Gators ready to compete for NCAA championship

FORT WORTH, Texas - For the first time in the history of NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, a pair of teams - Florida and Oklahoma - look to defend the NCAA title they shared in 2014. And for the Gators, they seek their third-straight title, winning their first in 2013. The NCAA Gymnastics Championships makes its first appearance in the Lone Star State, as the 2015 edition is set for April 17-19 in the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

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NCAA Championships Info:

No. 2 Florida (12-5, 5-2 SEC) at NCAA Championships

Date & Time: April 17-19, 2015

Site: Fort Worth Convention Center Arena<http://www.ncaa.com/championships/gymnastics-women/nc/venue-info> (11,200)

Friday, April 17
Team Semifinal
Semifinal I - 2 p.m. (ET)
Florida, UCLA, Georgia, Michigan, Stanford, Utah

Semifinal II - 8 p.m. (ET)
Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon State

Sunday, April 19 at 3 p.m. (ET)
Individual Event Finals

Florida's NCAA Championships' history<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/history/ncaa_championship_results.php>

Live scoring: live scoring available at Gatorzone.com<http://www.gatorzone.com/> or NCAA.com

Streaming Video:
April 17
NCAA.com at 2 p.m., ET & 8 p.m. ET

April 18
ESPN3 at 7 p.m. ET

April 19
ESPN3 at 3 p.m. ET

Television:
Super Six Championships        April 29 at 7 p.m. ET
Individual Event Finals:            April 29 at 9 p.m. ET
Commentators: Bart Conner and Kathy Johnson Clarke

2015 NCAA Gymnastics Championships Information Site<http://www.ncaa.com/championships/gymnastics-women/nc>

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Florida Gymnastics<https://www.facebook.com/Floridagymnastics>
Florida Gators<https://www.facebook.com/FloridaGators>

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@GatorZoneGym<https://twitter.com/GatorZoneGym>

@GatorZoneNews<https://twitter.com/GatorZoneNews>

@UFCoachRhonda<https://twitter.com/UFCoachRhonda> (Rhonda Faehn)

To move ahead to Saturday's Super Six final where the national team champion is determined, the Gators need to be among the top three teams in its semifinal session on Friday. Florida starts Semifinal I competition on floor exercise. Start time for Semifinal I is set for 2 p.m. ET and the action streams live on NCAA.com.

Florida has qualified for the NCAA Championships 33 times, missing only the 2000 event. The Gators advanced to the 2015 national stage by winning the Morgantown Regional, held April 4 in the West Virginia University Coliseum. This is the fifth time Florida enters the NCAA Championships ranked No. 2, as UF was the second seed in 2010, 2008, 1998 and 1984. Florida entered the last three NCAA Championships as the No. 1 seed.

What happens in Friday's competition?
What's determined in Friday's competition are the teams advancing to the Super Six team final, the NCAA all-around champion and the gymnasts moving ahead to Sunday's individual event finals. The top three teams in each of Friday's sessions advance to the NCAA Super Six on Saturday, April 18 at 7 p.m. (ET). The winner of the Super Six is the NCAA team champion. The NCAA Super Six format began in 1993 and Florida's advanced to the team final 12 times. Nine of UF's NCAA Super Six appearances have come since Rhonda Faehn<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/coaches_bios/faehn_rhonda.php> took over the Gator program for the 2003 season.

The all-around champion is the individual with the top total after results from both semifinal sessions are combined. Two who have claimed the NCAA all-around title are Gators - - Kytra Hunter<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/hunter_kytra.php> (2012) and Bridget Sloan<http://www.gatorzone.com/guides/gymnastics/pages/season_info/player_bios/sloan_bridget.php> (2013). To advance to the NCAA Individual Event finals, competitors must place in the top four (including ties) in their session on Friday. A Gator has won a total of 11 NCAA individual titles and two are part of the 2015 Gator team -Hunter (all-around & vault/2012) and Sloan (all-around & beam/2013; uneven bars/2014).

Who's in the Field?
This is the second year a team's seed holds through NCAA Regional and Championship competition. Teams 1, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 12 were placed in Friday's second semifinal and teams 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 and 11 were placed in the first semifinal. Of the six teams that have won NCAA team titles in the meet's 33-year history, four (UCLA, Florida, Georgia, Utah with 27 titles combined) are in NCAA Semifinal I.

Florida has met six of the teams qualified for the NCAA Championships. UF owns a 2015 record of 7-5 versus the field.

Semifinal I (2015 result vs. UF)
Semifinal II (2015 result vs. UF)

No. 2 Florida
No. 1 Oklahoma (UF 0, OU 1)
No. 3 Utah
No. 4 LSU (UF 0, LSU 2)
No. 6 Michigan
No. 5 Alabama (UF 0, ALA 2)
No. 7 UCLA
No. 8 Auburn (UF 2, AU 0)
No. 10 Georgia (UF 2, UGA 0)
No. 9 Nebraska
No. 11 Stanford (UF 1, SU 0)
No. 12 Oregon State

Last year in Birmingham:
Last season, Florida and Oklahoma shared the NCAA Championship at a NCAA Super Six meet record 198.175<http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=27975>. It was the first national team title tie in any sport since the NCAA began sanctioning women's championships in the 1981-82 season. The Gators became the fifth team to raise the NCAA trophy in 2013 and the Sooners became the sixth in 2014. The Gators moved from third to a tie for first in the 2014 Super Six final rotation to claim a share of their second consecutive team title.

How to follow the action:
A complimentary video stream of Friday's semifinal action can be found at NCAA.com.
ESPN3 will stream the action on Saturday and Sunday.
Live scores can be found on NCAA.com or GatorZone.com.
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.