Florida Gators

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- It wasn't the opening of the 1998 season that the Florida gymnastics team had hoped for, as troubles on the uneven bars and balance beam events led to UF's 194.10-192.25 loss to Kentucky Friday in front a Memorial Coliseum crowd of 789. It is the first loss for the Gators in the 31-meet UF-UK series, which began in 1980.
 
"I'm quite disappointed in how we performed tonight," UF Head Coach Judi Markell said. "We had some very uncharacteristic falls from some of our most steady performers. I know that those athletes will take that back to the practice gym and work on correcting those problems. We can be better and we intend to be."
 
The Gators opened the meet with solid uneven bar performances from their no. 2-5 lineup positions, but saw falls from its gymnasts at each end of the lineup. Sophomore Chrissy Van Fleet shared the evening's bars title with UK's Misty Marinik at 9.825. Fellow Gator sophomore Jaime Graziano took third with a 9.775.
 
Florida then moved to the vault, where it was led by junior Susan Hines and Van Fleet's third-place scores of 9.75. Beth Coleman won the vault crown at 9.90. On the floor exercise, the Gators were led by freshman Teal Chiabotti, who took third overall with a score of 9.775. The event was won by UK's Mila Chitwood with a score of 9.875.
 
Florida headed into the final rotation trailing the GymKats by .25 of a point, but a total of six falls from three Gators put the meet out of reach for UF. Gator senior Erika Selga shared second in the event with a 9.75.
 
UK's Marinik won the all-around (39.00) and balance beam titles (9.825) Friday. Gator freshman Gabby Fuchs was second at 38.85, while Graziano shared third with UK's Kristen Hoeferlin at 38.70.
 
Next up, the Gators play host to No. 1 Georgia on Friday, Jan. 23 for the Subway Challenge. Meet time is set for 7 p.m. in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.