With a crowd of 3,843 looking on as Florida’s senior gymnasts took to their final home meet of their careers, the team wasn’t overtaken by emotion. They reveled in front of an electric O’Connell Center crowd and shattered a record that stood for nearly 9 years.
Each gymnast appeared to hit routine after routine without major error, as No. 2 Florida (8-1, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) cruised past No. 14 Minnesota (12-2, 4-1 Big Ten) 198.425-197.175, a program record.
Florida posted school records on both balance beam and floor exercises with scores of 49.60 and 49.70, respectively.
“When they said it was the all-time record I looked at Dali (Lemezan), and she was like ‘Finally,’ and I was like ‘You’re telling me,’” freshman Bridget Sloan said. “We still have a ways to go, and we’re still hungry for that championship.”
Florida’s showing was undoubtedly strong enough to capture a national title. UF’s 198.425 total is higher than that of any national championship winner in the last 30 years. But Friday’s victory was far from any other rout in recent memory.
With its record-setting performance, Florida holds the highest totals on each apparatus in the NCAA. On uneven bars, the Gators’ rotation equaled the program’s second-highest mark of 49.675. That same combination produced a 49.60 against Missouri on Jan. 18 minus freshman Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto.
Junior All-American Mackenzie Caquatto posted the nation’s only perfect bars score that same evening and nearly replicated her routine against Minnesota with a 9.975. She is the eighth Gator to post the score in the team’s history.
Sloan was near perfect herself. Following the bars exercise, coach Rhonda Faehn was not sold on the judges’ scoring of Sloan’s routine after it was revealed that the freshman earned a 9.95.
“I was confused where the deductions were,” Faehn said. “But at the same time, that’s [the judges’] job. It’s subjective, and they’re going to see what they see.”
Florida carried over its momentum.
In the third rotation, Sloan used a 9.975 on beam to earn her third event title of the year. Sloan became just the sixth Gator to earn the score. Caquatto and Ashanée Dickerson are the only other active gymnasts to do so.
But Sloan and Florida’s trek of dominance would not end there.
Senior Randy Stageberg sparked an superb floor rotation with a season-best 9.90. Florida followed the senior’s lead by posting four consecutive scores of 9.925 or above, including a 9.975 from Marissa King.
“I was very happy. I love doing that routine. I had a lot of fun,” King said. “It was funny because my family was waiting down on the floor area and my brother was like ‘Go ‘Rissa go.’”
Florida’s key to success has been in its ability to keep gymnasts fresh. Last week, Faehn did not compete an all-around gymnast for the first time since Feb. 18, 2011.
The team will not compete for another two weeks. The Gators travel to face Utah on March 16.
Faehn is certain there is room to fine-tune specific areas given the allotted time.
“We’re still not there,” Faehn said. “ It was great tonight. We got a lot of landings, we hit, we went 24 for 24, but we can still be sharper, we can get more landings and we can still be crisper. That’s where the next four weeks comes in, is the fine-tuning.”
Freshman Bridget Sloan performs her bar routine during Florida's 198.10-196.85 win against Alabama on Feb. 8 in the O'Connell Center. Sloan won the all-around title at the SEC Championship meet on Saturday.
