Florida Gators

The No. 3 Florida gymnastics team (7-1, 4-1 SEC) defeated North Carolina (9-2) 196.65-194.125 Friday evening in front of a Carmichael Auditorium crowd of 1,257.

The Gators turned in solid performances on their first three events, but were forced to count a fall on their closing event, the balance beam, when the lead-off and anchor competitors each had a fall. It was the first time Florida counted a fall toward its beam performance since a dual meet at Alabama on Jan. 20, 2006. Those mistakes marred an otherwise strong Gator performance for the team.

“I think as a coaching staff and as a team, we are disappointed in the way the meet finished. We started off great and did our jobs on the first three events, especially with the different athletes that we put into the lineup tonight. We were working on the little things, the details that add up. I thought we were putting forth a really great performance and were looking to take away a great road mark,” UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said. “It's just tough on beam when you start with a fall. It puts a lot of pressure on everyone else and I think that happened tonight. We were a little conservative and that's when the mistakes happen. I'm disappointed, obviously, and the team is disappointed that we actually had to count a fall. We have to learn from this. In the meets coming up, there is going to be more pressure. They can't let something like this happen and hopefully they got it out of the way now.”

Student Boosters Hit the Road to Support the Gator Gymnasts

Some familiar faces were in the stands Friday night, as six University of Florida students made the trip to Chapel Hill, N.C., to cheer the Gators on. There has been a presence by at least three in the group at every Gator road competition this season and six were in attendance Friday – Mario Mendoza, Korey Lantes, Phil Reiss, Carlos Pazos, Chris Allison and Josh Kucher. The 550-mile journey to North Carolina's Carmichael Auditorium began at 9:30 a.m. Friday – an admittedly late start according to UF junior Carlos Pazos. The longest trip tackled by this band of orange & blue fright wig boosters was the double competition weekend earlier this month. They cheered the team in Lexington, Ky., on Feb. 8 and were again among the crowd Feb. 10 at Pittsburgh. That weekend's miles – more than 1,970 round trip. Their first exposure to the team came during their freshman year when a friend's sister brought them along to the meets. They kept going and this year decided to take their support on the road. “When the team went on the road, we decided “Let's go.” We've only got a couple years left and we need to start doing stuff. The road trips are just awesome,” UF junior Phil Reiss said. “The gymnastics is great, the road trips are great – everything about coming on these trips is awesome. There is no down part.” Although they didn't know the members of the team before this season, the Gators now look for their distinctive group of supporters at every meet. “You can't miss them,” senior Nicola Willis said. “We love their attire, their signs and their cheering. We love those guys.” Another road trip is on the agenda for next week when the Gators compete at Alabama. The group already has plans to travel to the Southeastern Conference and NCAA Championship events. “We just want to support the team,” Reiss said. “What they do is amazing and we're just glad to support them.”

Junior All-American Corey Hartung picked up her fourth all-around title of the season and the 11th of her career with her total of 39.50. She led a strong performance by each of Florida's three all-arounders Friday, as seniors Ashley Reed (39.40) and Nicola Willis (39.375) finished second and third, respectively.

“Unbelievable performance once again from Corey. Ashley had another great performance as well. Nic was in the all-around again and had a great night. We had very solid performances from our all-arounders,” Faehn said. “Now we just need to get back to the gym and really focus on aggressive training and getting ready for Alabama.”

A Gator picked up at least a share of every apparatus title Friday. Sophomore All-American Melanie Sinclair anchored the UF lineup with her mark of 9.90 to take her fifth uneven bars title of the season. Three Gators shared top honors on vault Friday. Amanda Castillo, Hartung and Tiffany Murry each turned in a 9.875 to lead UF. Hartung turned in the high mark of the evening on all events to take the win on floor at 9.925. Four gymnasts shared the evening's balance beam title at 9.875 – Hartung, Reed, Sinclair and UNC's Christine Nguyen.

Amongst the Carolina blue crowd Friday, there was an orange and blue presence, as a strong contingent from the Triangle Gator club came to cheer on Florida.

Florida finished its regular-season Southeastern Conference slate Friday, Feb. 29 at perennial power Alabama (4-1, 3-1 SEC). Meet time is set for 8:30 p.m. (ET) in the Coleman Coliseum. The meet will air tape-delayed on CSS, with the first showing set for March 4 at 7 p.m.