Florida Gymnastics Team Advances to Friday's NCAA Super Six Team Final

Thursday, April 22

Gainesville, FL

7:00 PM

Florida Gators

NCAA Team Semifinal - Session II

Florida Gymnastics Team Advances to Friday's NCAA Super Six Team Final

Friday, April 23, 2010 | Gymnastics

The No. 2 seeded Florida gymnastics team advanced to its fifth consecutive NCAA Super Six team final after finishing second in Thursday's Session II of the team qualifying competition.

Treating it like another home meet, albeit with greater stakes, the Gators turned in a 196.775 to finish behind Alabama, which dominated its first three events and finished with a 196.85. Stanford claimed the final advancing position at 196.30.

“On each event, we let different people step forward,” Alabama coach Susan Patterson said. “The pressure that people feel to advance is tremendous and I think you're going to see a lot of the teams relaxed tomorrow night and just really enjoy doing their best gymnastics.”

Watch Rhonda Faehn's post-meet interview here

Rounding out Session II were Michigan (195.70), Arkansas (195.60) and Missouri — in its first national championship appearance in school history — finished with a 194.60.

All three teams advancing from Session II, will compete against the top three teams from Session I (UCLA, Utah and Oklahoma) on Friday in the NCAA Super Six at 6 p.m. (ET) in the Stephen O'Connell Center to crown the national champion.

NCAA Gymnastics Championships Tickets

Tickets can be purchased by calling the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683 ext. 6800 (between hours of 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.) or at the Gator Ticket Office located at Gate 1 of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Tickets can also be purchased at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center ticket booths at the following times:

Friday, April 23 9 a.m. through conclusion of Super Six team final

Saturday, April 24 3-8 p.m.

Single Session

Adult - $20

Senior/Student/Child - $15

Single Day Tickets are for Level Two and Three.

This is the ninth NCAA Super Six appearance for the Gators (1994, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). UF has finished as high as second, but has registered fourth-place finishes in its last two trips to the Super Six.

Despite a team featuring five freshmen — which comprise over half of the routines performed by the Gators — inexperience hasn't been a detriment this season, with the Gators registering 197s in six of their last seven meets (all wins) heading into the NCAA Championships.

It wasn't a 197, but UF's score was close enough to advance — and it put UF in the Super Six where they will look to become just the fifth team to claim the national title.

After sitting out the first round of events with a bye, the crowd erupted with pent-up frustration to welcome the Gators on uneven bars.

However, the crowd was soon gasping after the home-crowd favorite suffered a fall and a major break in its first rotation. Freshman Ashan?e Dickerson, who has been a staple of excellence all year for the Gators, had a shocking fall, coupled with another surprising miscue by sophomore Elizabeth Mahlich. Despite its two slipups, UF escaped with a 48.9 after a pair of 9.9s from seniors Amanda Castillo and Maranda Smith.

“They came out and just want to do well so badly, that sometimes you try too hard,” UF coach Rhonda Faehn said. “Ashan?e, she just tried so hard on her release move, she just overshot it. That's just a learning experience.”

The team picked up marginally on balance beam with a 49.175. Minus a fall from their second competitor, the five remaining Gators posted scores ranging from 9.80 to 9.85. Dickerson rebounded from her fall on bars to anchor the beam rotation with a 9.80.

Similar to last year, Florida was in fourth place after two events with a total score of 98.075. The Gators trailed first-time participant Missouri by .05 — making vault and floor exercise pivotal events.

In order not to disappoint the home fans clad in orange and blue, UF came out on floor following a third-rotation bye with a 49.275.

“We got the team together (during the bye) and we really just pumped each other up,” freshman Marissa King said. “We pulled team spirit together, because that's what we were lacking in the first two events.”

Suffering a fall - coming again from the second lineup spot - the onus was once again on the end of the lineup.

And the last three gymnasts, starting with Smith, answered with escalating scores. Smith scored a 9.875, which was followed by a 9.9 and a 9.925 by freshmen Dickerson and King, respectively.

The Gators headed into vault and saved its best score for last, to put to rest any uncertainty about the team's youth.

UF leapfrogged Stanford for second place with an event-best 49.425. Freshman Dali Lemezan sparked the vault rotation with a 9.85. Dickerson, seemingly determined to make doubters forget about her first-event fall, hit a resounding 9.95 routine and King dotted the exclamation point with a 9.9.

“When (Dickerson) hit off bars, I told her throw it away,” Faehn said. “That was really the best floor routine she's done all year long, and also the best vault — that was phenomenal.”

Wrapping up on vault, the Gators were the first team done in their rotation, and knew their score would challenge for the top three. Michigan and Missouri, the other teams battling to stay alive, struggled in their last events to finish outside the top three.

King finished with an all-around score of 39.40, despite a patchy start on bars. Dickerson still managed a 38.9.

“There is more pressure on this day because it's a matter of advancing,” Faehn said. “We know we're better, we just gotta calm down.”

Florida will start the Super Six competition on bars, followed by beam, a bye, floor, and will finish on vault.

Florida Notes

Seven Gators picked up a total of 11 All-America honors Thursday. Amanda Castillo claimed the eighth All-America honor of her collegiate career, placing her tied for fifth on the Gators career All-America chart. Two seniors – Courtney Gladys and Rebekah Zaiser - picked up their first All-America honors of their collegiate careers (both on the balance beam).

