The Other End of Spectrum: Rough Start Too Much For Gators To Overcome
Saturday, April 16, 2011 | Gymnastics, Scott Carter
CLEVELAND – The other end of the spectrum was on display here on a chilly Friday night.
The previous night back home, a Gators squad basked in a moment of triumph when the lacrosse team won the biggest game in school history by upsetting perennial power and No. 2-ranked Northwestern.
The players screamed. Their parents hugged. The fans roared. It was the kind of moment that players like Kitty Cullen and Ashley Bruns and Caroline Chesterman will talk about in 20 years and recall their emotions as if yesterday.
The scene here inside Wolstein Arena late Friday painted a much different picture than what unfolded at Dizney Stadium on UF's campus 24 hours earlier.
Shortly after Florida's Alaina Johnson dismounted and stuck a perfect landing on the bars to close out the Gators' final routine, head coach Rhonda Faehn and Johnson's teammates swarmed to congratulate her as she jumped off the podium.
They still had a glimmer of hope.
“We kept fighting. It was still a really close call,'' Gator freshman MacKenzie Caquatto said. “It shows how much heart this team has and how much we wanted to win.''
Soon, they gathered inside their corral and listened closely as Faehn delivered the news that they were going to fall short. The smiles that erupted after Johnson's strong performance turned into frowns. Eyes suddenly turned watery.
Their season was over. And for seniors Maranda Smith and Alicia Goodwin, so were their careers with their teammates.
It wasn't the finish the Gators envisioned when they arrived earlier in the week for the NCAA Gymnastics Championships, but it was the reality they had to face.
“They have to learn from this,'' Faehn said. “They have to look back and see how you have to fight for every little thing. You just have to have the confidence. They have to take away from this what they are going to do differently. We have to sit as coaches and figure out what we have to do next year.''
Seeking a sixth consecutive trip to the Super Six, the Gators were instantly reminded of the tension-filled stage they were on after their leadoff performer, Elizabeth Mahlich, fell on the beam. Two performances later, Johnson stumbled off the beam and Florida's quest to win its first national gymnastics title since an AIAW crown in 1982 appeared a long shot at best.
In a matter of five minutes, a season's dream basically vanished.
“We knew we had a lot of making up to do, but we came in the locker room and got really fired up,'' Goodwin said. “We came out there and did a really good floor rotation. It was just a really big hole we dug for ourselves.''
It ended up being a sink hole. The Gators climbed back to fourth place but fell short of tying third-place Utah by .075 points. To show how fragile every move is in the NCAA Finals, the three teams that advanced to Saturday's Super Six from Friday night's session – Alabama, Nebraska and Utah – all lost to the Gators during the regular season.
But they all move on and the Gators' quest for that elusive national title continues.
Much like the end of Thursday's lacrosse game and the ensuing celebration that provided a Kodak moment, so did the gymnastics team's loss on Friday.
A CBS cameraman filmed Faehn as she spoke to her team about the final outcome. Def Leppard's “Photograph'' blasted over the loudspeakers, helping frame the moment with a musical backdrop that seemed fitting in some odd way.
For this team, it was their one and only chance to win an NCAA title. All but Smith and Goodwin return, but there will be questions and concerns as they open next season with the same goal they had this season. The Gators were ranked No. 1 for most of the regular season, but down the stretch they faltered due to injuries and bad timing.
“It's obviously disappointing,'' Faehn said. “We were so close. All in all, it's extremely disappointing because we know how talented this team is. But I told them that talent doesn't win championships, you've got to stay on the equipment.”
What transpired on Friday was nearly identical to what unfolded earlier this month in Denver during the regional meet.
Making it worse, the Gators worked hard on beam during the two-week break between the regional meet and NCAA Finals. They had intra-squad competitions on the beam without a fall.
“Our beam was rock solid,'' Goodwin said.
And then, Mahlich led off the beam exercise with a stumble. Johnson later took a tumble. The Gators tightened up. More mistakes were made.
They rebounded with an excellent floor set, led by a dazzling 9.925 score from sophomore Marissa King. They were back in it for a little while.
And then they weren't. It was a tough way to end the season but one that Faehn will examine to make the Gators better in the future, especially when the lights are brightest.
The good news is that of the 24 routines performed on Friday, gymnasts who performed 21 of them return.
Goodwin is moving on, her career finished and the next phase of her life unknown. The only thing that could have made her time at UF more special was a national championship. That didn't happen.
But as she prepared to walk out of the arena Friday night with a bag slung over her shoulder, she was asked about her journey and the program's future. She gave both two thumbs up.
“There's been a lots of ups and downs, whatever, but the people here are just great,'' she said. “I know they are going to do great things in this program.''
Maybe in the future the Gators will enjoy a moment of triumph like the lacrosse team experienced Thursday. That's the goal, but it was one that eluded them on Friday night.
