No. 3 Florida and No. 9 Arkansas Gymnastics Teams Meet Friday in O'Connell Center
Thursday, January 31, 2008 | Gymnastics
Two top-10 collegiate gymnastics team - No. 3 Florida (2-1, 1-1 SEC) and No. 9 Arkansas (2-2, 0-1 SEC) - meet Friday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. in a dual meet in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. This is the first time in the all-time series between the two teams that both bring a top-10 national ranking into a meeting.
Both teams are coming off come-from-behind wins in their last outing. Florida trailed Auburn by 0.625 after the opening rotation, chipping away at the advantage until actually taking a slender 0.05 lead into the final rotation. A six-for-six balance beam set gave Florida a 195.25-194.70 road win over then No. 17 Auburn. Arkansas set or tied 10 season-bests in its 195.25-194.625 home win over then No. 12 Penn State. The Gym'Backs trailed by 0.125 heading into the final rotation, but used a 49.10 on floor to win the meet.
| No. 3 Florida versus No. 9 Arkansas Meet: No. 3 Florida (2-1, 1-1 SEC) versus No. 9 Arkansas (2-2, 0-1 SEC) Date: Friday, Feb. 1 @ 7 p.m. (ET) Site: Stephen C. O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla. Television: meet airs tape-delayed Feb. 10 at 10:30 a.m. on SUN Sports GatorVision: none available WWW: live scoring & commentary available at http://www.gatorzone.com. Series Records (all-time): UF leads 15-0 (last meeting, UF won the 2007 NCAA Central Regional title at 197.325, Arkansas was third at 195.875) Tickets: $4.00 for adults; children 17 & under and UF students with ID are admitted free. Meet Promotions: Dodge Giveaway – the first 500 fans, 12 and under, will receive a t-shirt courtesy of Dodge. Autographs - Alicia Sacramone (member of U.S. National team) will be on hand to sign autographs for fans from 5:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.; the Gators will sign autographs post-meet; Lil' Gator Night – O2B Kids, The Girls Club, YMCA, The Girls Scouts, & Gainesville Park & Recreation -receive free admission passes for (2) adults; First Year Florida Night – First Year Florida classes to compete to see which section brings the most students to the meet. The winning section receives a pizza party during their next class. |
Both teams had a gymnast collect her first all-around title of the season last Friday. Senior All-American Ashley Reed earned her ninth all-around title with a total of 39.275 - it was also her third Florida-Auburn dual all-around title of her career. Sophomore Gym'Back Casey Jo Magee took the Florida-Penn State title with her winning total of 39.20.
| Did You Know… |
| The Stephen C. O'Connell Center is the place to see some of the nation's best collegiate gymnastics competition. The SEC opener on Jan. 18 was versus then No. 2 Georgia. This week, No. 9 Arkansas visits for a Feb. 1 dual meet. The remainder of the regular season includes current No. 7 LSU (Feb. 15) and No. 2 Utah (March 14). The O'Connell Center also is the site for the 2008 NCAA Southeast Region Championships, set for April 12 at 7 p.m.. |
These two teams have met four times each in the last two seasons. In 2007, the two teams met twice in the regular season in Fayetteville, Ark., for the Super Six Challenge and a dual meet. The two teams met again in the state of Arkansas, this time in North Little Rock, for the 2007 Southeastern Conference Championships. The final 2007 meeting came in Ann Arbor, Mich., for the NCAA Central Region Championships. Florida won all four of the 2007 events the two teams met in.
