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Wednesday, September 25, 2024
NEWS  |  CAMPUS

Florida gymnastics easily takes home meet against Illinois-Chicago

In front of an O'Connell Center crowd of 4,796 Friday night, UF put its depth on display in its home opener.

Twelve of the Gators' 16 gymnasts saw action, including four freshmen, as No. 3 Florida (2-0) handled Illinois-Chicago (1-1) in a 196.175-191.875 win.

The Gators didn't skip a beat after defeating North Carolina State by 1.35 points last Friday, as UF claimed all five of the meet's event titles.

"We do feel like we do have quite a bit of depth," coach Rhonda Faehn said.

"We're just really trying to get everyone out there to gain experience and to compete as much as possible."

Faehn said Monday that Marissa King's performance on balance beam against N.C. State was one of the best of her collegiate career, but the junior took it up a notch against the Flames.

King recorded a 9.925 on beam, a personal best, which was good for her second-straight beam title.

She said watching video footage of her beam routine during Thursday helped her fix key mistakes.

"I can do that routine; it's all a mental game," King said.

"I visualized it out there, I was confident and I was sharp. It's definitely something that works."

After scoring 39.30 points and winning an all-around title in her collegiate debut, Kytra Hunter had her ups and downs Friday night.

While Hunter stumbled on beam, tallying a 9.225, the freshman rebounded tremendously on floor exercise.

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Hunter scored a 9.925, which was good for her second consecutive floor win. The score trumps her previous best against the Wolfpack (9.90).

As the only all-around competitor for the Gators Friday night, Hunter won her second all-around title in as many meets with a 38.925.

Hunter said she couldn't let her team down after falling on beam.

"I just had to get myself re-focused," she said. "It's just a great way to show the audience that I am mentally tough and I can put things behind me."

Faehn said she was surprised with Hunter's slip-up on beam.

"That was really an uncharacteristic mistake by Kytra because she's one of the most solid on beam and she hits routines in her sleep," Faehn said.

Junior Ashanée Dickerson and sophomore Alaina Johnson claimed the vault and uneven bars titles, respectively, with scores of 9.90.

Dickerson's vault win is the 12th of her Florida career, while Johnson's bars victory is her second in a row.

A great share of UIC miscues, such as falls and botched landings, also bolstered UF's margin of victory. After the first rotation, Florida led 49.200 to 48.000.

Halfway through the meet, the Gators were already up by 2.225 points.

"We did a really, really, really good job [Friday night]," King said.

"Obviously we're going to go back and analyze the areas where we went wrong and need improvements. But it's early days, and we're doing great as a team."

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