Three Gators Earn Gymnastics All-SEC Honors
Monday, March 29, 2010 | Gymnastics
The University of Florida placed three on 2010 All-Southeastern Conference teams, the league office announced Monday. Florida's All-SEC honorees are freshmen Ashan?e Dickerson and Marissa King plus senior Maranda Smith.
The top three all-arounders and each event champion are named to the All-SEC first team. The All-SEC second team is made up No. 4-6 all-around finishers and event runner-ups.
Dickerson is part of the All-SEC first team based on her runner-up finishes in Saturday's all-around (39.45) and balance beam (9.925) competition. She is the top Gator freshman all-arounder since Betsy Hamm was runner-up in the 1998 SEC Championships. Dickerson also was named the SEC Freshman of the Year in Saturday's post-meet award ceremony and is the fourth Gator to earn the honor (Amanda Castillo/2007, Orley Szmuch/2002 and Hamm/1998). She picked up a total of five weekly SEC awards this season, as she was named the SEC Gymnast of the Week on Feb. 23 and earned four SEC Freshman of the Week honors. Dickerson claimed a total of six all-around titles in 2010 and owns UF's season-best marks for all-around (39.625), vault (9.95) and floor (9.95) and shares the team's high balance beam mark (9.95).
King tied for fourth in SEC all-around competition with her total of 39.325. During the course of the 2010 season, the 2008 Great Britain Olympian picked up three SEC Freshman of the Week honors. In the last five meets, King has set or upped all of her collegiate-best marks a total of 12 times, which includes raising her all-around best three times.
Smith led the Gators Saturday with her floor exercise mark of 9.90, which tied for second overall. It was her third floor mark of 9.90 or better this season and just off her 2010 best of 9.925 set in the Jan. 29 dual meet versus LSU. The three-time All-American is second among the 2010 Gators with seven event titles.
Dickerson and King make up the 2010 SEC All-Freshmen team, which is awarded to the top three freshmen all-arounders and the top freshmen in each event at the SEC Championships. Dickerson or King were the top freshmen in each of the four apparatus Saturday – vault (Dickerson, T8th/9.85), uneven bars (Dickerson, T10th/9.80), balance beam (Dickerson, T2nd/9.925) and floor exercise (Dickerson and King, T6th/9.875). They also were the only two freshmen that competed as all-arounders Saturday.
Florida's Rhonda Faehn shared the SEC Coach of the Year honor with Alabama's Sarah Patterson. It is the third such honor for Faehn since 2006. In the 2010 season, she led the Gators to its seventh SEC team title and first since 2007. Prior to Faehn's arrival for the 2003 season, Florida last won the SEC title in 1989.
Next up, No. 4 Florida competes in the NCAA North Central Region Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 10. A top-two team finish sends Florida back home to the NCAA Championships, which are set for April 22-24 in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
| 2010 Southeastern Conference Gymnastics Awards | |
| SEC Gymnast Of The Year | Susan Jackson, LSU |
| SEC Freshman Of The Year | Ashan?e Dickerson, Florida |
| SEC Scholar-Athlete Of The Year | Kristina Voss, Auburn |
| SEC Co-Coaches Of The Year | Rhonda Faehn, Florida |
| Sarah Patterson, Alabama | |
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| First Team All-SEC | Ashan?e Dickerson, Florida |
| Ashley Priess, Alabama | |
| Casey Jo Magee, Arkansas | |
| Morgan Dennis, Alabama | |
| Susan Jackson, LSU | |
| Hilary Mauro, Georgia | |
| Kat Ding, Georgia | |
| Courtney McCool, Georgia | |
| Second Team All-SEC | Marissa King, Florida |
| Maranda Smith, Florida | |
| Ricki Lebegern, Alabama | |
| Jaime Pisani, Arkansas | |
| Kayla Hoffman, Alabama | |
| Gloria Johnson, LSU | |
| Marcia Newby, Georgia | |
| Grace Taylor, Georgia | |
| Freshman All-SEC | Ashan?e Dickerson, Florida |
| Marissa King, Florida | |
