex.php> -Week II; SEC Freshman of Week: Kennedy Baker<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/baker_kennedy.php>-Week II, IV, VI and VIII; Ericha Fassbender<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/fassbender_erica.php> Week V; McMurtry Week VII).

At the 2014 SEC Championships:
The Gators were second at the 2014 SEC Championships held in Birmingham, Alabama. Florida’s held a 0.125 lead over Alabama heading into the final rotation. The Gators’ floor scores couldn’t keep pace with Alabama’s bars marks, as the Tide turned in a meet-record of 49.65 on their finishing event. Alabama won its eighth SEC title at 197.875 while Florida was second at 197.70. LSU was third at 197.325, followed by Georgia (197.15), Auburn (195.55), Kentucky (195.075), Arkansas (194.90) and Missouri (194.65).

For the third consecutive year, a Gator claimed the SEC all-around title, as Bridget Sloan<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/sloan_bridget.php> took her second consecutive league crown at 39.70. Teammate Kytra Hunter’s<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/hunter_kytra.php> 39.65 was second. Hunter also won the SEC balance beam (9.925) and shared the floor title (9.95). It was her second consecutive SEC floor win. Both were joined on the All-SEC team by 2014 seniors Mackenzie Caquatto<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/caquatto_mackenzie.php> and Alaina Johnson<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/johnson_alaina.php>.

Saturday’s Meet Info:

No. 2 Florida (7-3, 5-2 SEC) at Southeastern Conference Championships

Date & Time: Saturday, March 21

2015 SEC Competition Schedule
Start Evt ►

V

UB

BB

FX

2 p.m. ET

UGA

ARK

UK

MU











6 p.m. ET

Florida

LSU

ALA

AU


Session I – 2 p.m. ET (Seeds 5-6-7-8)
Session II* – 6 p.m. ET (Seeds 1-2-3-4)
*Florida’s session

Site: The Arena at Gwinnett Center<http://www.gwinnettcenter.com/events/detail/2015-sec-gymnastics-championship> (11,000)

Video Stream: live video stream available at SEC Network+
Session I link<http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/2359504/SEC-Gymnastics-Championship>
Session II link<http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/2359505/SEC-Gymnastics-Championship> (includes UF)

Live stats available on GatorZone.com

Television: airs tape-delayed on ESPNU (Gainesville/Ocala Cox cable channel 1251) on March 26 at 5 p.m. ET and again on March 27 at 3:30 a.m. ET and on ESPN2 (Cox cable 27 or 1027) on March 28 at 1 p.m. ET.

Meet airs tape-delayed five times on SEC Network (Cox cable 68 or 1068) – March 24 – 9 p.m. ET; March 25 – 1 a.m., 5 a.m. and noon ET and March 30 at 9 p.m. ET

Florida in the SEC Championships: Gators have won nine SEC Championships - 1982, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’89, ’07, ’10, ’12, ‘13
Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.