Florida Gators
NCAA Super Six Team Final
Florida Gymnastics Team Fifth in NCAA Super Six Team Final
Saturday, April 24, 2010 | Gymnastics
The University of Florida gymnastics team took fifth place in Friday's NCAA Super Six team final with a total of 197.00.
No.1-seeded UCLA won its sixth NCAA team title with a final score of 197.725. Oklahoma finished second with a 197.25 and Alabama was nipping at the Sooners' heels with a 197.225. Stanford (197.10), UF and Utah (196.225) rounded out the field.
“To go down and to literally build back up is very rewarding as a coach,” UCLA coach Valorie Kondos Field said. “It wasn't just a win; it wasn't because we had so many Olympians back then, which everybody said.”
| NCAA Gymnastics Championships Tickets | ||||
| Tickets can be purchased for the NCAA Individual Event Finals at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center ticket booths beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday: | ||||
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This was Florida's ninth NCAA Super Six appearance (1994, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) since the format began in 1993. This is the last year the NCAA will have the Super Six format; beginning next year there will be four teams competing for the title.
The highest NCAA finish for the Gators was second in the 1998 event held in Los Angeles, Calif.
UF competed in the same event order as Thursday's team qualifying session and led off on uneven bars. All eyes were on Ashan?e Dickerson, who fell during her bar routine in the qualifying round. Like a quarterback who has to forget about throwing his last interception, Dickerson didn't let thoughts of her fall faze her and she opened up the Gators' first event with a 9.85 – her second-highest mark of the season.
Seeing an improvement from Thursday, Florida posted a solid 49.125 on its first event, but a break kept the total from reaching higher. Along with Dickerson, Alicia Goodwin, Elizabeth Mahlich and Amanda Castillo all scored 9.85.
“It was really a surprise to struggle on bars,” UF coach Rhonda Faehn said. “I genuinely think that the team had some nerves stemming from last night's bars performance.”
From there, UF moved to balance beam. The Gators used five sound scores — ranging from 9.8 to Dickerson's 9.875 — to notch a 49.20 on the event.
After beam, Florida had a bye before going into floor exercise and finishing up on vault.
Castillo stepped into the floor lineup for the first time since mid-February and scored a season-best 9.875. Dickerson continued to stun audience members with her sky-high tumbling. She wowed fans with a 9.95 routine on floor, which tied for the Friday's highest mark on the event.
Heading into the team's last event, vault, the Gators once again strung together good — not great — scores, ranging from 9.8 to 9.9. Senior Maranda Smith and Dickerson tallied 9.9s.
It was the second 9.9 of the night for Smith, who registered a 9.9 on floor. Dickerson finished with an all-around score of 39.575 to share second with UCLA's Anna Li. The top all-around total of 39.625 came from UCLA's Vanessa Zamarripa.
“We can't let the nerves come into play next year because the team that we have is going to be absolutely phenomenal,” Faehn said. “We are going to have a young team again and so they're really going to have to learn and not make the same mistakes.”
“I'm just really proud of the girls, because we fought hard through the end,” Smith said. “Just like every meet, we just showed how much heart and passion we have for this sport. Personally, I couldn't have asked for a better floor or vault.
“When we get to this point in the season, especially at a national championship, every team is good. The team that won tonight had the least amount of mistakes. Unfortunately the Gators had mistakes.”
The final day of the NCAA Championships will have four Gators among the individual event finals, which begin at 6 p.m. (ET). Florida's participants are: Dickerson (floor, vault), King (floor, vault), Smith (bars), and Castillo (bars).
| NCAA Championships – Super Six Team Final – April 23, 2010 | ||||||
| Stephen C. O'Connell Center (5,386) | ||||||
| Team | Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | Total | |
| 1. | UCLA | 49.475 | 49.325 | 49.375 | 49.550 | 197.725 |
| 2. | Oklahoma | 49.300 | 49.325 | 49.200 | 49.425 | 197.250 |
| 3. | Alabama | 49.375 | 49.425 | 49.325 | 49.100 | 197.225 |
| 4. | Stanford | 49.400 | 49.275 | 49.100 | 49.325 | 197.100 |
| 5. | Florida | 49.250 | 49.125 | 49.200 | 49.425 | 197.000 |
| 6. | Utah | 49.275 | 49.300 | 48.425 | 49.225 | 196.225 |
