No. 6 Florida Gymnasts Open SEC Championships on Vault
Friday, March 20, 2009 | Gymnastics
The No. 6 University of Florida gymnastics team (6-4, 3-3 SEC) will start on vault at the 29th annual Southeastern Conference Gymnastics Championships. The SEC Championships begin at 5 p.m. (ET) Saturday, March 21 in the Sommet Center. This is the first time the SEC Gymnastics Championships appear in the state of Tennessee.
All the teams gathered on the floor exercise mat between Friday's two practice sessions at the Sommet Center to hold the official draw for the meet. Senior All-American Corey Hartung drew the optimal rotation, as the Gators will compete the events in the Olympic order (vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise).
The slightest margin allowed in the sport (0.025) kept the Gators from repeating as the Southeastern Conference champions in 2008. Georgia won the 2008 title at 197.35 while Florida and Alabama tied for second at 197.325. It was the closest meet in the history of the event.
The 2009 Gators have been hit hard by injuries, as five of the team's 12 members are out for this meet with injuries and Hartung is limited as she is coming back from a third degree strain of her left soleus muscle. Just in the last week, Florida lost the services of junior All-American Amanda Castillo, the two-time defending SEC floor exercise champion, with a partial tear of her left Achilles tendon and of sophomore Alicia Goodwin, who sprained her left knee in Wednesday's practice.
“The Southeastern Conference Championships are going to be a challenge for us,” UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said. “Although we are short handed due to injuries, this team isn't giving up. We have some gymnasts stepping into the lineups with limited experience, but they want to do it for the team. The athletes are really motivated “
Five of the nation's top 10 teams (No. 1 Georgia, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Florida and No. 9 Arkansas) are among the seven-team SEC field. It is the 12th time a league team has brought the No. 1 ranking into the SEC meet. All seven league teams are ranked among the nation's top 25 (No. 1 Georgia, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Florida, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 11 Auburn and No. 22 Kentucky). This is first time in six years that five league teams enter the SEC Championships ranked among the nation's top 10 (four ranked among the top 10 in 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 1998 and 1997).
Two Gators will be looking to defend individual league titles Saturday. Junior All-American Melanie Sinclair shared the 2008 SEC uneven bars title at 9.95 and Hartung earned a share of the league's beam title at 9.90.
The 2008 SEC Championship meet airs tape-delayed on SUN Sports March 29 at noon (ET).
| Southeastern Conference Gymnastics Championships | |||||||
| Competitive Draw | |||||||
| March 21, 2009 * Sommet Center * Nashville, Tenn. | |||||||
| Bye | Vault | Bye | Bars | Beam | Bye | Floor | |
| I | UA | UF | AU | UK | UGA | ARK | LSU |
| II | LSU | UA | UF | AU | UK | UGA | ARK |
| III | ARK | LSU | UA | UF | AU | UK | UGA |
| IV | UGA | ARK | LSU | UA | UF | AU | UK |
| V | UK | UGA | ARK | LSU | UA | UF | AU |
| VI | AU | UK | UGA | ARK | LSU | UA | UF |
| VII | UF | AU | UK | UGA | ARK | LSU | UA |
