Bridget Sloan led the No. 3 Gators to finish their regular season on a high note—a season-high note.
Florida (9-1, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) defeated Missouri (6-7, 0-7 SEC) 198.20 to 194.30 in the last regular season meet of 2014.
Sloan set a career high on all around with a score of 38.825, which equaled the school record previously set by Alaina Johnson during Florida’s last home meet of the season on March 7.
“Last week, we were able to have her rest on the two leg events (vault and floor),” coach Rhonda Faehn said. “I think that gave her a bit more adrenaline to get back in there to do all four events.”
Kytra Hunter scored her fourth 10 on floor. She now has six 10s in the 2014 regular season alone.
Hunter and Sloan claimed wins in all of Friday’s events. Sloan won uneven bars (9.975), balance beam (9.950) and all around. Her bars score broke her season high.
“I think, again, she is exceptional on that event and maybe it’s not looked at as much,” Faehn said.
Hunter’s 10 on floor won her the event title and the two share the No.1 spot on vault with 9.950 each.
“Every time she goes out there she tries to do the absolute best that she can to help the team score,” Faehn said of Hunter’s consistent 10s.
As f or team achievements go, UF’s 198.20 is now the nation’s highest road score of 2014.
“They had so much energy from the start and they were very relaxed,” Faehn said. “I just wanted them to have a blast while they were out there competing and they did exactly that. I felt that it was consistent across the board and there was a lot of great gymnastics. Everyone was just really solid.”
Sloan and Hunter weren’t the only Gators to post impressive road scores. Bridgette Caquatto tied her career high of 9.950 on uneven bars.
As Faehn prepares her team for post-season play she said she hope to work on the crispness of her gymnasts’ performances.
If UF’s lineup against Missouri holds up as the true post-season lineup it looks like senior Mackenzie Caquatto won’t compete all around. Caquatto competed all around for half of UF’s regular season meet, for the other five meets she only competed beam, uneven bars and vault.
With only a week until the SEC Championship, Faehn said she’s happy with what she saw in Missouri.
“We were looking to compete aggressively so to prepare the lineup and the order for the SEC Championships,” she said. “I think they feel completely jelled in those positions.”
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Bridget Sloan performs a bar routine during Florida’s 198.125-197.625 win against LSU on Feb. 21 in the O’Connell Center.
