Freshman Marissa King led the Gators with a fourth-place finish in the vault during Saturday’s NCAA Gymnastics Individual Event finals held before a Stephen O’Connell Center crowd of 3,849. King also finished fifth on floor exercise while teammate Maranda Smith tied for fifth on uneven bars.
King’s performance Saturday was a nice ending for her first Florida campaign, especially after she struggled during NCAA Super Six team final.
“I was so proud, especially, with Marissa coming back from yesterday,” Florida coach Rhonda Faehn said. “For her to rebound today the way she did and to show her true spirit — her energy out there was just really captivating. It’s the best any freshman class has done in the Individual Event finals since I’ve been at Florida.”
The random draw had King as the first Gator to compete for an individual title. The vault format included each gymnast attempting two different vaults and the score was the average. A slight break in King’s first vault attempt — a Tsukahara one and a half — lowered her average to 9.825, good for fourth place. It’s the best NCAA vault finish for a Gator since Erinn Dooley tied for fourth in 2004.
“(Today) definitely lifted my spirits up,” King said. “I just decided that I was going to come out and really enjoy it — not focus on any of the scores. I couldn’t ask for anything more of my freshman year. I still didn’t know the whole aspect of being an All-American. It’s good, it sounds good.”
It was also the best finish for a Florida freshman in the NCAA vault final. Chantelle Tousek was eighth in 2004, and current senior Amanda Castillo tied for 13th in her freshman campaign.
Dickerson, who scored a 9.925 for her Yurchenko full, was slightly hurt by the 9.8 start value on her second vault, a Yurchenko layout, and finished with a 9.8 average. The two-time All-American finished two spots behind her fellow freshman.
“It was a great experience,” Dickerson said. “I had a lot of support from my teammates who were also doing event finals and the other girls who were doing the same event as me.”
Vanessa Zamarripa (UCLA) captured the vault title with her average score of 9.925 — scoring a 9.95 on her first vault and answering with a solid 9.9 on her second vault.
In her last uneven bars routine of her career, Smith tallied a 9.9 that included a perfectly stuck double front with half twist dismount. The four-time All-American landed in a two-way tie with Arkansas’ Casey Jo Magee for fifth.
”It was amazing, I’m really glad at how I finished out with bars,” Smith said. “Last night I had a really good vault and floor, so today I wanted to top it off with a great bar routine. I got a rush (when I landed) through my body and tears in my eyes because it was my last bar routine.”
Amanda Castillo nailed a 9.8625 for eighth place. Castillo’s appearance in the bars final made her the first Gator ever to appear in every individual event final over her career.
“Before my bar routine, I started to tear up,” she said, “So I told myself ‘Pull yourself together, Amanda, you have a bar routine to do. I just soaked it all in.”
Carly Janiga, from Stanford, took home the bars title with her score of 9.9375.
King, who advanced to the floor exercise individual final with a college-best 9.925 Thursday, scored a 9.8875. Despite a raucous crowd backing, Dickerson wobbled a bit on the landing of her last tumbling pass and took a 9.85. King got fifth, tied with Elfi Schlegel for the best on floor for a freshman in program history. Dickerson’s 10th-place finish rivals top freshmen floor finishes in school history. Betsy Hamm tied for 11th in 1998 and Corey Hartung tied for eighth in 2006.
“We really couldn’t have asked for more from our athletes,” Faehn said. “I’m just really proud of the way they finished.”
Brittani McCullough, another Bruin, took home the floor title with her score of 9.9375.
Susan Jackson, an LSU senior, won the balance beam title. As the last competitor, Jackson needed to best a 9.8875 held by Janiga and Courtney McCool from Georgia. The senior executed a near-perfect routine and received a near-perfect mark of 9.9625.
The 2011 NCAA Championships will be held April 14-16 in the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
NCAA WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Stephen C. O’Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
INDIVIDUAL EVENT FINALS
Vault: 1. Vanessa Zamarripa (UCLA) 9.9250; 2. Susan Jackson (Louisiana State) 9.8938; 3. Mandi Rodriguez (Oregon State) 9.8438; 4. Marissa King (Florida) 9.8250; 5. Sarah Shire (Missouri) 9.8188; 6. Ashanée Dickerson (Florida) 9.8000; 7. Kylee Botterman (Michigan) 9.7938; 8. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (UCLA) 9.7813; 9. (tie) Mary Atkinson (Arizona State), Blair Ryland (Stanford) and Ashley Lee (Louisiana State) 9.7625; 12. (tie) Brittnee Martinez (Michigan) and Jaime Pisani (Arkansas) 9.7188; 14. Anna Li (UCLA) 9.6688; 15. Geralen Stack-Eaton (Alabama) 9.6625; 16. Allison Buckley (Illinois) 9.5063; 17. Sharaya Musser (Penn State) 9.4813; 18. Lora Evenstad (Nebraska) 8.7563.
Uneven Bars: 1. Carly Janiga (Stanford) 9.9375; 2. (tie) Hollie Vise (Oklahoma) and Summer Hubbard (Louisiana State) 9.9250; 4. Susan Jackson (Louisiana State) 9.9125; 5. (tie) Maranda Smith (Florida) and Casey Jo Magee (Arkansas) 9.9000; 7. Anna Li (UCLA) 9.8750; 8. (tie) Amanda Castillo (Florida), Kayla Hoffman (Alabama) and Kassi Price (Alabama) 9.8625; 11. Daria Bijak (Utah) 9.8000.
Balance Beam: 1. Susan Jackson (Louisiana State) 9.9625; 2. (tie) Carly Janiga (Stanford) and Courtney McCool (Georgia) 9.8875; 4. Casey Jo Magee (Arkansas) 9.8750; 5. Kyndal Robarts (Utah) 9.8625; 6. Geralen Stack-Eaton (Alabama) 9.8500; 7. (tie) Jamie Deetscreek (Utah) and Brandi Personett (Penn State) 9.8375; 9. Kelsey Knutson (Michigan) 9.700; 10. Ashley Priess (Alabama) 8.8250.
Floor Exercise: 1. Brittani McCullough (UCLA) 9.9375; 2. (tie) Hollie Vise (Oklahoma), Sarah Shire (Missouri) and Brandi Personett (Penn State) 9.9000; 5. (tie) Marissa King (Florida) and Morgan Dennis (Alabama) 9.8875; 7. (tie) Annie DiLuzio (Utah), Vanessa Zamarripa (UCLA) and Natalie Beilstein (Michigan) 9.8750; 10. (tie) Ashanee Dickerson (Florida) and Jaime Pisani (Arkansas) 9.8500; 12. Casey Jo Magee (Arkansas) 9.8125; 13. Makayla Stambaugh (Oregon State) 9.7375.