At the beginning of one of the Gators’ recent practices before NCAA Regionals, Alaina Johnson read a quote that resonated deeply with her teammates.
“Go big or go home,” the sophomore all-around competitor said.
The mantra has inspired UF, which hasn’t won a national title in the NCAA’s 31 years of women’s gymnastics, to lay it all on the line this postseason.
“I kind of just said it as a joke, but I also do believe that,” Johnson said. “If you give everything you have every day, then you can’t look back.”
When No. 1 seed Florida competes in the evening session of the NCAA Championships in The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga., tonight at 6 p.m., its “go big or go home” mentality will be put to the test.
UF’s semifinal opponents will be defending national champion No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Georgia, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 9 Oregon State and No. 12 Ohio State. This season, Florida holds a 6-1 record against those teams.
UF defeated each of the three Southeastern Conference squads by at least .375 points when it won the SEC Championship in Duluth on March 24.
“Now we’re going back to a site where we were just there [four weeks] ago,” coach Rhonda Faehn said. “It’s very fresh in their memory.”
The Gators know what it feels like to leave the NCAA Championships empty-handed. Last year in Cleveland, the team failed to place in the top three in the semifinals by only .075 points and missed the Super Six for the first time since 2005.
In Faehn’s 10 years as Florida’s coach, the Gators have come relatively close to winning it all. They finished third in 2007 and either fourth or fifth in five of the last eight years. UF’s best finish ever at NCAAs was second in 1998.
“This year, we don’t have anything to lose,” junior Randy Stageberg said. “We’re coming off nationals where we didn’t make the Super Six but had such a talented team. From the very start of this year, coming in to the gym and working with this team, it’s not even close to what it was before. Everyone is so much more driven and focused. We only compete against ourselves.”
Florida is heading into nationals with plenty of momentum. In the regional victory on April 7, the Gators posted the highest score (197.325) of any of the 36 squads competing at the NCAA’s six regional sites.
But only four teams — Georgia, Utah, UCLA and Alabama — have won national titles. Florida has always played spectator to other teams’ celebrations, but believes this year it has a good shot at becoming member No. 5 of the championship circle.
“They expect to be able to be No. 1 and go in there and perform the way they have all year long,” Faehn said. “That’s something we’ve carried all year long, to compete tight and go aggressive no matter what.
“We don’t want to lose, so it’s a matter of leaving it all out there.”
Florida gymnasts (from left to right) Jamie Shisler, Lauren Rose, Ashanée Dickerson, Dali Lemezan, Amy Ferguson and Nicole Ellis wave to the crowd after winning a meet against Illinois-Chicago on Jan. 13. Florida is competing at the NCAA Championships semifinal today.