Marissa King earned four All-America honors (first team – vault and floor exercise; second team – all-around and balance beam). The four All-America honors matches the highest number for a Gator freshman (three other freshmen with four All-America honors – Amanda Castillo/2007, Betsy Hamm/1998, Chrissy Van Fleet/1997).

Marissa King set her collegiate-best for floor (9.925) and equaled her best of 9.90 on vault. Ashan?e Dickerson matched her collegiate-best of 9.95 on vault for the fourth time in 2010.

NCAA Championships – Session I Team Results – April 22, 2010
Stephen C. O'Connell Center (2,109)
	Team		Vault		Bars		Beam		Floor	Total
1.	UCLA		49.400		49.125		48.975		49.375	196.875
2.	Utah		49.125		49.150		49.250		49.100	196.625
3.	Oklahoma		49.000		49.150		49.150		49.250	196.550
4.	Nebraska		49.375		49.150		48.525		49.125	196.175
5.	Oregon State		48.950		48.975		48.975		49.150	196.050
6.	LSU		49.100		49.300		48.625		49.00	196.025
NCAA Championships – Session II Team Results – April 22, 2010
Stephen C. O'Connell Center (3,313)
	Team	Vault		Bars		Beam		Floor			Total
1.	Alabama	49.325		49.350		49.225		48.950			196.850
2.	Florida	49.425		48.900		49.175		49.275			196.775
3.	Stanford	49.325		48.950		49.100		48.925			196.300
4.	Michigan	49.375		48.725		48.450		49.150			195.700
5.	Arkansas	49.250		49.125		48.000		49.225			195.600
6.	Missouri	49.200		49.025		47.450		48.925			194.600
Shading denotes teams that advance to April 23 NCAA Super Six team final.

NCAA Super Six Team Final Draw – April 23, 2010
Stephen C. O'Connell Center
Rot.	V	Bye	Bars	Beam	Bye	Floor
I	UCLA	Utah	Florida	Stanford	Alabama	Oklahoma
II	Oklahoma	UCLA	Utah	Florida	Stanford	Alabama
III	Alabama	Oklahoma	UCLA	Utah	Florida	Stanford
IV	Stanford	Alabama	Oklahoma	UCLA	Utah	Florida
V	Florida	Stanford	Alabama	Oklahoma	UCLA	Utah
VI	Utah	Florida	Stanford	Alabama	Oklahoma	UCLA

2010 Gator All-Americans
Name	Event	Session I Score	All-America team
Amanda Castillo	Uneven Bars	9.90	First Team
Ashan?e Dickerson	Vault	9.95	First Team
	Floor Exercise	9.90	First Team
Courtney Gladys	Balance Beam	9.85	Second Team
Alicia Goodwin	Uneven Bars	9.875	Second Team
Marissa King	All-Around	39.400	Second Team
	Vault	9.90	First Team
	Balance Beam	9.85	Second Team
	Floor Exercise	9.925	First Team
Maranda Smith	Uneven Bars	9.90	First Team
Rebekah Zaiser	Balance Beam	9.85	Second Team
Blue denotes gymnasts advancing to April 24 NCAA Individual Event Finals

NCAA Individual Event Finals Draw – April 24, 2010 @ 6 p.m. (ET)
Vault			Balance Beam
Order	Name	School	Order	Name	School
1	Mary Atkinson	Arizona State	1	Casey Jo Magee	Arkansas
2	Blair Ryland	Stanford	2	Geralen Stack-Eaton	Alabama
3	Morgan Dennis	Alabama	3	Kelsey Knutson	Michigan
4	Marissa King	Florida	4	Kyndal Robarts	Utah
5	Brittany Skinner	Nebraska	5	Jamie Deetscreek	Utah
6	Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs	UCLA	6	Courtney McCool	Georgia
7	Lora Evenstad	Nebraska	7	Ashley Priess	Alabama
8	Ashley Lee	LSU	8	Brandi Personett	Penn State
9	Susan Jackson	LSU	9	Carly Janiga	Stanford
10	Kylee Botterman	Michigan	10	Susan Jackson	LSU
11	Ashanee Dickerson	Florida
12	Vanessa Zamarripa	UCLA
13	Mandi Rodriguez	Oregon State
14	Geralen Stack-Eaton	Alabama
15	Anna Li	UCLA
16	Sarah Shire	Missouri
17	Brittnee Martinez	Michigan
18	Allison Buckley	Illinois
19	Jaime Pisani	Arkansas
20	Sharaya Musser	Penn State

Uneven Bars			Floor Exercise
Order	Name	School	Order	Name	School
1	Anna Li	UCLA	1	Morgan Dennis	Alabama
2	Kayla Hoffman	Alabama	2	Makayla Stambaugh	Oregon State
3	Susan Jackson	LSU	3	Brandi Personett	Penn State
4	Daria Bijak	Utah	4	Annie DiLuzio	Utah
5	Carly Janiga	Stanford	5	Marissa King	Florida
6	Hollie Vise	Oklahoma	6	Sarah Shire	Missouri
7	Kassi Price	Alabama	7	Ashanee Dickerson	Florida
8	Maranda Smith	Florida	8	Brittani McCullough	UCLA
9	Amanda Castillo	Florida	9	Vanessa Zamarripa	UCLA
10	Summer Hubbard	LSU	10	Hollie Vise	Oklahoma
11	Casey Jo Magee	Arkansas		Jaime Pisani	Arkansas
				Natalie Beilstein	Michigan
				Casey Jo Magee	Arkansas