Comments from Rhonda Faehn Following Orange & Blue Intrasquad
Friday, December 9, 2005 | Gymnastics
The University of Florida gymnastics team held an Orange & Blue Intrasquad Thursday, Dec. 8 in the Ted Crom Gymnastics Studio. The following are comments from Rhonda Faehn after seeing the Gators in action Thursday.
| General Comments from UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn |
| "I was very proud of the Gators last night. It was the first time that the intrasquad was an Orange & Blue competition. It was great to see that it brought out the best in them. Their competitive fire was evident from the beginning. They showed a tremendous amount of energy and team spirit. In its entirety, both teams did a tremendous job. We tried to split them up as evenly as possible according to their strengths and weaknesses. "It was a great opportunity for everyone to see our freshman Corey (Hartung) and to get introduced to her gymnastics style. It was also good for her to feel what it is like to be in a competitive setting with the team. The evening also gave our fans a sneak peak at the increases in difficulty level that our team has been working on. The most marked improvement is on floor. I feel that we are so much farther ahead on that event than in past years. The gymnasts were doing all of their skills out on the floor and for the most part, were able to do those skills by themselves or with light spotting. These are skills that last year we were still doing in the pit and we just didn't have enough time to get them ready for the competition. Now the gymnasts are doing those skills repeatedly on the floor by themselves."
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| Vault |
| "I thought they did a great job on vault. Every single gymnast that we had do vault (10 total) has a 10.0 start value vault and they had no problems with those vaults. We saw some great performances from our top vaulters from a year ago. Tiffany Murry and Ashley Reed did a great job. It was nice to see Katie (Rue) introduce the vault (Yurchenko half on, front tuck half off) that she worked hard on over the summer. She performed it very well. There aren't that many athletes competing that vault in college so it will be exciting for our fans to see something different from the Yurchenko full that most college athletes perform. It was great for Corey to have an opportunity to get out there and she made her Yurchenko layout full the best I've seen her do all year. It was good to see that she is definitely a true competitor. Bre (King) was exactly how she always it – steady and consistent. We put her first up and she hit a very nice vault, probably the best I've seen her do in quite awhile. Chantelle (Tousek) and Beth (Kleiman) also hit beautiful vaults. Beth was the surprise of the evening - it was definitely the best vault I've ever seen her perform." |
| Uneven Bars |
| "There is some increased difficulty in some of the routines. Sherie (Owens) had a tremendous bar routine. Sherie has been a solid bar competitor for us throughout her collegiate career and she continued to show that consistency Thursday night. She performed a great routine and stuck her full-in dismount. Samantha (Lutz), also one of our top bar performers from last year, introduced a new combination and will start out the season with the more difficult dismount (double layout with a full twist). Last year, we stuck that dismount in at the end of the season, but this year we plan to compete it the entire year. She did a great job. "It was also nice to see Tiffany nail a great routine. This is an area that Tiffany started off a little bit slow last year but she is right on track this year. She should be a strong bar performer for us. Ashley also continued to show that she is one of our top bar competitors. She slightly increased the difficulty in her routine as well (added a free hip before her reverse Hecht). Ashley will also be doing the double layout with full twist dismount, although she didn't perform it Thursday. She'll probably do like Sam did last year; add it toward the end of the season." |
| Balance Beam |
| "I was very impressed with how the team did on beam. Of the 10 gymnasts that performed, we only had one fall and that was a fluke. Corey is one of my best beam workers and the fall was not typical for her. I was most impressed with their aggressiveness. They went out and really performed like they had nothing to lose. Of course, Bre and Ashley were very solid. Sam has increased her dismount difficulty (two back handsprings to a layout step-out into a full twisting dismount) and it was very impressive to see that she hit that well. Savannah did a very solid routine. She broke into our lineup a few times last year and it appears that she is going to be fighting again this year for that position. She was very clean. It was nice to see Chantelle (Tousek) and Tiffany were very aggressive with their routines. Chantelle did compete on beam for us last season. Tiffany has been working to be an all-arounder for us, as this was the only event that she didn't compete for us last year. They both hit solid routines. I feel that beam will be a difficult event to select the lineup, simply because they are all very consistent and they are all doing a great job." |
| Floor Exercise |
| "Floor is definitely the area that shows the most improvement. We are really pushing to have all of our athletes that will be in the lineup to have the most difficulty possible. We want to be finishing the routines with a double back or double pike. It was nice to have Nicola (Willis) out there with her full difficulty. It was a beautiful double layout first pass followed with a front step out to a two and a half twist and then a double pike at the end. Tiffany has been doing a tremendous job with her training and her strength and endurance. She has increased the difficulty in her floor routine as well. She has a big full-in first pass and double-pike last pass, but she also has a front step out through to a double-back in the middle, so she is right up there with the best in the country. "Savannah has been wanting for years to compete the double front on floor but it hasn't been consistent. Robert (Ladanyi, UF Assistant Coach) has done a tremendous job with Savannah and all the gymnasts and now Savannah is very consistent on the double front. She nailed it in the intrasquad and that was really nice to see. She will be competing that skill this year. Ashley and Katie both did their full-ins. Katie did that skill a few times as a freshman, but it is much cleaner and much more consistent now. Bre has increased the difficulty in her first pass (two and half twist to a front punch pike) and her second pass (front full, front full). With her new floor routine, it is nice that Bre can actually get out there and play and smile a little bit – she's having fun. Tracey was much improved this year and opened up with a huge Arabian double front. She is looking to add a punch front immediately out of this pass, which will really make her stand out. Corey is so different from other gymnasts when she is on floor. She is mesmerizing. She is an absolutely beautiful dancer and she is also extraordinarily flexible. You add to that the extremely difficult tumbling passes and her floor routine is national caliber. It is beautiful and I really think that the fans are going to appreciate her artistic beauty on floor. " |
