Florida Gators
Gatorade/Cox Communications Night Triangular
No. 2 Florida Gymnasts Win Home Triangular versus No. 7 LSU and No. 16 Penn State
Saturday, March 11, 2006 | Gymnastics
After a month of road competitions, the No. 2 University of Florida gymnastics team (15-2, 4-2 SEC) returned home to take the Gatorade/Cox Communications Night triangular meet title in front of a Stephen C. O'Connell Center crowd of 2,606. Florida turned in a team total of 196.15, followed by No. 7 LSU (10-8, 2-4 SEC) at 195.275. No. 16 Penn State (9-5, 1-2 Big Ten) rounded out the results with a 193.20.
Three shared the evening's all-around title Friday. Florida's Corey Hartung and Ashley Reed plus LSU's April Burkholder each tallied totals of 39.225. The win was the sixth of 2006 for both Hartung and Burkholder. Among Gator freshmen all-time, Hartung is second only to Elfi Schlegel, who picked up nine all-around wins as a Florida freshman in 1983.
“It feels great and I'm excited to win the all-around again,” Hartung said.
Reed, who was runner-up in her other two all-around performances of the season, picks up her first win of 2006 and the fifth of her career.
“It was good (to perform in the all-around). I'm happy about my performance. I just wanted to hit my routines and make improvements from the other meets,” Reed said. “I improved on my floor. I really wanted to show it off and have fun with it.”
Three different Gators picked up individual event titles Friday. Sophomore Tiffany Murry extended her number of 2006 vault titles to nine with her mark of 9.90. She has now won seven consecutive and has earned a mark of 9.90 or above in five of the last seven meets.
“I just think about going in and doing the vault I train everyday,” Murry said.
Florida's Nicola Willis matched her collegiate-best vault mark of 9.85 for the second consecutive meet to share second with teammate Katie Rue and LSU's Emily Ellis.
Junior Samantha Lutz used a mark of 9.875 to earn her fifth uneven bars title of the season. Reed was runner-up at 9.80. Three shared third at 9.775 – Murry, Willis and LSU's Lisa Rennie. UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn commended Lutz for her strong performances Friday after just competing on bars last week due to a sprained ankle suffered Feb. 19. Lutz also turned in a 9.85 on beam Friday.
“I was really proud of Samantha. This was her first week back after a little breather from beam because of her ankle,” Faehn said. “She came in and nailed an unbelievable bar routine and beam routine. That was nice to see, not letting things affect her.”
The competition Friday featured three gymnasts currently ranked among the nation's top 10 floor performers – LSU's Kelly Phelan (current No. 1), Burkholder (No. 7) and Florida's Hartung (No. 8). All three stepped up on the award's stand Friday. Hartung claimed her fifth floor title of 2006, using a mark of 9.90 Friday. It was the sixth time this year that Hartung had posted a floor mark of 9.90 or above. Phelan took second at 9.875, while Burkholder shared third with UF's Reed at 9.85. The mark matched Reed's season-best for floor.
Burkholder matched her season-best of 9.90 to take the balance beam title. Florida's Breanne King also matched her season-best to shared second with LSU's Terin Martinjak at 9.875.
The Gators recorded no falls throughout the lineup in the first three events of the evening. UF did have a fall on floor, but that mark wasn't computed toward the team score of 48.90. Two out of bounds deductions were reflected, though, in the floor score. Faehn liked what she saw through three rotations, but knows that floor will need to be sharper as the team heads into the end of the season.
“I honestly though they did such a great job tonight, especially on the first three events. The scoring was the tightest I've seen all year. Their performance was really nice,” Faehn said. “Obviously we made a few mistakes on floor and we can't have those kinds of mistakes going into a meet against Utah or post-season.”
Florida finishes the 2006 regular season by playing host to perennial power Utah on Friday, March 17. 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 identification are admitted free. Complimentary tickets for Friday's meet are available at all Gainesville area Quality Cleaners locations. The first 1,000 fans to Friday's meet versus the No. 6 Utes receive a “Kiss Me, I'm a Gator” t-shirt.
| Final Team Standings | ||||||
| Gatorade/Cox Communications Night – March 10, 2006 – Stephen C. O'Connell Center (2,606) | ||||||
|
| Team | Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | Total |
| 1. | Florida | 49.175 | 48.95 | 49.125 | 48.90 | 196.15 |
| 2. | LSU | 48.85 | 48.525 | 48.875 | 49.025 | 195.275 |
| 3. | Penn State | 48.675 | 47.925 | 48.05 | 48.55 | 193.20 |
