No. 4 Florida Gymnastics and No. 16 Auburn Face Off on Friday
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | Gymnastics
The No. 4 University of Florida gymnastics team (5-2, 3-1 SEC) finishes off its Southeastern Conference regular season slate against No. 16 Auburn (2-4, 2-3 SEC) on Friday, Feb. 19. Meet time is scheduled for 8 p.m. (EST) at the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum in Auburn, Ala.
So far this season, every opponent Florida has faced (including No. 16 Auburn) has been ranked in the top-25 nationally. Since 2002, every Florida at Auburn meet has been decided by a half point or less with Florida winning in 2006 and 2008, and losing in 2002 and 2004. In the all-time series between the two teams, Florida is 54-11. The last two duels between these orange and blue teams has been decided by a half a point or less. UF took a 195.25-194.75 win at AU in 2008 and claimed a 196.50-196.25 win in the 2009 meeting in Gainesville.
In action last week, Florida took a 197.25-197.15 victory over then No. 7 Georgia. The victory was the first time that Florida has defeated Georgia at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center since 1990. The total of 197.25 was the team's season-high, and the first time the Gators have broken the 197 point mark since the 2008 season. Florida was lead by two freshmen, Ashan?e Dickerson and Marissa King, who swept the SEC Gymnast of the Week Honors for the for the first time in conference history. Dickerson was named Gymnast of the Week after posting 39.625 in the all-around, the highest ever for a Florida freshman and tied for the fifth highest in the nation this season. Dickerson picked up three event titles in the meet, with wins in the all-around (39.625), vault (9.95), and floor exercise (9.925). King was named SEC Freshman Gymnast of the Week after tallying a collegiate-best all-around of 39.425 to take second in the meet. She also shared the evening's uneven bars title at 9.875 with UGA's Kat Ding.
Auburn comes into this meet off a bye week after splitting in its last two road meets (at Arkansas Feb. 5 – 197.025- 196.425 loss; at Kentucky Feb. 12 – 196.420- 195.425 win). The last time Auburn competed at home, it recorded its first victory ever over Georgia (195.225-194.90 on Jan. 29). Auburn is led by senior Krissy Voss, who owns the Tigers' top all-around total of 39.225, set at Arkansas. Auburn is led by head coach Jeff Thompson, who is in his 12th year as the Tigers' head coach.
Live scoring can be found at www.GatorZone.com and live meet updates can be viewed at www.Twitter.com/GatorZoneGym. The meet airs tape-delayed on SUN Sports on March 6 at 10:00 p.m.
