For the second night in a row, the Gators gymnastics team held the same narrative. Similar to its performance at the NCAA Championships on Friday, it all came down to the floor routine if Florida wanted to stay afloat in the Super Six team finals on Saturday night in St. Louis, Missouri.
After a shaky first three routines on floor, it seemed over for the Gators.
But then junior Alicia Boren scored a 9.9375, and freshman Alyssa Baumann landed her first pass, leading UF for the second consecutive night with a second place score of 9.950 on floor.
The Gators ended their season and the night in third with a team total of 197.8500. UCLA took the national title at 198.0750 and Oklahoma followed close behind at 198.0375.
Florida came out of its first rotation with high hopes for a national crown, trailing Oklahoma by only .0125 of a point. Boren scored highest for the Gators at 9.9375, good for sixth place on the individual leaderboard. Only two other Gators, senior Rachel Slocum and freshman Jazmyn Foberg, joined her in the top 10. Slocum scored a 9.9125 to tie for seventh with Nebraska’s Megan Schweihofer and Foberg landed 10th with a 9.8875.
Florida’s bars routine saw two personal bests for freshman Megan Skaggs and senior Alex McMurtry. Skaggs notched a career high of 9.900 and McMurtry’s second place 9.975 marked a season high.
After Florida's third rotation on beam, Oklahoma stood at 148.5000 with Florida following at 148.2875. This was Florida’s last round in the top two, as it ended the meet after floor at third. Only two Gators made it into the top 10 in their beam rotation, with Baumann posting a fourth-place score of 9.9375 and Gowey placing 10th at 9.9125.
UF’s floor rotation proved to be its last chance at a top-two finish at nationals, but with its first three scorers — Gowey (9.8250), McMurtry (9.9125) and Slocum (9.8375) — struggling, it became hard to catch up. For the second night in a row, Baumann’s top score pulled the Gators to the top of the heap. She was helped Saturday night by Boren’s seventh-place notch of 9.9375.
Follow Alana Gomez on Twitter @alanaa_gomez and contact her at agomez@alligator.org.
Senior Alex McMurtry scored a season-high 9.975 in uneven bars in Florida's third-place finish at the Super Six on Saturday.
