Florida Gators
UF Triangular
Florida Gymnasts Use Season-Best to Take Tri-Meet Title
Saturday, March 6, 2010 | Gymnastics
The No. 4 University of Florida gymnastics team's (8-2, 5-1 SEC) season-best total gave UF the triangular meet win Friday in front of a Stephen C. O'Connell Center crowd of 3,897. Florida's winning total of 197.55 ranks as the eighth highest in school history. North Carolina (8-6) turned in a season-best 194.225 while Ball State (5-9) rounded out the results with a 191.35.
| Tune in… |
| Tonight's meet airs on Sun Sports Sunday, March 14 at 9 a.m. |
A sweep of the evening's event titles by the Gators included a pair of Florida freshmen sharing the all-around title. Ashan?e Dickerson and Marissa King both turned in a 39.475 Friday – a collegiate-best for King and equaling Dickerson's second-highest of the season. It was the first collegiate all-around win for King, a 2008 Olympian for Great Britain.
For Dickerson, the win was her sixth, making her just the third Gator in the program's 38-year history to claim six or more all-aro
und wins as a freshman. Florida's career leader for all-around wins, Elfi Schlegel (27 total wins), leads UF freshmen with her nine wins in 1983. Corey Hartung also turned in six wins as a freshman in 2006.
| Florida Events Winners Friday | ||
| Vault: | Ashan?e Dickerson | 9.95 |
| Bars: | Amanda Castillo | 9.90 |
| Maranda Smith | 9.90 | |
| Beam: | Rebekah Zaiser | 9.95 |
| Floor: | Ashan?e Dickerson | 9.875 |
| Liz Green | 9.875 | |
| Marissa King | 9.875 | |
| Randy Stageberg | 9.875 | |
| All-Around: | Ashan?e Dickerson | 39.475 |
| Marissa King | 39.475 | |
King, whose parents (Clifford and Joy King) were in the stands Friday to see her compete, was thrilled to join her teammate on the podium's top step.
“For both me and Ashan?e to get the all-around title is great because it keeps both of us on our toes. For me to be up there with her and to finally be at her level is phenomenal because she is such a great, consistent and solid gymnast. I do look up to her when every week, she's been up there winning all the titles, so it's great for me to be up there with her and for both of us to be on the Gator team.”
Dickerson added her fifth wins of the season for both vault and floor exercise. She matched her collegiate-best of 9.95 on vault, while King turned in a collegiate-best of 9.90 to take second. These two also were among a four-way Gator tie at 9.875 for first in the evening's floor competition. Fellow freshmen Liz Green and Randy Stageberg also shared first. The 9.875 was a collegiate-best for King and Green and equaled Stageberg's collegiate-best.
King opened her floor routine with a double layout – the first time she performed the skill in a competition. As the team's floor anchor Friday, five hit routines gave her the opportunity to try it in front of the judges.
“With the floor, I put in a new first part. I've been working it for about two years but I've never got to the stage it competing because I never got the chance back home and never felt ready. I was last today - if anyone would have make a mistake, I would go back to my old routine and my old first part,” King said. “Luckily, all the girls hit so I had the opportunity to perform it. I was so pleased that I finally had the opportunity to compete it. My parents came down to watch and my dad will be very pleased.”
For the second week in a row, Florida moved up its season-best on uneven bars, with its 49.35 Friday. Senior All-Americans Amanda Castillo and Maranda Smith shared the Gators' high mark of 9.90 to win the event. The duo also shared the bar win last weekend in UF's dual at Auburn. It was Smith's fourth bar win of 2010 and Castillo's third. Junior All-American Alicia Goodwin took third at 9.875.
“It feels amazing because I'm just working really, really hard. When you nail that dismount or that routine and you come away with a win like that, all your hard work pays off,” Castillo said. “It's just a great feeling.”
On the next rotation, UF shattered its season-best on balance beam, as its 49.475 Friday matches the seventh-highest in school history. Leading the Gators was senior Rebekah Zaiser, who posted a collegiate-best 9.95 to take her first beam win since 2008. That score matches the fifth-highest on the event in school history and equals UF's season-best turned in by Dickerson Feb. 19 versus Georgia.
Zaiser missed all but the 2009 opening meet due to a broken bone in her right foot so Friday's performance was especially special.
“I was super thrilled. Last year I sat out the whole season injured so I've been waiting a long time to nail a beam routine like that,” she said. “I've always had something that's gotten in the way of performing to my potential. We had so much energy coming from vault and bars and the first two on beam really built the score up. I was just able to do my best at the right time.”
Three other Gators also turned in collegiate-best beam marks Friday to take the top three spots in the final standings. Green was runner-up with her mark of 9.925. King and Stageberg shared third at 9.875.
The Gators were 24-for-24 with their routines Friday and UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said that consistency throughout the lineup built Florida's momentum.
“It was great. The way they competed was in such a calm and confident manner. They were really relaxed and just let their bodies take over. We really like when we can do our routines one right after the other, because we feel like we get momentum going and we feed off each other. I think that really benefited the team tonight,” Faehn said. “We came out aggressively on vault. Dali (Lemezan) always gets us started strong there. Bars were really spectacular for us as well. Whenever Amanda (Castillo) does well, the energy level rises to a whole new level. I was most proud of our performance on the beam tonight, because we hit one routine after another. There was no wobbling. I was really proud of all of them.”
With tonight's tri-meet format, three events were going on simultaneously, giving this young Gator team a bit of a feel for the competition format that awaits them for the championship portion of the season. Faehn liked what she saw from Florida Friday.
“We did precisely what we wanted to do tonight, get our team in the mind-set of a rotational type competition, such as SECs, regionals and nationals. The routines are performed one after the other and then they are followed by down time, especially with regionals having byes through whole rotations,” she said. “It was positive tonight. I loved their mentality - focused, but not uptight. They stayed calm and kept being aggressive.
“I love this team,” she continued. “They are so young, yet so mature. The different personalities and talents our athletes have make it so fun to coach them. Everyone brings something different to the table and each meet someone new steps up. It's almost as if they trade it off of among one another and just feed from each others' energy. It's an exciting place to be.”
Florida returns to action on March 19 when it plays host to No. 9 Utah (6-2) for the regular-season finale. It will be Senior Night and members of Florida's five-member class will be honored in a post-meet ceremony. Meet time is set for 7 p.m. in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Check out UF Athletics Facebook for a 2-for-1 admission pass to print out for the UF-Utah meet. Free admission coupons are available at area Domino's. The first 500 kids (12 and under) receive a Gator bookmark. For a complete list of promotions for the March 19 meet, please visit the gymnastics promotions page here. The meet will air March 28 at 9 a.m. on Sun Sports.
| Final Team Standings | ||||||
| No. 4 Florida vs. North Carolina and Ball State – March 5, 2010 – Stephen C. O'Connell Center (3,897) | ||||||
|
| Team | Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | Total |
| 1. | Florida | 49.375 | 49.35 | 49.475 | 49.35 | 197.55 |
| 2. | North Carolina | 48.65 | 48.70 | 48.30 | 48.575 | 194.225 |
| 3 | Ball State | 48.225 | 48.275 | 47.55 | 47.30 | 191.35 |
