Florida holds off Arkansas in front of record crowd

FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks wanted only a small dip from Florida on the at all times tough stability beam on the ultimate rotation to have an opportunity at a monumental gymnastics upset on Friday evening.

The No. 2 Gators weren’t in a giving temper.

Spurred by Leanne Wong’s second 10 of the evening, the Gators rebounded from a lapse on the ground train with a giant beam run to carry off No. 18 Arkansas 197.875 to 197.4 earlier than a school-record crowd of 11,031 at Walton Area.

“Clearly with No. 2 Florida coming in right here, it was going to be a tricky meet to win, nevertheless it actually did really feel like a win for our workforce,” Arkansas Coach Jordyn Wieber stated. “It’s a extremely optimistic step within the course we should be stepping into, and I feel we proved that 197-plus is one thing we’re able to, even after we’re not absolutely on at our greatest.

“We left quite a lot of landings on the market tonight, particularly on bars and beam so we are able to clearly see what we have to proceed to work on to choose up just a few further tenths.”

The Razorbacks offered out Barnhill Area for final week’s win over No. 8 LSU, then put up a report crowd of their second-ever meet at Walton.

“An enormous spotlight was one other attendance report,” Wieber stated. “Over 11,000 folks. I’m simply so excited the way in which followers are exhibiting up for these athletes. That was wonderful.”

Wong was the story, successful three occasions and serving to produce a 49.6 on the stability beam. The Razorbacks went huge on the ground train for the second week in a row, however their 49.475 couldn’t hold tempo within the final rotation.

Arkansas freshman Lauren Williams, whose ground routine is quick turning into a fan favourite, captured that occasion together with Florida’s Trinity Thomas with a private finest 9.95, tying for the fourth-best rating at school historical past.

“Her efficiency high quality is out of this world,” Wieber stated. “She continues to show that she is without doubt one of the finest ground staff in the whole nation.”

Arkansas freshman Frankie Value closed the meet with a 9.925 within the anchor spot on the ground and sophomore Maddie Jones led off with a 9.9.

Arkansas got here near matching final week’s school-record rating of 197.475 by posting the third complete of 197.4 or higher in program historical past.

The Gators almost had back-to-back flawless performances on the primary rotation, with Wong notching a ten proper behind Thomas’ 9.975 on the uneven parallel bars. These huge scores and almost all caught dismounts helped Florida notch a 49.625 whereas Arkansas went 49.275 on the vault with nailed landings from Value (9.9) and Cami Weaver (9.875).

Florida didn’t stick its vault landings, however its expertise have been troublesome sufficient that it nonetheless managed to achieve one other tenth of some extent within the second rotation.

Arkansas’ bars lineup was paced by Jensen Scalzo’s 9.9, and nobody scored decrease than 9.825. The Razorbacks had nearly all caught dismounts however just a few technical deductions on the equipment.

Florida led 99.025 to 98.575 on the midway level.

After Arkansas opened with Kalxyta Gamaio’s 9.85, Kiara Gianfagna’s 9.9 and Cally Swaney’s 9.925 on the stability beam, the Razorbacks took a short lead when Florida acquired off to a tough begin on the ground train. The dip culminated when Victoria Nguyen stepped out of bounds after a tumbling go within the third spot. Nonetheless, the trio of Rachel Baumann, Wong and Thomas completed sturdy on the occasion and the Gators held a lead of 0.35 getting into the final rotation.