No. 4 Florida Gymnastics Starts SEC Championship on Vault
Friday, March 26, 2010 | Gymnastics
The No. 4 University of Florida gymnastics team's (9-2, 5-1 SEC) first competitive event will be vault at the 30th annual Southeastern Conference Gymnastics Championships. The SEC Championships begin at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 27 in the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. This is the first time that the SEC Gymnastics Championships will take place in Jacksonville.
All the teams gathered on the floor exercise mat between Friday's two practice sessions at the Veterans Memorial Arena to hold the official draw for the meet. Senior All-American Maranda Smith represented UF at the draw. Smith drew the first bye, which means Florida will begin competition in the second rotation on vault.
The Gators come into Saturday's meet after putting up their top two scores of the season in both of the team's competitions this month. Florida posted a 197.55 to take the wins in the March 5 triangular and March 19 dual meet versus Utah. That score is the eighth highest in the program's 38-year history.
A pair of freshmen has taken the all-around titles in both meets. Ashan?e Dickerson and Marissa King shared the all-around win on March 5 and King claimed the all-around title on March 19. King was named the SEC Freshman Gymnast of the Week following both performances. Dickerson, a native of Jacksonville, has been honored five times by the league – earning the SEC Gymnast of the Week for Feb. 23 and picking up four SEC Freshman of the Week honors. Dickerson and King claimed seven of the possible 11 SEC Freshman of the Week honors in 2010.
“This Southeastern Conference Championships is going to be an especially exciting meet,” said UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn. “We feel everyone is in the right state, mentally and physically, to put us in the best position possible to win the SEC Championship.” Coach Faehn also mentioned that the Gator's are excited that the meet will be in Jacksonville for the first time and are looking forward to “having a lot of people come out from the surrounding areas to support us and cheer us on. The meet does not come to Florida that often, so we are very excited for it to be so close.”
At the 2009 SEC Championships, the Gators finished third with a score of 196.75, finishing behind Alabama (197.30) and Georgia (196.925). Rounding out the last four teams were LSU (196.55), Auburn (196.35), Arkansas (195.65) and Kentucky (195.10). Florida's finish was surprising, as the Gators were able to overcome injuries to five of the team's 12 members. Florida's total of seven competitors equaled the lowest number of Gators competing at the SEC Championships in school history.
Florida's most recent title came at the 2007 SEC Championships, which was the sixth in the programs history and the first since 1989. In 2008, the SEC title was decided by the smallest margin allowed in gymnastics (0.025) and was the closest in SEC Championship meet history. Georgia had a winning total of 197.35, while Florida and Alabama tied for second at 197.325. This is the fifth consecutive year that the SEC Championships will be contested on podium. This same podium will be in the University of Florida's Stephen C. O'Connell when the Gators' play host to the 2010 NCAA Championships April 22-24.
For the second consecutive year, five of the nation's top-10 teams (No. 1 Alabama, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Georgia, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 10 LSU) are among the seven-team SEC field. It is the 13th time a league team has brought the No. 1 ranking into the SEC meet. All seven of the league teams are ranked among the nation's top 25 (No. 1 Alabama, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Georgia, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 10 LSU, No. 15 Auburn, No. 18 Kentucky).
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 ESPN2 on April 4 at 11:00 a.m.
| Southeastern Conference Gymnastics Championships | |||||||
| Competitive Draw | |||||||
| March 27, 2010 * Veterans Memorial Arena * Jacksonville, Fla. | |||||||
| Rot. | Bye | Vault | Bye | Bars | Beam | Bye | Floor |
| I | UF | UA | AU | LSU | UK | UGA | ARK |
| II | ARK | UF | UA | AU | LSU | UK | UGA |
| III | UGA | ARK | UF | UA | AU | LSU | UK |
| IV | UK | UGA | ARK | UF | UA | AU | LSU |
| V | LSU | UK | UGA | ARK | UF | UA | AU |
| VI | AU | LSU | UK | UGA | ARK | UF | UA |
| VII | UA | AU | LSU | UK | UGA | ARK | UF |
