No. 2 LSU gymnastics team (197.550 points) defeated the No. 7 Florida Gators (197.450 points) Friday evening at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Though the Gators were competitive, their small mistakes on the mats added up.
“Things are going to happen…not every meet is going to be perfect,” head coach Jenny Rowland said earlier in the week. “It's that next day. They're always eager to get back in here and tweak those errors. Whether it's mindset, a different approach, figuring out how to calm themselves down a little bit more, but just talking through things like that.”
Both LSU and UF struggled on the bars. In the first rotation, Florida senior Sloane Blakely misjudged the distance between the bars, slipping from the smaller of the two and falling onto the mats. She reapplied chalk on her hands and finished her routine. Though her 9.250 wouldn’t count in the total, Florida couldn’t bounce back in the event. Senior Leanne Wong put up Florida’s highest score of the event, a 9.850.
LSU’s freshman Kailin Chio also fell during her bar routine, and her score was eliminated from the total. Unlike the Gators, however, none of her teammates scored less than a 9.825.
“We always talk about not every meet is going to be perfect and to make the most of your opportunities,” Rowland said.
Despite her fall, Blakely’s beam and floor performances were a high point for the Gators. In both, she scored at the top of Florida’s event totals. Blakely moved decisively with full extensions and backflips on the balance beam. She tied her collegiate best during this event with a 9.950.
Blakely’s explosive performance on the mats featured in-air splits, crisp movements and expressive emotions. After she finished with a score of 9.950, her sister, freshman Skye Blakely, could be seen screaming with excitement.
Florida’s floor routines saw an improvement in comparison to its first meet. With landed jumps, sharp movements and no falls, UF forced the meet to come down to the last LSU performance on beam.
Still, the Gators showed room for improvement. Wong appeared to struggle on one of her landings during her floor routine, seeming a bit off-balance.
On vault, the Gators clawed back, but they didn’t stick enough landings to catch up to LSU’s lead throughout the night. In an ideal world, sophomore Danie Ferris, who specializes in floor and vault, would help UF score high, especially after the lowest score in each event is eliminated. However, Ferris had the lowest score (a 9.825) of the rotation for the Gators, so freshman Ly Bui’s 9.850 counted toward Florida’s total.
Nevertheless, sophomore Anya Pilgrim’s and Wong’s 9.925s helped keep the meet close. Pilgrim also put up her season best on beam with a score of 9.900.
Throughout the night, Florida struck a balance between being serious and lighthearted.
Gator team members could be seen high-fiving and hugging each other despite the pressure to be perfect in the matchup. During graduate Victoria Nguyen’s floor routine, she winked at the camera before finishing her performance with a 9.900.
As the first duo meet of the season, Florida’s performance against LSU shouldn’t be discounted. Florida remained within 0.100 points of LSU, the defending NCAA champions. LSU also has competed in one more meet than the Gators so far this season, which could be a competitive advantage, according to Rowland.
“The more you compete, the better you get,” she said earlier in the week.
Florida should have an advantage as the season continues. The Gators have great depth, backed by a strong freshman class, and can shift players in and out of roles depending on what the situation needs.
“We don't need any great leaps and bounds made from this last [Jan. 10] meet,” Rowland said. “Again, little baby steps is all that this team needs as far as fuel goes in order to keep getting better each week.”
Florida will next have another Friday night SEC meet. This time, it’ll face the University of Georgia at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, starting at 6:15 p.m. next Friday.
Contact Liana Handler at lhandler@alligator.org. Follow her on X @handlerliana
