For tonight’s meet, the Gators travel to Columbia, Mo., for the first time since the Tigers joined the Southeastern Conference in 2012.
Missouri (6-6, 0-5 SEC) hosts No. 3 Florida (8-1, 5-1 SEC) in the last meet of the 2014 regular season. For Florida, the trip is the last chance to prepare for the grueling postseason the team looks forward to all year long.
“We’re looking at this as an awesome opportunity, we’ve never been to Missouri before,” coach Rhonda Faehn said. “We’re looking to be able to put our lineups together exactly as we’d like for the SEC Conference Championship.
“So we feel like we’re getting the closest we’ve been to it as far as order and as far as the lineup — what it’s going to be.”
Freshman Claire Boyce has been in the floor and beam lineup for every regular-season meet so far, and Faehn said her spot in both events’ postseason lineups is safe.
“I had Claire step into the leadoff position there, and Claire is such a calm and aggressive competitor and I know that she has tremendous scoring potential, 9.90 and above every single time she steps out,” Faehn said. “She should be able to score that no matter if she goes first or last. Wherever she goes in the lineup, she can carry that score because she is that good.”
Boyce has scored a 9.90 or better in her last three beam performances, with her season and career high of 9.925 coming on Feb. 28 against Alabama.
“I’m really striving to get those no wobble beam days; I’ve been getting a lot more of those,” Boyce said. “I’m just working on my confidence and it helps with consistency in the end.”
Born and raised in Missouri, Boyce estimates she will have about 50 family and friends on hand to watch her likely lead off Florida’s beam effort.
Bridget Sloan, from the nearby state of Indiana, will also have about 30 family and friends in the stands. Florida’s meet against Kentucky on Feb. 7 was the last time Sloan’s family attended an UF away meet. It also happened to meet the first time she scored a perfect 10 on beam.
“My mom’s side (of the family) is all from Missouri, so we have a ton of family coming,” Sloan said.
“When they come to away meets it’s awesome to have them, especially when they were at Kentucky, to see me get a 10 on beam. That made it 10 times more special.”
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa
Claire Boyce competes on the balance beam during UF’s win against LSU on Feb. 21 in the O’Connell Center.
