LINCOLN, Neb. – Two members of the fourth-place Florida women’s gymnastic team finished third in their specialties during Saturday night’s individual event finals as the NCAA Women’s Gymnastic Championships came to a close at the University of Nebraska’s Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Senior Corey Hartung was third in floor exercise and sophomore Alicia Goodwin finished third in the uneven bars, both with marks of 9.90. Two other Gators – juniors Melanie Sinclair (uneven bars) and Maranda Smith (vault) – finished eighth and 12th, respectively, in their events.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these athletes,” Florida coach Rhonda Faehn said. “They all did a really great job.”
For Hartung, who had reached the floor exercise individual finals all four years, it was her highest finish ever. She was fourth in the event at the 2007 NCAA Championships. The mark was Hartung’s seventh 9.90 or better score of the season. She had a mark of 9.95 in Friday night’s NCAA Super Six team final.
“That was a gorgeous floor routine by Corey,” Faehn said. “What a way for her to finish out her career by taking third.”
It is the second consecutive year a Florida senior finished third in the NCAA floor final. Nicola Willis was third in the 2008 event in Athens,
Ga. Hartung ends her Florida career with 10 All-America honors, one fewer than the 11 earned by Chrissy Van Fleet (1997-2000) and Kristen Guise (1993-96).
Two Gators finished in the top eight of the uneven bars final. Competing for the first time in the NCAA events finals, Goodwin ended her routine by nailing her double-front dismount for her third score of 9.90 or better. Christina McDonald tied for second in the uneven bars during the 1991 NCAA Championships, while Kristen Guise tied for third in the event in the 1995 NCAA Championships.
“My goodness, this was Alicia’s first NCAA event final and she ends up finishing third,” Faehn continued. “It was the most gorgeous bar routine she’s done all season and she stuck that dismount. I’m so happy for her because she had to come back from sustaining that knee injury just a few short weeks ago.”
Junior Melanie Sinclair shared seventh place in the uneven bars with a score of 9.8625. Competing for the third straight year in the event final, Sinclair lost marks when she took a step while landing her dismount. For most of the season, Sinclair used a double layout dismount but she decided to up the difficulty by performing a double layout with a full twist.
“Melanie did a great job, just as she’s done all year,” Faehn remarked.
In the vault individual finals, junior Maranda Smith finished 12th with an average of 9.4063 for her two vaults.
“Maranda had a little trouble on the landing of her second vault tonight,” Faehn said. “I think she’s tired and hurting from competing three days in a row. But she was very positive and cheered on her teammates in the other finals tonight.
Saturday’s titles went to a pair of seniors from the Southeastern Conference, which was represented in the Super Six team competition Friday night by five teams – eventual champion Georgia (which won its fifth team title in a row), runner-up Alabama, Florida, Arkansas and Louisiana State. Third-place Utah was the other team finalist.
LSU senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney won the vault with her winning average of 9.90. She shared the floor title with Georgia’s Courtney Kupets as each posted marks of 9.95 Saturday. Kupets also claimed the uneven bars (9.95) and balance beam (9.9875) titles.
Kupets claimed a total of four event titles at this year’s meet. She picked up the NCAA all-around title Thursday in the team qualifying sessions.