Special report on the Florida Gators gymnastics team:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The fact the team standings were tied heading into the final rotation wasn’t lost to Gator seniors Nya Reed and Trinity Thomas.
No. 5 Louisiana State at No. 4 Florida was the nation’s top gymnastics meet of the weekend.
This is exactly what they’ve come to expect when these two league rivals face off in regular-season dual meet action.
“It’s something we’ve come to expect,” Reed said. “LSU is an amazing team. It’s been neck-and-neck each of my four years. It wasn’t a shocker.”
“I thought it made it just a little bit more fun, to be honest,” Thomas confessed.
In that final rotation, Florida used big floor exercise scores to take a 198.15 – 197.825 win. Florida’s score is the nation’s fourth highest so far this season.
Those floor scores included a 10.0 by Reed – her second of 2022.
Friday’s meet was held in front of a sellout and record Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center crowd of 9,682. It was Florida’s third consecutive sellout.
THIS EVENING’S MEET
Florida owned a slender lead of a two-tenths at the meet’s midway point. Trinity Thomas won her fourth vault title with a near-perfect 9.975. She shared the uneven bars win with fellow senior Savannah Schoenherr and LSU’s Haleigh Bryant at 9.95. Three Gators were among the five-way tie for third on vault at 9.90 – Megan Skaggs, Reed and Leanne Wong.
Florida’s balance beam total was dinged by a break the team was forced to count, allowing the Tigers’ to pull into a tie. Senior Leah Clapper anchored the lineup with a 9.95 to share the evening’s beam win with LSU’s Kiya Johnson. Wong was third after equaling her collegiate-best of 9.925.
A string of hit floor routines kept the scores building, as the Gators tallied the nation’s high team total for the event (49.80). Florida’s Super Seniors Skaggs and Alyssa Baumann set the tone by opening the rotation with a pair of 9.9s.
Wong put up Florida’s first near-perfect 9.975, which was matched by Thomas. Perfection was found between the two 9.975s as Reed posted her second floor 10.0 of the season. Freshman Sloane Blakely closed the meet with her collegiate-best 9.95.
Wong took her second all-around win at 39.65. Thomas was second (39.60) and LSU’s Kiya Johnson took third (39.575).
GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:
* Florida’s 198.15 is the fourth highest score of the season. It ties for No. 12 all-time for the Gators.
* Two of the nation’s top four scores of 2022 belong to the Gators – 198.25 (No. 2) and 198.15 (No. 4)
* Of the eight Gators to post a floor 10.0, Reed is the fifth to find floor perfection multiple times.
* Dating back to last season, Reed’s earned a 9.9 or above in six of her last eight vault performances.
* Reed’s 10.0 was her 18th consecutive mark of 9.925 or better on floor.
* With wins on vault and bars, Thomas now has 86 event titles. She moves into a tie for third on Florida’s Career Events Titles chart with Melissa Miller.
* Tonight’s crowd of 9,682 is an Exactech Arena record. The previous Exactech Arena of 9,661 was set when these two team met in 2018. This is the third consecutive meeting between these league rivals that was a Exactech Arena sellout. The two teams also sold out the 2018 and 2020 meetings in Gainesville.
* Collegiate bests tonight:
* Sloane Blakely: 9.95 (floor)
* Savannah Schoenherr: 9.95 (vault), 9.975 (bars)
* Nya Reed: 10.0 (floor)
* Leanne Wong: 9.90 (vault), 9.925 (beam), 9.975 (floor), 39.65 (all-around)
COACH ROWLAND SAID:
“This team did a fantastic job this evening. We had we had little ups and we had little downs. And that’s okay.
“Right now, it just showed consistently how resilient this team is so couldn’t be more proud of them. ” – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland
50th ANNIVERSARY OF UF WOMEN’S ATHLETICS:
Friday’s meet was Alumna Night. Around 30 gymnasts who competed for UF were back to celebrate Gator gymnastics and UF women’s athletics 50-year anniversary. Gymnastics is one of the five sports part of UF women’s athletics (golf, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, track & field) since the program’s start for the 1972-73 season. The Gators wore Florida Women’s Athletics 50th Anniversary shirts to warm-up for Friday’s meet.
Among the alumna present was Pam Titus who in 1991 was the first in collegiate history to earn a 10.0 on floor exercise. She congratulated Reed post-meet on her latest 10.0.
RECORDS: No. 4 Florida (8-0, 5-0 SEC)
No. 5 Louisiana State (3-1, 2-1 SEC)
THE SERIES: Florida leads 74-42.