The season has barely begun and her team is ever so young — 15 of the 24 routines in Friday night’s home meet with seventh-ranked Arkansas were performed by freshmen — but already Rhonda Faehn is seeing a toughness that has been missing the last couple of seasons. There was at least one major mistake on each of the four events in eighth-ranked Florida’s 196.575-195-925 win over Arkansas and in the past, that kind of shakiness would have sent shock waves reverberating through her gymnastics team but this group is different. They might be young, but they once again proved to Faehn that they are resilient and able to deal with adversity.
“We had so many errors tonight and we missed a lot of landings,” Faehn said and no missed landing seemed greater than the one by freshman Randy Stageberg when she overcompensated coming out of her final tumbling run and nearly ate the mat. That was the midway point of the floor routines and the 9.15 score the judges awarded Stageberg closed the gap considerably, drawing Arkansas close enough to score a huge Southeastern Conference win on the road if the Gators did what they would have done last year.
Instead of showing their nerves to the Stephen C. O’Connell Center crowd of 4.715, however, the Gators were unfazed. Freshman Marissa King followed with a 9.825 that could have been a 9.9 or better if she had cleanly stuck a couple of landings. Maranda Smith also came through with a solid 9.825 and then freshman Ashanee Dickerson cinched the win with a dazzling 9.9.
“On the floor, I think it really shows the mental strength of this team, especially after Randy made the mistake,” Faehn said. “Those final three were throwing extremely hard routines and they didn’t waver. That really shows the emotional maturity of the class. Ashanée was going up last and we knew she was going to hit, so that was a reassuring feeling.”
The same kind steady reaction to a mistake happened earlier on the uneven bars when Smith came through with a 9.85 to win the event immediately after Amanda Castillo scored a 9.35 after losing her grip and falling to the floor midway through her routine. It happened again on the beam when Stageberg followed up with a 9.85 after costly mistakes by Courtney Gladys scored a 9.4.
“That’s what showed us as a coaching staff tonight, that this team has talent but they also have the fight,” Faehn said with a beaming smile. It was only the second meet of the season but the kind of reslience and mental toughness to battle through adversity is what you expect of veteran teams, not ones that are going to have to heavily rely on freshman contributions.
Faehn’s fab freshmen (Dickerson, King, Stageman, Liz Green and Dali Lemazan) is the most talented recruiting class she’s ever signed and considered the top recruiting class in the country by CollegeGymFans.com. Headed by Dickerson, an explosive athlete who won her second straight all-around title with a 39.475 score that included the vault title with a 9.925 and a tie with Arkansas’ Jaime Pisani at 9.9 for the floor exercise title. Dickerson finished in a third-place tie on the balance beam (9.825) and had a solid fourth (9.825) on the bars. Dickerson became the first Florida freshman since former All-American Corey Hartung to win the all-around title in her first two collegiate meets.
For Dickerson, the night was special because competing in the O-Dome as a Gator has been a dream since she started coming to Florida gymnastics meets as a kid.
“I’ve been coming here since I was eight years old to watch the Gators and just to be out on the floor in a Gator leotard was a dream come true,” said Dickerson, who was cheered on by a rather large contingent of family, friends and former teammates from Gymnastics Unlimited in Jacksonville.
A week ago in a road loss to Oklahoma, Dickerson won the all-around with the second best score (39.35) in the entire nation. Her 39.475 figures to be among the nation’s best scores this week, too.
“I think she [Dickerson} is the best freshman out there,” Faehn said. “I think she’s the best freshman in the SEC.”
The freshmen were terrific but so were a couple of seniors and a junior. Smith, who is still on the mend from shoulder surgery last May, won the uneven bars and gave a steadying performance on the floor exercise when the Gators needed it the most. Rebekah Zaiser (9.825) teamed with freshmen Green (second place and 9.85) and Dickerson to steady the Gators on the beam, which was Florida’s lowest scoring apparatus (49.0). Junior Alicia Goodwin tied for second on the bars (9.85) and sophomore Amy Ferguson finished third on the floor exercises with a 9.85.
Getting the win was important after starting the season with a loss on the road last week, but seeing the resilience of her team when faced with adversity let Faehn know that this team has a chance to get stronger as the season moves along.
“It really is promising only for this season but for the future,” Faehn said.
The Gators go on the road next week to face 14th-ranked Kentucky in Lexington before returning to the Stephen C. O’Connell Center January 29 to face 16th-ranked LSU.