Lightning usually does not strike the same place twice, but for Kytra Hunter, perfection did.
For the second week in a row, Hunter scored a perfect 10 on floor.
Hunter’s 10 helped the No. 2 Gators (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) hand the No. 1 Sooners (3-1, 1-0 Big 12), last year’s NCAA runner-up, their first loss of the season, 197.875-197.225, in the O’Connell Center on Friday night.
Hunter and sophomore Bridget Sloan scored back-to-back 10s on floor during UF’s last meet against Georgia on Jan. 24.
“I definitely know there’s still more 10s that I can get,” Hunter said. “Getting a 10 doesn’t mean that I can slack off.”
The last time a Gator scored a 10 in two consecutive meets was in 1998 when Susan Hines scored two 10s on vault. Coach Rhonda Faehn said she was unsure if this means Hunter now will get two pictures of herself on Florida’s “Perfect 10” wall in the gymnastics practice facility.
“I felt for quite some time for a few years that she’s been deserving of a 10 whether it be on vault and or floor at any of the competitions,” Faehn said. “I think this is the best floor routine she’s ever had.
“She’s really connecting with the audience and the judges and they are connecting with her as well. I think that is the difference maker this year.”
Sloan won the all-around title and posted the best score in three of the meet’s four events. She scored a 9.950 on vault, beam and floor, while she notched a 9.90 on uneven bars. Sloan said she knew her side aerial on beam was the deciding point.
“It just makes me want it even more,” Sloan said. “With that 9.95, I could easily get a 9.975 or 10.”
Last weekend, Sloan scored a 10 on floor. But on Friday, she could not repeat that level of success on the event.
“Man, I think it was my leaps,” Sloan said. “My leaps or my double pike was a little low.
“It’s crazy, those little things. In elite, the little things they make a difference but not that much. But here it’s like, man, if I would have pointed my big toe I could have had a 10.”
Friday, Florida scored its highest vault score of the season with a 49.475 against Oklahoma.
Florida’s uneven bars performance was not quite as improved. Senior Mackenzie Caquatto, the second-to-last Gator on the bars lineup, had a misstep to the right in her landing. She earned the lowest score of Florida’s bars total of 49.400 with a 9.850.
Freshman Claire Boyce gave her best beam performance yet with 9.90. Sloan was the only Gator to outperform Boyce with a 9.95 on beam.
On floor, Boyce scored a 9.825, slightly lower than her floor score of 9.875 against Georgia.
“She’s just getting better every meet,” Faehn said. “I told her all fall that she’s capable of being a 9.90 to a 10 on balance beam every time she gets up there.”
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Kytra Hunter performs a floor routine on Friday in the O’Connell Center. Hunter scored a perfect 10 on the floor exercise for the second straight meet — the first consecutive 10s in program history.
