After seven weeks of tweaking and tinkering, it appears that Florida gymnastics coach Rhonda Faehn has finally found the right lineup and it showed in the No. 6 Gators’ 196.875-195.625 victory over No. 8 Alabama Friday at the O’Connell Center.
The Gators (5-2 overall, 3-2 SEC) excelled on every apparatus against the Crimson Tide (3-4, 1-4 SEC) in recording their highest total of the season, eclipsing the 196.85 points in a victory at Michigan State. After dismal performances against Arkansas and Louisiana State, Faehn solidified her lineup and has utilized different practice routines to place more pressure on her gymnasts.
Derailed by injuries and problems on the balance beam earlier this season, Florida’s latest victory got its start with the balance beam.
“They really performed confidently and aggressively on beam tonight,” Faehn said. “Just the way they moved and the way they carried themselves, it was a different attitude.”
Senior Corey Hartung came back from an early fall on vault to lead the Gators, posting a season-high 9.95 effort on the beam.
“We were tired of falling,” she said. “We were sick of it and so we went out there to try to prove it tonight.”
Both Faehn and Hartung said the performance on beam helped the team gain confidence going into the final rotation in the floor exercise. The Gators were up by only .25 going into their final rotation and Alabama was hot on their heels with a stellar vault rotation in which they didn’t post a score lower than 9.85.
Junior Melanie Sinclair scored a team-high 9.85 as the Gators locked down the win under pressure. Sinclair edged out teammate Maranda Smith (39.35) for the all-around title with an individual total of 39.55, also a team high on the season.
Faehn admitted it wasn’t a pretty victory but insisted she would take solid scores from all four rotations over perfect scores on just a few any day.
“You’re not always going to be perfect,” she said. “You can win competitions by not being perfect. You just have to be better than the other team.”
Faehn added these last wins were essential to getting the team’s confidence up and relaxing them going into next Saturday afternoon’s showdown at second-ranked Georgia. The 4 p.m. meet with be shown on ESPN2. The Gators and Bulldogs have developed quite a rivalry the last few seasons as they have squared off in the past three national championships. Last year, the Bulldogs beat the Gators twice, including a .25 nailbiter in Gainesville.
Georgia is led by former Olympic medalist and two-time NCAA all-around champion Courtney Kupets. Kupets, a former club teammate of Hartung, has scored perfect 10s on three different apparatuses this season.