No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Georgia Open 2008 SEC Gymnastics Season Friday in O'Connell Center
Thursday, January 17, 2008 | Gymnastics
The nation's top two collegiate gymnastics teams – No. 1 Florida (1-0, 0-0 SEC) and No. 2 and three-time defending NCAA champion Georgia (1-1, 0-0 SEC) – open Southeastern Conference action Friday, Jan. 18 in a dual meet in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The No. 1 versus No. 2 match-up is the highest rankings ever for a gymnastics dual meet contested in the O'Connell Center.
Both teams opened the 2008 season last Friday. Florida used the highest season-opening mark in school history to post a 197.125-187.825 win over Illinois-Chicago. That score also ranks as the nation's highest mark posted in this very young season. Georgia returned to the site of its third consecutive NCAA title, this time for a dual meet versus Utah in Salt Lake City. The GymDogs led by .25 heading into the final rotation, but were forced to count a fall toward its beam team total and lost by a tenth to Utah, 196.30-196.20. The trip West continued Sunday, when UGA defeated preseason No. 5 Stanford 196.875-196.15. UGA's score Sunday is the nation's second-highest score of 2008. The GymDogs have a challenging schedule to open the 2008 season as it meets three of the preseason top-five teams (Florida, Utah and Stanford) in road dual meets.
| Did You Know… |
| Three gymnasts that competed at the 2004 Olympic Games will be with their collegiate teams Friday. Florida's Nicola Willis competed for Great Britain. Two Georgia gymnasts - Courtney Kupets and Courtney McCool - were members of the U.S.'s silver medal team. Kupets, the 2006 and 2007 NCAA all-around champion, also took the individual Olympic bronze medal on the uneven bars. |
Florida is 10-43-1 all-time when facing a defending NCAA champion, including a 7-10 record versus when facing a champ in the O'Connell Center. The last time UF defeated a defending champion was Feb. 21, 2003 when the Gators won a home dual meet versus Alabama. Florida has defeated Georgia three times when it was the defending NCAA champion, with the last time occurring when the Gators claimed the 2007 SEC title.
| Meet: No. 1 Florida (1-0, 0-0 SEC) versus No. 2 Georgia (1-1, 0-1 SEC) Date: Friday, Jan. 18 @ 7 p.m. (ET) Site: Stephen C. O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla. Television: meet airs tape-delayed Jan. 28 at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2 GatorVision: live, streaming video of the meet is available on GatorVision. More information available at www.GatorZone.com WWW: live scoring available at http://www.gatorzone.com. Series Records (all-time): UGA leads 84-31-1 (last meeting, UGA won the NCAA Super Six at 197.85; Florida was third at 197.225). Tickets: $4.00 for adults; children 17 & under and UF students with ID are admitted free. Meet Promotions: Wendy's – free admission tickets available at area Wendy's restaurants. UF Faculty & Staff – Be Our Guest – free admission passes for Friday's meets sent to all UF faculty & staff members. Light Up Pom Poms – the first 1,000 fans receive light-up pom poms courtesy of Gatorade. |
Friday's meet marks the 23rd consecutive time (dating back to the 2003 NCAA Southeast Regional) Florida and Georgia both bring a top-10 national ranking into a meeting between the two programs. The two teams met four times in 2007, with Florida at No. 1 in each meeting, while Georgia was No. 2 for the regular-season dual and at the Southeastern Conference Championships and was the No. 3 seed at the NCAA Championships. Georgia finished the 2007 season by claiming its third consecutive NCAA title while Florida finished third. The GymDogs have carried the No. 1 ranking into a meet versus UF 32 previous times, including each of the four meetings in 2006.
