Saturday, March 21
Baton Rouge, LA
8:00 PM
Florida Gators
at
SEC Championships
FLORIDA SECOND AT SEC GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday, March 21, 1998 | Gymnastics
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The University of Florida gymnastics team, ranked No. 5 in the nation, used its highest score of the season to take second at the Southeastern Conference Championships, held Saturday in front of a Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 2,910. Georgia claimed its third consecutive team title with a total of 197.60, while the Gators posted a 196.725 -- the second-highest team score in UF history. Florida's finish matched its 1997 league placing, which is the highest UF showing since its win in 1989, Louisiana State was third at 196.45, followed by Alabama (195.40), Kentucky (193.60) and Auburn (192.425).
"I'm very pleased with our performance this evening," UF Head Coach Judi Markell said. "The team was not intimidated and performed with confidence. The freshmen performed very well, especially considering it was their first SEC meet. Our landings on vault and bars were costly, but we will use the next few weeks to try to clean up those small deductions. Can we get better? Yes and that's what we hope to do in the next month."
UF's Betsy Hamm, performing in only her second all-around of the season, took second overall with a 39.40. That total is the Gators' highest all-around total of the season. Hamm also finished third in the balance beam competition with her collegiate-best mark of 9.90. In addition, Hamm shared the SEC Freshman of the Year Award with Alabama's Robin Hawkins and Kentucky's Ashley Burkholder. She is the first Gator to receive the award since it was initiated in 1994.
Florida junior Susan Hines was second in the vault competition with a mark of 9.925. Hines also shared third place in the evening's floor exercise competition with teammates Chrissy Van Fleet and Hamm at 9.90. In the uneven bars competition, senior All-American Sybil Stephenson tied for third with a mark of 9.90.
"I'm very pleased with our performance this evening," UF Head Coach Judi Markell said. "The team was not intimidated and performed with confidence. The freshmen performed very well, especially considering it was their first SEC meet. Our landings on vault and bars were costly, but we will use the next few weeks to try to clean up those small deductions. Can we get better? Yes and that's what we hope to do in the next month."
UF's Betsy Hamm, performing in only her second all-around of the season, took second overall with a 39.40. That total is the Gators' highest all-around total of the season. Hamm also finished third in the balance beam competition with her collegiate-best mark of 9.90. In addition, Hamm shared the SEC Freshman of the Year Award with Alabama's Robin Hawkins and Kentucky's Ashley Burkholder. She is the first Gator to receive the award since it was initiated in 1994.
Florida junior Susan Hines was second in the vault competition with a mark of 9.925. Hines also shared third place in the evening's floor exercise competition with teammates Chrissy Van Fleet and Hamm at 9.90. In the uneven bars competition, senior All-American Sybil Stephenson tied for third with a mark of 9.90.
Georgia's Kim Arnold successfully defended her SEC all-around title with a total of 39.70. She also won the floor with a meet-record 10.0 and shared the balance beam crown with LSU's Amy McClosky at 9.925. Georgia's Karin Lichey won the vault with a meet-record 10.0. She also shared the evening's bars title with UGA teammate Jenni Beathard at 9.95.
Florida takes the next week off and returns to action on April 4 for the NCAAA Southeast Region Championships in Athens, Ga.
Players Mentioned
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