The No. 1 Florida Gators return home to face No. 13 NC State and No. 23 Penn State in the fifth annual Gators Link to Pink Meet, presented by UnitedHealthcare. Meet time is set for 7 p.m. (ET) on Friday, Jan. 28 in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
The Link to Pink meet is part of a Southeastern Conference initiative to raise awareness about breast cancer prevention and treatment. Each of the league’s teams will participate in a “pink” meet this season, with each team wearing its own shade of pink. More than 9,000 fans turned out in support of last year’s meet at the O’Connell Center.
The first 1,000 fans will receive a Gators Link to Pink T-Shirt, courtesy of UnitedHealthcare, and a Link to Pink poster will be available to the first 500 fans. Complimentary admission passes can be picked up at any local Chick-fil-A restaurant.
Fans are encouraged to take the parking shuttle from the Lemerand Drive Commuter Lot on Friday. The bus will drop fans off at gate 2 of the O’Connell Center, with both gates 1 and 2 available for entry into the meet. The shuttle starts at 5:30 p.m. and will run until a half hour after the conclusion of the meet.
Florida is back from its first road meet in Baton Rouge, La., where the team picked up a 196.425-194.00 win against SEC rival LSU. Florida holds the No. 1 ranking (based on total season average) in the Jan. 24 Gym Info national rankings. The Gators have posted three of the nation’s top five totals through the first three weekends of the 2011 season.
All-American Ashanée Dickerson, ranked as the nation’s No. 3 all-arounder, claimed a share of each of the evening’s five event titles, which includes collecting her 10th all-around title. After her performance at LSU, Dickerson was named the SEC Gymnast of the Week – her second such honor of her career and her first of 2011.
Dickerson is the first Gator to sweep a meet’s event titles since former All-American Chrissy Van Fleet in 2000. The sophomore claimed sole possession of the balance beam (9.825), vault (9.90) and floor exercise (9.95) titles and shared the uneven bars win (9.80) with teammates Nicole Ellis, Alicia Goodwin and Elizabeth Mahlich and LSU’s Sarie Morrison.
NC State nabbed its first win of the season against then-No. 18 West Virginia last Friday in Raleigh, N.C. The Wolfpack’s Assistant Coach Colleen Johnson was an All-American during her Gator career (1992-95). Penn State also comes into Friday’s meet after claiming its first win of 2011 in its home opener, taking a 195.275-194.475 victory over New Hampshire. Penn State is led by Jeff Thompson, who is in his first year with the Nittany Lion program after leading Auburn for 11 years.
Tickets to this Friday’s meet are $4.00 for adults, while children 17 and under and UF students with Gator1 cards are admitted free.