The fans turned out to see two of the nation's top gymnastics teams Friday evening, as the No. 5 University of Florida (4-2, 0-2 SEC) versus defending NCAA champion and current No. 1 University of Georgia (7-0, 2-0 SEC) contest drew a Stephen C. O'Connell Center crowd of 8,338. That crowd, the second-largest in school history, saw the teams post the two highest scores of the 2006 season, as Georgia defeated Florida 197.025-196.60. The previous 2006 best of 196.150 was turned in by Alabama on Jan. 14.
Heading into the final rotation, Georgia's lead was narrowed to .250. The Gators, performing some of the nation's highest level of difficulty on floor, saw four performers step out of bounds, resulting in the required .10 deduction per occurrence. The Gym Dogs performed well on their final event, turning in a season-best 49.125 on the balance beam to put the Gators out of reach.
Although the Gators had some mistakes tonight, UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn is going to stay with the plan to keep the difficulty in the routines.
“We are performing our routines with tremendous difficulty to get ready for the most important meets at the end of the season. We know that we had some falls that hurt us by probably four or five tenths,” Faehn said. “I am convinced that we could win this meet if we eliminated some of the obvious mistakes.”
“We had to count a couple of missteps on floor for the first time this year,” she continued. “We have been throwing more difficult routines at the athletes and we know that it will pay off for us at the end.”
Season-best team totals were turned in by the Gators on vault (49.225), uneven bars (49.15) and balance beam (49.275) Friday evening. Florida also set or equaled its individual bests on each of the four events.
Sophomore Tiffany Murry used a season-best 9.90 to share her third vault title of the season with Georgia's Courtney Kupets and Tiffany Tolnay. Florida also got a collegiate best of 9.85 from sophomore Nicola Willis on the event.
Courtney Kupets also won the uneven bars, matching her season-best mark of 9.95. Gators Corey Hartung and Samantha Lutz set the UF season-best on bars to 9.90 to share third with UGA's Katie Heenan.
The balance beam title was also won by Courtney Kupets, as she posted an UGA season-best of 9.925. Florida's Hartung turned in a UF season-best of 9.90 on the event. Lutz upped her season-best on the event to 9.875 to share third overall with UGA's Kelsey Ericksen. Florida's Ashley Reed also turned in a 2006-best of 9.85 in Friday's beam competition.
Hartung collected her first collegiate floor exercise title Friday, matching the UF season-best mark of 9.90. UGA's Ericksen and Heenan shared second at 9.875. Ericksen (39.50) and Heenan (39.425) also went one-two in the all-around, while UF's Willis was third (38.75).
The environment made the event exciting for the Gators, Lutz said.
“The atmosphere tonight was great. It was a lot of fun performing in front of that many fans,” Lutz said. “We have made the difficulty in our routines much harder at the beginning to help us get ready for NCAAs. We made some obvious mistakes tonight, and we know that it is still early in the season. Our goal is to work on the little things and correct them for when NCAAs come around.”
Florida travels to No. 17 Auburn for a dual meet on Friday, Feb. 3. Meet time is set for 8 p.m.
| Final Team Standings |
| Florida vs. Georgia – Jan. 27, 2006 – Stephen C. O'Connell Center (8,338) |
| | Team | Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | Total |
| 1. | Georgia | 49.375 | 49.425 | 49.125 | 49.10 | 197.025 |
| 2. | Florida | 49.225 | 49.15 | 49.275 | 48.95 | 196.60 |
