Three-time defending NCAA gymnastics champion Florida opens at TWU Friday

The 2016 season opens Friday when the three-time defending NCAA champion Gators compete at Texas Woman's University.

Three-time defending NCAA gymnastics champion Florida opens at TWU Friday

Tuesday, January 5, 2016 | Gymnastics

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Three-time defending NCAA champion Florida gymnastics team opens the 2016 season with a road meet at Texas Woman's University. Meet time is set for 8 p.m. ET in the Kitty Magee Arena.

Friday's Meet Info:
Date & Time: Friday, Jan. 8 at 8 p.m. ET
Site: Kitty Magee Arena
Television: none
Series Record (all-time): UF leads 1-0. Last meeting, Florida won 197.90-193.40 in O'Connell Center on March 13, 2015.
Streaming Video: live video stream available (subscription needed) at FloGymnastics
Internet: live stats available on FloridaGators.com
Tickets: $7 for adults; $5 for children age 13-17 & senior citizens. Children 12 & under free. Check the TWU ticket site for more information


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This Friday, the Gators will make their second appearance in the Lone Star State in the last 35 years, with both coming in back-to-back meets. Florida closed the 2015 season by claiming its third consecutive team title at the NCAA Championships held in the Fort Worth Convention Center.

Since 1980, Florida has opened the season on the road 12 times and owns a road-season opening record of 20-16 in that span. That includes a 196.925-193.70 win at Ball State in Florida's first appearance in the state of Indiana to open the 2015 campaign.

Last Year:
Last season, Florida won its third consecutive NCAA Championship, edging Utah 197.85-197.80. The winning margin of 0.05 equals the slimmest in the meet's 34-year history. Then senior Kytra Hunter won a NCAA title each day of the 2015 event. She shared her second NCAA all-around title with UCLA's Samantha Peszek on the meet's opening day, helped the Gators win the NCAA team title during the NCAA Super Six and won the floor exercise crown in the NCAA Individual Event Finals.

Florida's Jenny Rowland Leads Gators Starting in 2016
The new season is also the debut for Florida head coach Jenny Rowland. UF quickly zeroed in on Rowland as a top candidate to replace Rhonda Faehn, who resigned after 13 seasons with the Gators to become Senior Vice President of USA Gymnastics. Sixteen days after Faehn's announcement, Rowland was named the seventh head coach in the program's 43-year history. Rowland came to UF after five seasons with Auburn, serving as associate head coach since March of 2013. She shared the 2015 National Assistant Coach of the Year honor after helping the Tigers reach their first NCAA Super Six team final in 22 years. During her gymnastics career, Rowland was a USA National Team member from 1985-90 and part of the U.S.'s 1989 World Championships team. As a collegiate, she earned uneven bars All-America honors in 1993 for Arizona State. Rowland is also a Category 3 International Brevet level judge and was on the judging panel for the past two U.S. Olympic Trials.

About the Pioneers:
Texas Woman's University was 9-12 in 2015 and took fourth in the USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships held April 11 in Philadelphia, Pa. The Pioneers return nine in 2016, including sophomores Alyssa Kelly and Schyler Jones who both earned 2015 USA Gymnastics Collegiate All-America honors.

Preseason National Rank:
Florida – Florida is No. 2 in the Road to Nationals preseason poll. The Gators are among the nation's preseason top four for the 10th consecutive year. Florida faces eight opponents among Road to National's preseason list in 2016 regular-season action.

Home for Six Gators:
Texas is the home state for six Gators – junior Claire Boyce, sophomores Kennedy Baker, Ericha Fassbender and Grace McLaughlin plus freshmen Peyton Ernst and Ashley Hiller. The Lone Star state is known for producing some of the nation's top gymnasts. In the 2015 NCAA Championships, 31 of the competitors across the 12 teams were from Texas. Of the preseason top 25 teams, all but five have at least one resident of Texas on their roster. The top two teams in the preseason poll – Oklahoma and Florida – lead with six Texas gymnasts each.

Gators Return Five All-Americans in 2016:
The Gators return five gymnasts in 2016 (Kennedy Baker, Claire Boyce, Bridgette Caquatto, Alex McMurtry and Bridget Sloan) who own a total of 18 All-America honors. The Gators won the NCAA Morgantown Regional and NCAA Championship team titles last year. In 2016, Florida returns 17 of 24 routines it competed in the 2015 NCAA Championships.Boyce will sit out 2016 season after undergoing hip dysplasia surgery in the summer of 2015.

Freshman Class No. 2 by ColleGymFans.com
The Gators' 14-member roster includes five freshmen. Peyton Ernst (2013-14, 2012-13) is a former U.S. Senior National Team member. Alicia Boren won the Junior Olympic Level 10 all-around title each of the past four years and also accumulated five event titles. Lacy Dagen won the 2014 Junior Olympic balance beam title in 2014. She will be sidelined in 2016 with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Ashley Hiller was runner-up to Boren in 2015 Junior Olympic – Senior D vault competition and Amanda Cheney took fourth on beam at the same meet. This class ranks No. 2 on the 2015-16 CollegeGymFans.com Top Recruiting Classes list. In the last seven years, Florida's recruiting classes have ranked No. 1 five times and No. 2 once.