Florida gymnastics left the Lone Star State back-to-back years with a sour taste. With the National Championship Saturday, can Florida finally win it this year?
Swampcast talks Florida football, basketball, gymnastics
The Sun’s Kevin Brockway and David Whitley are joined by Noah Ram of the Sun to discuss Florida football, basketball and gymnastics at NCAA Championships.
The roster is vastly different, but the Florida gymnastics team will head into the NCAA National Championship meet Saturday afternoon with the same intention.
Don’t play second fiddle.
Two years in a row, the Gators stomped into Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, looking to win the program’s first national title since 2015.
In 2022 and 2023, UF was swamped by Boomer Sooner.
But Oklahoma suffered a truly stunning third place finish Thursday night after a rough start on vault. OU failed to advance to Saturday’s Team Final.
Florida and Utah, though, took care of business. The Gators came in a close second to the Utes with a 197.8750 final score.
No. 4 UF will now face No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Cal and No. 5 Utah for the national title.
Here’s how the Gators can win their first title since 2015:
Florida gymnastics must perform at Regionals level
Throughout the 2024 season, the Gators pulled off a neat little trick, accomplished by no other team in the country.
Each week, from meet one to meet eight, Florida’s score improved. It began at a 197.10 in its opening meet win and jumped to 198.225 vs Kentucky on March 3.
That stretch crashed down to earth at SEC Championships where the Orange and Blue tallied a lackluster 197.300, fourth behind LSU, Kentucky and Alabama.
UF knew how to respond, though, and delivered two great showings in front of a home crowd.
A 197.925 in the Regional Semifinals on April 5, and a season-high 198.325 at Regional Final April 7.
Former U.S. Olympian John Roethlisberger will be calling the action Saturday on ABC. He said in a media availability earlier this week that Florida must perform like it’s in the O’Dome.
“They need to repeat their Regionals performance,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s going to be tight, and everyone needs to be at their best. Florida is one of them.”
What made UF’s score in the Regional Final so impressive is the versatility.
Its vault, bars, beam and floor score were all a 49.500 or higher. Roethlisberger was especially impressed with the play of Florida’s freshman.
Two of them, Skylar Draser and Anya Pilgrim, competed and each averaged a 9.90 or higher.
“Maybe they aren’t as frequently getting those 10s, but my gosh, to get those freshman contributing at that level right away,” Roethlisberger said. “They’ve done a remarkable job.”
Florida continued that balance Thursday night. The Gators scored a 49.450 or better on all rotations, capped off by a 49.500 on vault.
The top three vault scores in the later semifinal were courtesy of Florida — Leanne Wong (9.9375), Ellie Lazzari (9.9250) and Anya Pilgrim (9.9125).
Capitalize on mistakes around you
Florida did a solid job Thursday of ignoring the chaos around it.
As Oklahoma suffered three falls on vault that sent Dickies Arena into a frenzy, coach Jenny Rowland kept the Gators focused on their larger mission.
It paid off as UF rolled back OU and Alabama.
Now, the field is suddenly wide open. Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Aly Raisman said on the ESPN2 broadcast that she doesn’t favor one team heading into Saturday.
Still, the Bayou Bengals enter Saturday as likely betting favorites. LSU was the nation’s only squad to top the 198 mark and feature Haleigh Bryant, the nation’s all-around champion.
Like with Oklahoma, Florida hopes LSU will stumble on vault. The Tigers score of 49.325 lags behind the Gators.
UF, though, must take its gymnastics up a notch on beam and floor, where LSU ranked first in the nation this season.
When the Gators beat the Tigers head to head February 23 at the O’Connell Center, they won on vault and beam. While LSU won on floor, Florida scored a season-best 49.700.
Those are the types of numbers that’ll need to be placed to toppled the Tigers.
No shame in second
While Florida’s chances have risen exponentially after Thursday’s results, a title is still far from a sure thing.
Raisman said that if Florida lands in second like its past two years, that’s something Gator Nation should be proud of.
“I always like to say winning second place,” Raisman said. “I think it’s really important to recognize the consistency and how impressive that is. It comes down to whatever team does what they do every day in the gym, which is much easier said than done.”
Fellow ESPN commentator John Roethlisberger continued and noted that coach Jenny Rowland has done her best coaching job at Florida this season.
This past offseason, the Gators saw Trinity Thomas graduate, Kayla DiCello and Skye Blakely take the year off for Olympic training, Riley McCusker miss the season due to injury, and Savannah Schoenherr transfer to LSU.
“I said this to Jenny, but this was the, ‘oh wait until next year, year,’” Roethlisberger said. “Nobody should be in the situation they’re in, if you’ve lost that much gymnastics.”
The Team Final begins Saturday at 4 p.m. on ABC.
Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on Twitter.
