Florida Gators
Southeastern Conference Championships
Gator Gymnasts 4th at SEC Championships
Sunday, March 21, 2004 | Gymnastics
The No. 8 University of Florida gymnastics team (16-9) finished fourth in the 24th annual Southeastern Conference Championships Saturday evening in front of The Arena at Gwinnett Center crowd of 8,570. The University of Georgia claimed its 13th league crown in front of a large contingent of GymDog fans Saturday with its team total of 198.175. Defending champion Alabama took second at 197.95. Louisiana State University nipped Florida for third place, 197.275-197.225. Rounding out the results Saturday were Auburn (195.925), Arkansas (194.825) and Kentucky (193.85).
The Gators were dealt a big loss during the pre-meet warm-ups when junior All-American Kristen Stucky injured her right knee during a balance beam dismount on the team's last practice event. Team doctors will evaluate Stucky when UF returns to Gainesville. Stucky set the UF balance beam record of 10.0 on Feb. 27 and shared the Gators' season-best uneven bars mark of 9.95 with Erin Pendleton. Stucky has a long history of knee problems, as she has undergone surgery on her knees seven times.
"It was extremely difficult for us when Kristen got hurt. It was a tough blow mentally and emotionally for this team because everyone knows how hard Kristen has worked to be one of the leaders on this team. I think it rattled them (the rest of the team) a little, but our performance improved as we moved through the meet," UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said. "The little things caught us tonight – we seemed to have a couple of breaks on vault, bars and floor and we had to count those in the team total.. We did finish strong on beam, going six-for-six in a challenging situation due to the crowd noise (Georgia was competing on floor).
"We are going to go back and get ready for regionals and nationals," she continued. "We are still an extremely talented team and we know we can still have a strong finish for this season."
Florida came off of a bye to start the meet on the floor exercise. The Gators were forced to count an out-of-bounds deduction in their final floor total of 49.15. Junior Erinn Dooley turned in a 9.925 to mark the sixth consecutive meet that she led the Gators on floor. She tied for sixth overall in the final floor standings. Florida also received 9.85s from three consecutive competitors – freshmen Savannah Evans, Samantha Lutz and Breanne King.
The Gators turned in their fourth-highest vault total of the season Saturday (49.30). Freshman Katie Rue led the Gators with her 9.90, which tied for seventh overall. The Gators also got a 9.875 from Chantelle Tousek and Orley Szmuch. Florida also turned in a 49.30 on bars. The Gators received three consecutive 9.90 marks from Szmuch, King and Erin Pendleton, which tied them for third overall in the final standings.
Beam was a strong event for the Gators, as Florida turned in Saturday's second-highest total for the event of 49.475. Szmuch equaled her collegiate-best beam mark of 9.925 for the second time of the last three meets to tie for fourth overall. Three Gators posted marks of 9.90 to tie for sixth, including Lutz who earned her collegiate-best beam mark as the replacement for Stucky. Dooley and King also earned 9.90 beam marks Saturday.
"Our substitutions into the lineup for Kristen did a tremendous job. Sam (Samantha Lutz) hit a great beam routine. Sherie Owens didn't get to warm-up on bars before the meet, so for her to hit her routine after just getting a 30-second touch right before the event is a great job," Faehn said.
In the all-around, Florida's three competitors finished fourth through sixth. King led UF with her 39.50, followed by Dooley (39.40) and Szmuch (39.375). Alabama's Jeana Rice claimed the all-around title with a SEC meet record total of 39.85. Rice also won vault and bars with a 9.975 in each event. The beam and floor event winners each turned in SEC meet-record marks of 10.0 - Georgia's Cory Fritzinger (beam) and Marline Stephens (floor) plus Alabama's Ashley Miles (floor). Georgia claimed three individual honors during the meet's award ceremony – Coach of the Year (Suzanne Yoculan), SEC Freshman of the Year (Kelsey Ericksen) and SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year (Kinsey Rowe). LSU's April Burkholder picked up the SEC Athlete of the Year award.
Florida's three all-arounders all earned a spot on the All-SEC second team Saturday evening. It is the second All-SEC honor in the careers of Dooley and Szmuch.
"Breanne King did a tremendous job tonight, taking fourth in her first SEC all-around. She has done an exceptional job this season, hitting every one of her 42 routines. I thought she was an extremely strong candidate for SEC Freshman of the Year – I was really hoping she would get the honor," Faehn said.
The Gators now await the announcement of the NCAA Regional assignments on Monday, March 22. Five of the region sites will compete on Saturday, April 3, while the LSU site will compete on Friday, April 2. The top two teams in each of the six region sites advance to the NCAA Championships, set for April 15-17 in Los Angeles, Calif.
| No. 8 Florida at the Southeastern Conference Championships | ||||||
| Gwinnett Center (8,570) – Duluth, Ga. – March 20, 2004 | ||||||
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| Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | Rank | Total |
| Georgia | 49.550 | 49.375 | 49.525 | 49.725 | 1 | 198.175 |
| Alabama | 49.625 | 49.325 | 49.325 | 49.675 | 2 | 197.950 |
| LSU | 49.225 | 49.400 | 49.375 | 49.275 | 3 | 197.275 |
| Florida | 49.30 | 49.300 | 49.475 | 49.150 | 4 | 197.225 |
| Auburn | 48.675 | 48.700 | 49.200 | 49.350 | 5 | 195.925 |
| Arkansas | 48.650 | 49.150 | 48.100 | 48.925 | 6 | 194.825 |
| Kentucky | 48.800 | 48.775 | 47.375 | 48.900 | 7 | 193.850 |
