No. 2 Florida gymnastics at No. 7 Utah for regular-season finale
Tuesday, March 12, 2013 | Gymnastics
The No. 2 Florida gymnastics team (8-1, 6-1 SEC) travels west to face No. 7 Utah (9-2-1, 4-1-1 Pac 12) for the regular-season finale for both teams on Saturday, March 16. Meet time is set for 8 p.m. ET in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
| Saturday's Meet Information: |
| No. 2 Florida (8-1, 6-1 SEC) at No. 7 Utah (9-2-1, 4-1-1 Pac-12)
Date & Time: Saturday, March 16 at 8 p.m. ET Site: Jon M. Huntsman Center (15,000)
Television: meet airs live on Pac-12 Network
Series Record (all-time): Utah leads 32-13. Last meeting, Florida was second in the 2012 NCAA Super Six at 197.775 and Utah was fifth at 197.375.
Internet: live stats available on GatorZone.com
Tickets: range in price from $20 to $4. Visit the Utah Ticket site for further information. |
Saturday's meet airs live on the Pac-12 Network.
This is the fourth time UF has brought the No. 1 or 2 ranking into the Huntsman Center since 2007. Florida was ranked No. 1 in its last visit to the Huntsman Center in 2011 and took a 197.00-196.75 win. In 2007, UF claimed its first win versus the Utes in a dual meet (197.05-196.725) held in the Huntsman Center. Later that same year, UF and Utah shared the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Championships which were held in the Huntsman Center. Utah edged Florida for second in the 2007 NCAA Super Six by the sport's slenderest of margins (197.25-197.225).
Florida opened the month of March in record-setting fashion, as the Gators turned in the nation's top team total of the last nine seasons, 198.425, to defeat then No. 14 Minnesota (197.175) in the home regular-season finale. The team score set UF's school record and it equals the nation's eighth-highest all-time. Sophomore Kytra Hunter used the nation's leading and school-record matching all-around total of 39.80 to take her third win of the season. Freshman teammate Bridget Sloan took second at 39.75 – the nation's No. 2 all-around total of 2013. Both Hunter and Sloan were among Florida's four who used nearly-perfect marks of 9.975 to claim event titles. Hunter posted her fifth 9.975 in her last 11 team vault performances to claim that event title. Sloan upped her collegiate balance beam best to 9.975 for the win. Junior Mackenzie Caquatto used the mark to take the uneven bars title and senior Marissa King equaled her floor best of 9.975 to take that win. Florida also set school records for beam (49.60) and floor exercise (49.70). Florida's 198.425 equals the highest score ever posted without a 10.0 individual mark.
Florida's pair which turned in the nation's top all-around totals since 2009 took the Southeastern Conference Gymnast and Freshman of the Week honors on March 5. Hunter, the defending NCAA all-around champion, picked up her second SEC Gymnast of the Week of 2013 after upping her own national leading all-around total to 39.80 on March 1. Sloan, the all-around winner at the 2009 World Championships, picked up her second consecutive SEC Freshman of the Week honor after posting the nation's second-highest all-around total of 39.75. It is the fifth league honor for Sloan, as she picked up the Week 5 SEC Gymnast of the Week and is a four-time recipient of the Freshman of the Week (Week 1, 6, 8, 9).
Florida has at least one gymnast among the nation's top 12 in each of the four apparatus. Sloan is No. 2 in the uneven bars (9.920) and No. T11 in vault (9.90). Dickerson is No. 4 in vault (9.915) and No. T9 in floor exercise (9.90). Mackenzie Caquatto is No. 2 in balance beam (9.905) and Hunter is No. 7 in bars (9.895). None of Florida's all-arounders have the required number of competitions (which must include three road competitions) to be ranked.
Utah saw its seven-meet unbeaten streak come to an end with a 197.650-196.975 loss at No. 8 Georgia last Saturday in front of a Stegeman Coliseum crowd of 9,941. The Utes turned in their season-best total of 197.30 in its Feb. 23 home win over Stanford. Sophomore Georgia Dabritz, the 2012 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, set the Utes' season-high all-around total of 39.525 on Jan. 19. The Utes are led by co-head coaches Greg and Megan Marsden.
