Florida Gators

The No. 4 University of Florida gymnastics team (2-1, 2-0 SEC) collected its second consecutive win of the season in Friday's dual meet at No. 12 Kentucky (3-2, 1-2 SEC). The Gators posted a 196.05-195.35 win over the Wildcats in front of a Memorial Coliseum crowd of 2,132.

The Gators showed improvement from their first road performance of the season and did not count a fall toward their team total. A stronger beginning helped the Gators Friday, UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said.

“We're much happier with our road performance,” Faehn said. “I thought we did much better on our starting event – the uneven bars. We did a better job of hitting our handstands and really going for the stuck landings. On vault, we still need to narrow in on those landings, but we'll get there. Tonight, we switched the lineup around a bit and Courtney Gladys started us off with a great stuck landing. On floor, we had some great routines from Liz (Green) and Amy (Ferguson). Ashan?e (Dickerson) had her best floor routine of the year. But we had some stumbles on some landings because they were going so hard for the stick. On beam, we were just a little wobbly. We went' six for six but again, some of the gymnasts went for a stuck landing and came up a little short.

“There was definite improvement on this road performance, but there is still work to be done,” she continued. “This is great because it gives us the motivation to go back and to work on those areas that need to be cleaner.”

A Gator took at least a share of four of the evening's five event titles, including freshman Ashan?e Dickerson picking up her third consecutive all-around title with a total of 39.25. She is the first Gator to open the season with three consecutive all-around wins since former All-American Melissa Miller in 1988. Fellow freshman Marissa King was runner-up in the all-around at 39.075.

Senior Courtney Gladys picked up a share of two event titles Friday, tying for top honors on both vault and balance beam. Teammate Nicole Ellis tied Gladys on vault as each turned in season-best vault marks of 9.875. The mark was also a collegiate-best for Ellis after matching her previous best of 9.85 twice in 2010 and twice in 2009.

Both Gladys and freshman Liz Green shared their first collegiate balance beam wins with Kentucky's Storey Morris at 9.825. It was the second consecutive meet Green led UF on beam, as she took second last week versus Arkansas with her collegiate-best of 9.85.

Three Gators shared the evening's uneven bars title at 9.825 – Alicia Goodwin, Elizabeth Mahlich and Maranda Smith. It was the second consecutive bar win for Smith and the first of the season for Goodwin and Mahlich. Kentucky's Emily Green took the floor exercise title at 9.85. Florida's Dickerson matched her collegiate-best of 9.90 for the second straight week to finish runner-up.

Next week, Florida plays host to No. 16 LSU for the fourth annual Gators Link to Pink meet on Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The competition is part of a Southeastern Conference initiative to raise awareness about breast cancer. The first 500 fans at the meet receive the 2010 Gators Link to Pink poster and the first 1,000 fans receive a Link to Pink t-shirt, courtesy of Sun Sports. Stop by local Chick-Fil-A restaurants to pick up passes for free admission into the meet.  Tickets are $4.00 for adults, while children 17 and under plus UF students with Gator1 cards are admitted free. Check out a complete list of promotions for the meet here.