Florida Gators gymnastics defeats Missouri

Special report on the Florida Gators gymnastics team:

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 2 Florida gymnastics team opened 2020 road action with a 196.85 – 195.60 win Friday at No. 19 Missouri.

Anticipation of severe winter weather led to the University of Missouri announcing campus closure for Friday. The icy rains likely led to the decision for many fans to tune in for SEC Network’s Friday Night Heights coverage of the UF-MU contest.

TONIGHT’S MEET
Junior Megan Skaggs led the Gators on their opening event with an uneven bars mark of 9.875, which placed second. Freshman Payton Richards opened Florida’s bars set with a collegiate best 9.85 to tie for third. The evening’s bars title was claimed by Missouri freshman Helen Hu at 9.95.

Sophomore Nya Reed matched her collegiate-best of 9.875 again to claim her second consecutive vault win. Richards took second on the event at 9.775.

Florida raised its season-high floor exercise total to 49.475 Friday. The three Gators with marks of 9.90 or better swept the floor awards. Trinity Thomas won the event for the second consecutive week (9.95), while Alyssa Baumann (9.925) and Rachel Gowey (9.90) posted season-highs to claim second and third, respectively. Gowey’s 9.90 equals her collegiate-best set last season.

Thomas claimed her second-straight balance beam title Friday with her mark of 9.925. Gowey shared second at 9.90 with MU’s Hu.

GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:

*   Trinity Thomas raised her career event titles total to 32 tonight with wins on beam (9.925) and floor (9.95)
*   Nya Reed opens 2020 by winning vault in both meets. She equaled her collegiate-best of 9.875 in both outings.
*   Four marks tonight equaled or set collegiate bests:
*   Rachel Gowey – 9.90 (floor)
*   Nya Reed – 9.875 (vault)
*   Payton Richards – 9.85 (bars), beam (9.85)
*   Florida’s 49.475 on floor is a season high.
*   The 196.85 is Florida’s fourth highest in a road opener.

RECORDS: Florida (2-0, 2-0 SEC), Missouri (1-3, 0-2 SEC).

THE SERIES: Florida leads the series 26-1.

HEAR FROM THE GATORS:
What message did you have for the team after the meet?
“They fought hard but we were too conservative from the get-go. That is something we need to improve. First road meet and lessons were learned. It is something we can work on.

“Starting off on bars is an easy event to get tight on. But bars is one of this team’s strongest events. We need to start out on a great note and keep the energy going throughout the competition.” – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland

Preparing for LSU:
“We are going to keep trying to improve every day. That is our goal each day is to see where we can get better – mentally, in preparation, execution. We will learn a lot of lessons coming away from this competition. Everybody can do their gymnastics. Just not super sharp tonight. We will continue to grind and work on that in training.” – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland

NATIONAL RANK:
Florida – Florida is No. 2 in the Road to Nationals<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__roadtonationals.com_results_standings_season_2020_2_0_5&d=DwIFJg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=ewfSPhmDrFnol-ogy-QcveoWbEmuhnNCe1HnZ95vZu0&s=av2SIy_T6G_LgDwFWKVl95LlBh2hq6szPT7m0hb8dRw&e= > standings.
Missouri – The Tigers are No. 19 in the Road to Nationals rankings.

UP NEXT:
It’s a top-10 matchup when No. 7 LSU visits Gainesville.

When:                    Friday, Jan. 24 at 7:15 p.m. ET
Venue:                   Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center
TV:                          ESPN2<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.espn.com_watch-3Fid-3Db3d51570-2D2d34-2D429c-2Dba8b-2D88871253b702&d=DwIFJg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=ewfSPhmDrFnol-ogy-QcveoWbEmuhnNCe1HnZ95vZu0&s=LZ7kxlmlXgEsnWTHBZqBJf_KRDJY-vdk-XTZ4ZsO6sI&e= >
Promotions:        First 1,000 fans get a Gator gymnastics scrunchie.
First 500 UF students get a 2019 SEC Champions t-shirts
Tickets:                 Reserved – $8
General admission – $5 (adult); $1 (youth 12 & under)
UF Students w/ Gator1 ID – free
FloridaGators.com/Tickets<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_sports_2015_12_10_-5Ftickets-5Fgymnastics-5F.aspx&d=DwIFJg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=ewfSPhmDrFnol-ogy-QcveoWbEmuhnNCe1HnZ95vZu0&s=wuU3_AHrb31lWLJfPAocbrd2aVzbnmFOSxFtY556W_8&e= >

No. 2 Florida at No. 19 Missouri
Final Team Totals

Jan. 17, 2020 ● Hearnes Center (528)

Team

Vault

Bars

Beam

Floor

Total

Florida

48.925

49.125

49.325

49.475

196.850

Missouri

48.650

49.200

48.850

48.900

195.600

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.