While the Gators fell short of first place at the evening session of NCAA Semifinals on Friday night, they still took care of business — and set a milestone.
Freshman Kytra Hunter notched a career-best 39.725 as No. 1 seed Florida recorded a 197.65 in The Arena in Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga., to place second and advance to the Super Six for the first time since 2010. Hunter also became the NCAA All-Around National Champion, making her the first Gator to ever earn the honor.
“Last year, we didn’t make the Super Six and that was a huge disappointment because we had such an incredibly talented team,” coach Rhonda Faehn said. “This team was so determined that it wasn’t going to happen again.”
UF fell behind defending national champion No. 4 Alabama by only .025 points. No. 8 Arkansas (197.15) came in third, also making the cut for the Super Six.
Florida, Alabama and Arkansas will join No. 2 UCLA, No. 7 Utah and No. 10 Stanford on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Duluth in a battle of Southeastern Conference and Pacific 12 Conference heavyweights to determine a national champion.
Hunter electrified from start to finish Friday, tallying at least a 9.9 in each event. She also claimed the vault (9.975) and floor (9.95) titles for the evening session.
Her total of 39.725 is also the fourth-highest all-around score in program history.
“So far, as a freshman, to win the SEC title all around and the NCAA all-around title is absolutely incredible,” Faehn said.
“I always say that she’s all business. It’s how she trains. She’s a perfectionist, and she’s not happy if she makes a mistake in practice. She’ll repeat that over and over again. It’s that work ethic and mentality that lets the results speak for themselves.”
Sophomore Alaina Johnson won uneven bars with a 9.95, while four gymnasts from Alabama and Arkansas shared the beam victory (9.95).
Johnson also tied for fourth in the all-around category (39.60). Junior Ashanée Dickerson came in sixth with a 39.50, while King placed 18th (39.125).
The Gators led the field for the majority of the meet Friday but let the Crimson Tide jump them after juniors Marissa King (9.6) and Randy Stageberg (9.75) stepped out of bounds for point deductions on floor exercise.
Despite struggles on floor (49.275), UF pieced together an NCAA Championship bests on bars (49.45).
“I need a cooling off period still about our last event, going out of bounds on two of our routines,” Faehn said.
“Other than that, I think the team competed really aggressively [Friday night]. We had a lot of fun out there and started off really strong on vault, and carried that momentum all the way through. I think there was maybe a little too much energy and too much momentum on floor, but I’m hoping with the athletes being a little more tired tomorrow, that they’ll be able to harness all of their energy there.”
Friday’s NCAA semifinals were anything but chalk. No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 6 Nebraska, two favorites in the afternoon session, failed to advance to the Super Six, while No. 5 Georgia missed the cut after placing fifth (196.50).
No. 12 Ohio State (196.525) and No. 9 Oregon State (196.475) also failed to advance after the evening session.
But Florida, the nation’s top seed, will live to see another day — and will have a shot at winning its first national title Saturday.
“[Saturday] is a new meet,” Hunter said. “It is a challenge and it’s a great challenge for each team and whoever comes out on top is the strongest team that day.”
Florida gymnast Randy Stageberg competes in the floor exercise during the semifinals of the NCAA college women's gymnastics championships Friday. Stageberg received a point deduction after stepping out of bounds during floor exercise, resulting in a 9.75 score.
