Florida Gators

MUNCIE, Ind. – The preseason top-ranked Florida gymnastics team opened the season with a win at Ball State in front of a standing-room only Irving Gym crowd of 1,564. Florida turned in a 196.925 – which equals the program's second-highest season opening score ever. Ball State posted a 193.70.

The Gators started off well in the opening two rotations. Junior All-American Bridget Sloan became the nation's first in 2015 to post a 10.0 mark to win vault. That mark helped the Gators' tally a 49.50 – just a bit off the 2014 season best of 49.55. The Gators also turned in a 49.45 on uneven bars.

During floor exercise, Sloan injured her right ankle on her final tumbling pass and could not finish the routine. Florida posted a 49.15 on the event. On the team's finishing event, two consecutive Gators fell during their balance beam routines, forcing Florida to count a miss toward its team score of 48.825.

GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:

·         Bridget Sloan took two event titles – vault (10.0) and shared the uneven bars title at 9.95 with junior All-American Bridgette Caquatto.

·         Caquatto also picked up the afternoon's floor exercise title at 9.925. It was her first floor title of her collegiate career.

·         Sophomore All-American Claire Boyce equaled her collegiate-best balance beam mark of 9.925 to take the event title. It was her second beam title as a Gator, with the first coming at Alabama in in 2014 when she set her beam best of 9.925.

·         Senior All-American Kytra Hunter collected her 13^th all-around title as a Gator with her total of 39.475. That is the highest all-around total ever by a Gator in the season opener. Hunter also owns the No. 2 (39.375/2014) and No. 3 (39.30/2012) marks on Florida's top season-opening all-around total list.

RECORDS: Florida (1-0, 0-0 SEC); Ball State (0-1, 0-0 MAC).

THE SERIES: Florida leads the series 4-0.

QUOTES
On Bridget Sloan's injury:

“We won't know the full details until she gets examined by our medical staff tomorrow and gets a MRI. That will give us the full information and can determine the healing process from there. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it is a bump in the road and she will back before the season ends.” - Florida Head Coach Rhonda Faehn

On today's performance:

“It was a mixed bag. It is always a challenge to have any expectations for the first meet because you just really never know. You have to have that starting point. There were some great moments, no doubt. It was wonderful to have Kiersten Wang back competing in both vault and floor. I thought Bridgey (Bridgette Caquatto) did stellar. All of our upperclassmen were just amazing. What was really exciting to see was how our freshman, Kennedy Baker, responded. She was a picture of calm and confidence, which was nice to see.

“It was a little bit of a mixture. After Bridget was injured on floor, it was hard. The team was rattled heading into beam because there is a lineup change and of course, everyone is concerned about Bridget. So I was proud of how they responded. For Bianca (Dancose-Giambattisto) to come in on late notice and hit a gorgeous beam routine just really speaks volumes about the fight in this team.

“I spoke with them afterwards that this is what we train for every year. Injuries and illnesses happen so everyone needs to prepare to step up when they need to. That's what we will be looking for in these next few weeks.” - Florida Head Coach Rhonda Faehn

ANOTHER GATOR INJURY:

Senior Jamie Shisler injured her left leg during pre-meet floor exercise warmup. She was scheduled to perform an exhibition routine but that was scratched. She will be examined by the UF Medical Staff on Monday.

WORTH NOTING
This was Florida's first visit to Indiana in the program's 43-year history… Hunter has opened the season with an all-around win in 2012, 2014 and 2015 – she did not compete as an all-arounder for the 2013 opener… Sloan is the fourth Gator to post a 10.0 on vault and that mark has been turned in a total of eight times on the event by a Gator… three Gator freshmen made their collegiate debuts Sunday – Kennedy Baker, Ericha Fassbender and Alex McMurtry… junior Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto made her first collegiate appearance in the balance beam lineup today, stepping in when Sloan was injured on floor – she was second overall on the event with a 9.90.

Preseason National Rank:

Florida – Florida is No. 1 in the GymInfo preseason poll. It is the second consecutive and second time since the first release of a preseason poll in 1992 that the Gators top the list. Florida has appeared among the preseason top four teams each of the last nine years (2007: 3rd; 2008: 2nd; 2009: 3rd; 2010: 4th; 2011: 3rd; 2012: 3rd, 2013: 3rd; 2014: 1st).

UP NEXT:

The Gators 2015 home opener is also the Southeastern Conference debut for both teams. Florida meets No. 12 Auburn (1-0, 0-0 SEC) Jan. 16 in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Note the new start for all Gator gymnastics home competitions – 6:45 p.m.

Auburn opened its 2015 season Friday with a 194.150-193.750 win at North Carolina.

The Florida-Auburn dual is the SEC Network's first live gymnastics meet. The new 24/7 sports network launched in August and operated by ESPN, is the source for a total of 21 league gymnastics meets  – including 10 live events. Friday's dual between the Gators and the Tigers begins at 7 p.m. ET on the SEC Network (Gainesville/Ocala Cox cable channel 68 or 1068). A live stream can be seen at SEC Network+ for all SEC Network subscribers.