Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI, SFR
Begin forwarded message:
From: Shane Ford <goufgators@bellsouth.net>
Date: January 16, 2016 at 9:00:48 AM CST
To: GatorNews <gatornews@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [gatornews] [SUN]: Florida gymnastics overwhelms UCLA in home opener
Reply-To: gatornews+owners@googlegroups.com
--Florida gymnastics overwhelms UCLA in home opener
Florida gymnast Alicia Boren is congratulated by head coach Jenny Rowland after she completed her routine on the bars.
Matt Stamey/Staff photographerPublished: Friday, January 15, 2016 at 9:33 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, January 15, 2016 at 9:33 p.m.
A gymnastics season is a climb. You build and build and hope to peak at the NCAA Championships.
And for the Florida gymnastics team, there may not have been any perfect scores Friday night but it was a perfect second step in the season.
The third-ranked Gators improved from their opening meet on every apparatus as they overwhelmed No. 5 UCLA 197.675-196.925.
"The better we get each meet, the better we'll be in postseason," said senior Bridget Sloan. "That's exactly how it's supposed to be. We're definitely on track for good things in the future.
"You peak at the right time. We're exactly where we want to be."
For Sloan, that was on the floor exercise at home for the first time in two years. She suffered a severe ankle injury in last year's opener at Ball State and didn't compete on the floor until regionals.
"It felt good to get back out there," she said.
Sloan won the all-around title -- the 20th of her career -- for UF with a score of 39.65. She narrowly missed a perfect score on the bars with a 9.975 as a crowd of 6,511 chanted for a "10".
The All-American had plenty of support. Sophomore Kennedy Baker and freshman Alicia Boren each scored 39.575 in the all-around. For Boren, it was her first meet as a Gator at the O'Connell Center.
"The experience was amazing," Boren said. "They tried to prepare us for it, but they told us you have to go through it."
The freshman is part of a class ranked No. 2 in the nation and while Boren can't replace a multiple All-American in the graduated Kytra Hunter, she's doing her best.
"It kind of reminded me of a past Dynamic Duo I used to be a part of," Sloan said.
The meet was also the first home meet for new coach Jenny Rowland, who was given advance notice about what to expect in the O'Connell Center.
"The team told me there is no place like competing in the O-Dome," she said. "And they are absolutely right."
Rowland's biggest thrill of the night, she said, was getting Boren to smile during her floor routine. Imagine being a freshman who has joined a team that has won three straight national titles.
"Most of the athletes on this team were her idols," Rowland said. "She's so serious. She hasn't learned yet to have fun on the competition floor. Maybe that started tonight."
Baker and Alex McMurtry tied for the win on the vault, Sloan won the bars, Baker the floor and UCLA's Danusia Francis won the beam. UCLA was competing without head coach Valerie Kondos Field, who was not with the team because of a family emergency.
If the Gators were feeling the effects of new gymnasts and a new coach, it certainly didn't show.
"We still have work to do," Rowland said. "We will always have work to do."
Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at dooleyp@gvillesun.com. And follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley.
Sent From Shane's iPhoneGo Gators! & Skål Vikes!ALPCA #8756Europlate #1045
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