The Weekend Look Ahead: Gymnastics Takes Aim At NCAA Crown, Golf Teams Travel To SEC Championships
Friday, April 15, 2011 | General
The Gator gymnastics team sets its sets on gymnastics' top prize at the NCAA Championships this week, while both golf teams compete in the SEC Championships, women's tennis looks to cap a perfect SEC season and track hosts the Tom Jones Memorial Classic in the Weekend Look Ahead.
Gymnastics
The Gators begin their quest for the NCAA title on Friday night in session II of the NCAA Championships in Cleveland, Ohio. The Gators are the No. 5 seed and in their session Friday night will be Alabama, host Kent State, Nebraska, Oregon State and Utah. Should the Gators finish in the top three tonight and advance, they would take place in the Super Six team final at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
As GatorZone.com senior writer Scott Carter chronicles, the Gators will be looking to break into some elite company while learning from last year's experience.
Track
National powers descend on Gainesville this weekend for the Tom Jones Memorial Classic on Saturday. The nation's No. 1 (Florida) and No. 2 (Texas A&M) men's teams will be on hand. Texas A&M's top-ranked women's tam will also take part. The action is slated to get underway at noon on Saturday and admission is free to the public.
Golf
The Gator men's golf team travels to the Seaside Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga., to compete in the SEC Championships from Friday through Sunday. The Gators will looking for their first SEC title since 2003 in what is expected to be a loaded field this weekend.
The Gators will once again look to Bank Vongvanij, profiled by Scott Carter earlier this week on GatorZone.
The women's golf team travels to the Auburn University Golf Club this weekend to compete in the SEC Championships. The Gators are looking for their first SEC crown since 2008.
Tennis
The women's tennis team wraps up regular season play on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Linder Stadium when the Gators host South Carolina. The Gators are currently 21-1, 10-0 in SEC play, can finish undefeated in SEC action and clinch the outright SEC title on Saturday. Admission to the match is free.
The men's squad looks to snap a two-game skid on Saturday at South Carolina, the regular season finale for the Gators. Florida is 13-8 overall with a 6-4 mark in league play. It will be the Gators' final test before hosting the SEC Tennis Championships from April 21-24.
Lacrosse
Fresh off of Thursday night's historic win for the lacrosse program, the Gators travel to Vanderbilt on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Gators captured their first ALC title with Thursday night's win over No. 2 Northwestern and have won 13 straight heading into Sunday.
Baseball
No. 4 Florida (26-8/9-3 SEC) continues its eight-game road trip this weekend with a visit to Athens to meet Georgia (18-16/8-4 SEC). The Gators and Bulldogs were each on the short end of rivalry games to ACC foes on Tuesday night, as UF fell at No. 8 Florida State (3-1) and UGA lost at No. 9 Georgia Tech (5-3).
All three games of the series will be televised. Friday's opener will be carried live on CSS at 7 p.m. and air in Gainesville and Ocala on Channel 259 of the Cox Communications' cable system. Saturday's game at 5 p.m. will be shown on ESPNU and the series finale on Sunday at 2 p.m. will be on CSS, Channel 199 in the Gainesville and Ocala markets on Cox.
Sophomore right-hander Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) (5-1, 1.56) will start game one against Bulldog sophomore lefty Alex Wood (4-3, 3.66). The game-two matchup features sophomore southpaw Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) (5-1, 2.54) versus UGA junior righty Michael Palazzone (5-1, 2.28). Freshman RHP Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.) (4-0, 2.01) gets the nod in the third meeting between the Gators and Bulldogs and will face redshirt junior left-hander Craig Gullickson (3-2, 5.86).
Softball
The softball looks to extend its current four-game winning streak this weekend at Auburn where they travel for a three-game set starting Friday night. Florida enters with a 34-7 mark and 10-6 in SEC play.
