Florida Gators

The No. 11 University of Florida gymnastics team (5-3, 1-0 SEC) fought back after a mid-meet deficit to take a 194.40-193.35 win over No. 13 Kentucky Friday evening in front of a Memorial Coliseum of 1,237.

Florida had some problems in its opening two events, as a fall was computed toward the uneven bars total and the vault total was lowered due to some odd breaks. The Gators trailed the GymKats by .500 following the first two events. Freshman Orley Szmuch led the Gators on both events, taking second in the vault with a collegiate-best 9.775 and tying for second in the uneven bars at 9.85. Kentucky's Julia Gore won the vault with a 9.85. Jessie Lemp claimed the bars title for UK with a mark of 9.875.

The Gators stormed back on their next event, the floor exercise, to match their season-high team total of 49.20 for the event. The 49.20 gave the Gators a .90 lead heading into the final rotation. Although UF needed to count a fall on the balance beam, Florida used marks of 9.825 or higher from four competitors to tally a 48.675 on the event to preserve the dual meet team title. Those four swept the beam standings Friday, as Szmuch and Kara Waterhouse shared first at 9.85. Hilary Thompson and Lindsey Miner shared third at 9.825. Five of the meet's top six floor scores also came from Gators, as Thompson claimed her second floor title of the season with a 9.925. Miner shared second in the floor with UK's Aronda Primault at 9.875.

The top three all-arounders Friday also were Gators, as Szmuch took her first collegiate all-around title with a UF season-best total of 39.25. Jenny Carow was runner-up at 38.55 and Waterhouse was third at 38.525.

"I thought the team fought back very well. It was fortunate for us that our better events (beam and floor) were in the later part, which gave us a boost of confidence. There was some great floor routines out there tonight. Kelly (Hesbeens) got us started off great on floor and Jenny Carow did the best floor routine I've ever seen her do. They set the tone for the rest of the team, who performed great on floor. There were also some great routines on the beam. Orley got us started off well and Hilary and Kara had very good routines. Lindsey's beam routine was gorgeous," Markell said. "This meet very easily could have slipped through our grasp, but we responded pretty well. We have some things to work on in practice, but we showed a lot of heart tonight."

The Gators now return home to play host No. 15 Louisiana State University on Friday, Jan. 25 for the Gatorade Fabulous Fifties Night. Meet time is set for 7 p.m. in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Tickets are $4.00 for adults, while children 17 and under plus UF students with ID are admitted free.

Team Totals