No. 3 Florida gymnastics (198.125 points) defeated No. 13 Georgia (196.825 points) Friday evening at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville. As well as clinching their first SEC meet win, the Gators put up the nation’s highest score overall. UF is the only school to go over 198.00 this year, as well as hitting the highest scores in two events.
In spite of the scores, the Gators gymnastics team had been fighting off illnesses the week preceding the competition. Sophomore Anya Pilgrim remarked to junior Selena Harris-Miranda that her dominance in Friday’s meet was similar to Michael Jordan’s “flu game.”
“I didn't feel any pressure because I was just worried that I just want to make sure to breathe,” Harris-Miranda said. “So I didn't feel really anything. I just told myself, ‘Just do what you do, what you remember, perform.’”
The Gators put up the highest score in the nation on vault so far this season with 49.550 points. Multiple Gators, including seniors Leanne Wong and Sloane Blakely, put up season bests. But it was the newcomers who helped the Gators rack up points.
Freshman Ly Bui, who graduated high school early so she could compete with the Gators, scored a 9.925, her highest collegiate score yet. In comparison, her last two appearances on vault averaged a 9.813. She tied Wong for the second-highest score that rotation.
“It's really nice to see her come out, enjoy herself a little bit and really level up, because you can see the determination, you can see the want, the desire,” UF head coach Jenny Rowland said.
Harris-Miranda, a transfer from UCLA, nailed her vault, landing her in-air twists with a tiny bit of movement. She put up the highest score of the Gators with a 9.950, a season-best 9.950. The crowd erupted with cheers after she landed, smiling as her teammates and coaches pulled her into a hug.
On bars, she put up another season best with a score of 9.850. Though not perfect, the lower scores for gymnastics can determine if a team wins. Florida’s lowest score of the event, Blakely’s 9.825, was an outlier, as most of the team scored between 9.875 and 9.900.
Blakely, however, recovered from that performance as the night went on, putting up a season-best beam score of 9.925. On her floor routine, she nailed her jumps, giving her the highest floor routine of the night, a 9.925.
Harris-Miranda won the all-around competition with a score of 39.625 despite also being sick this week.
“After I was finishing beam [Tuesday], I felt terrible,” Blakely said. “And then Wednesday, I was not 100 [percent] but I was feeling better. I practiced Thursday. Had a good practice Thursday, so I was like, ‘I might as well.’”
Florida also set the nation’s highest balance beam rotation score with a 49.675. All the Gators put up scores in the 9.900s, with three out of the five scores being 9.950.
“The Gators looked loose, calm and extremely proud, ready to take a little off day recovery day or two and get back into the gym on Monday to keep refining,” Rowland said.
Pilgrim, who was not sick this week, looked particularly graceful as she glided across the beam. Though standing on a four-inch beam, she maneuvered as if she were on the mats, steadily transitioning from movement to movement.
Wong attempted a jump start onto the beam which ended shakily and almost resulted in her falling. She regained her balance and continued her performance, sticking her landing. Her score, however, was not counted in the final tallies.
Though Wong didn’t score the highest in the all-arounds for the Gators, Blakely rounded out her performances with high scores on the last two rotations. She ended her performance in the third rotation with a backflip off the beam and a collegiate high of 9.950.
Then, on the floor, she nailed all the landings to her jumps, fist-pumping after finishing her routine. She tied Wong for the second-highest score with a 9.925.
Blakely’s confidence on the mats helps her calm down as well as boost the judge's scores, she said.
“I want the highest score possible,” she said. “It's also being able to step into that personality I never thought I would be able to, but it's fun. It's comforting.”
Throughout the night, six Gators put up or tied collegiate-best scores in rotation after rotation. A significant portion of these achievements were from UF’s gymnasts not competing in the all-around competition. This meant the Gators dominated all events, not simply the ones Wong or Harris-Miranda scored high on.
Senior Riley McCusker scored 9.875 during her performances on the uneven bars. This is her first time scoring in the 9.800s after putting up an average of 9.425 in her last two appearances.
Freshman Skye Blakely, who has worked her way back from an Achilles tendon injury, put up a collegiate best of 9.900. She looked steady in her jumps between bars and landed with the slightest foot movement. She ended the night tied for the highest score in that event.
Florida starts February with another top-10 matchup. UF will face No. 5 University of Utah and West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, at 2 p.m. EST. Feb. 2.
Contact Liana Handler at lhandler@alligator.org. Follow her on X @handlerliana
