Senior Trinity Thomas will return to flip, vault and perform with Gators gymnastics for one final season.
The Pennsylvania native announced Monday during the 2022 Collegiate Women Sports Awards in Los Angeles she will exercise her fifth year of eligibility at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
“I just started my masters in health education and behavior,” Thomas said during the CWSA broadcast. “I’m excited to announce that I will be returning for my fifth year at the University of Florida.”
Thomas shocked the world after beating Olympic gold medalist Sunisa Lee from Auburn in the NCAA individual all-around competition in Ft. Worth, Texas April 14. Thomas matched the second-highest score ever in an NCAA final with 39.862.
Thomas led the Gators to a runner-up finish in the NCAA Championship this past season. UF, in search of its fifth national title in program history, lost to the Oklahoma Sooners by just .1125 points. She also represented the orange and the blue as one of 12 female student-athletes nominated for Collegiate Women Athlete of the Year. South Carolina basketball player Aliyah Boston took home the award.
She was named the Southeastern Conference Gymnast of the Year after leading Florida to a 31-1-1 record and winning 39 individual events — a school record. She won every 2022 postseason all-around and took home individual conference titles in the all-around, vault and floor exercise, securing her title as the only gymnast with five All-American first-team honors this year.
Thomas became the ninth gymnast to secure three individual wins in a single championship after she claimed gold on the bars and a perfect score on floor.
Thomas now looks ahead to next season, hoping to defend her title.
Head coach Jenny Rowland will also welcome back senior Leah Clapper for her fifth season at UF, strengthening the Gators’ beam depth. Fellow senior Nya Reed has not announced whether she will return, but Sydney Johnson-Scharpf announced she will not return via Instagram May 1.
Contact Curtis Michaud at cmichaud@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @CurtisMichaud1.
Curtis Michaud is a fourth-year student at the University of Florida within the College of Journalism and Communications. He specializes in sports and media and would like to continue to provide authentic, thorough, and engaging sport content for all readers. He is an enterprise reporter and lacrosse and track and field writer for The Alligator.
