Florida Gators

The last time the Florida and Georgia gymnastics teams met in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center for a dual meet, the slightest of margins possible, just 0.025, gave the win to the Gym Dogs. Tonight, the margin was only slightly larger, but the final total gave a tenth of a point advantage to the No. 4 University of Florida gymnastics team (5-2, 4-1 SEC), as the Gators registered their first home dual meet win over No. 7 Georgia (3-4, 2-3 SEC) since 1990. Florida posted a season-high 197.25 to claim the slender win over the five-time defending NCAA champion Gym Dogs. Georgia's total of 197.15 was just behind its season-best of 197.20 turned in Feb. 5 versus Kentucky.

Florida owned a tenth advantage over Georgia heading into the final rotation and both teams used season-best totals of 49.45 on their final events to make the meet go down to the wire. Georgia senior and 2004 U.S. Olympian Courtney McCool finished the Gym Dogs' balance beam set with a season-best 9.975 to give UGA its final total. The focus was then on Gator freshman Ashan?e Dickerson. She needed to anchor the Gator floor exercise lineup with a mark of 9.85 or better to give UF its first home dual win over UGA in 20 years. Dickerson sealed the win with the evening's high floor mark of 9.925, matching her collegiate best.

Dickerson said the Gators fed off the crowd of 6,421 to give UF the edge Friday.

“It was lots of fun tonight. I felt the energy from the crowd the moment we stepped onto the floor. It feels so good,” Dickerson said. “We just did what we do every day in practice - stick our landings, make sure we hit our handstands on bars and try to minimize the wobbles on beam.”

Only two competed as all-arounders Friday and both were Gators who turned in collegiate-best totals. Dickerson used the highest total ever by a Gator freshman, 39.625, to pick up her fourth all-around win of the season. Fellow freshman Marissa King also had a career night, bettering her previous best by more than two-tenths, with her total of 39.425.

Florida also had a season-best total of 49.20 on balance beam. The third competitor recorded a miss, but the rest of the Gator lineup hit their routines. UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn was impressed with how the team dealt with that pressure, especially from the three freshmen that anchored the UF beam lineup.

“It came right down to the wire and I think that is what made it so exciting, seeing our athletes feed off that. They did not buckle to any sort of pressure on knowing how close it really was. We liked especially what we saw on beam when our third athlete fell. Numbers four, five and six in the beam lineup are all freshmen and they did not bat an eye. They just went up and were really aggressive. I think once again this shows the mental toughness and the mental maturity of this very young team. I was really proud of them.”

Florida opened the meet with a total of 49.40 on vault, just off its season-best of 49.425 set last week at Alabama. Dickerson picked up her fourth vault title of the season by setting her collegiate-best of 9.95. Georgia's Kat Ding was runner-up at 9.925 while UF's Maranda Smith, Nicole Ellis and Marissa King shared third at 9.875 with UGA's Marcia Newby.

On the uneven bars, UF's total of 49.20 ranks as its second-highest of 2010, just behind the 49.275 set at the end of January. King used a collegiate-best mark of 9.875 to share her second bar title of the season with Ding. Florida's Alicia Goodwin and Elizabeth Mahlich shared third with UGA's Grace Taylor at 9.85.

McCool's 9.975 won the evening's balance beam title while Dickerson anchored UF's beam lineup with a collegiate-best 9.95. That mark matches the fifth-highest beam mark ever by a Gator. Dickerson claimed her third floor win of her freshman campaign at 9.925. Amy Ferguson and Smith used 9.90s to share second with McCool in the final floor standings.

Next week, Florida finishes its regular-season Southeastern Conference slate when it travels to No. 12 Auburn for a Friday, Feb. 26 dual meet. Meet time is set for 8 p.m. (ET) in the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. The meet will air March 6 at 4 p.m. on Sun Sports.