Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 3 Florida gymnastics team's total of 198.125 – the nation's third-highest of 2015 – claimed the ninth annual Gators Link to Pink meet title Friday over No. 25 Kentucky in front of a pink-clad Stephen C. O'Connell Center crowd of 6,617. The Wildcats turned in a season-best 195.95.

Florida now has two of the nation's top three totals of 2015, as its total of 198.225 on Feb. 13 was the high heading into this weekend.

The Gators used marks of 9.90 or better to take each of the four apparatus titles. A pair of Gator freshmen – Kennedy Baker and Alex McMurtry – shared the vault win at 9.95. Junior All-American Bridgette Caquatto set her collegiate best to take the floor exercise title at 9.975. Earlier in the evening, fellow junior

All-American Bridget Sloan won the uneven bars after matching her collegiate best of 9.975.  The evening's balance beam title was a three-way tie at 9.90 – Florida's senior All-American Kytra Hunter, Baker and Kentucky's Shannon Mitchell.

It was the ninth annual Gators Link to Pink meet. All of the Southeastern Conference's gymnastics teams will have a pink meet this season, with the intention to help raise awareness about the fight against breast cancer.

Gator Performance Notes:

·         The vault mark of 9.95 was a collegiate best for Baker and it was her first win on the event. The balance beam win was also her first as a Gator.

·         For McMurtry, it was vault win No. 5 of her career. Six of her eight vault performances this season have scored a 9.95 or above.

·         Sloan equaled her collegiate bars best of 9.975 for the fifth time of her career. It's the 15^th bars win for the defending NCAA champion. Sloan, who performed in just her second meet since spraining her right ankle in the Jan. 11 season opener, has posted a 9.90 or above in each of her three bar performances of 2015.

·         Caquatto raised her floor best to 9.975 tonight to take her second win on the event this season. Her previous best of 9.95 was set in the 2013 NCAA Super Six team final and matched three other times.

·         Hunter claims her 18^th all-around title of her career (and sixth of 2015). She now moves into sole possession of fourth on Florida's career all-around wins list.

Records: Florida (6-2, 5-2 SEC); Kentucky (4-5, 2-4 SEC).

The Series: Florida leads the all-time series UF leads 76-1.

Flooring Floor Performance

Each of Florida's six floor exercise performers posted a 9.90 or above Friday. The team event total of 49.725 equals the second-highest total in school history. It is also the nation's high on the event for 2015.

Florida head coach Rhonda Faehn said in the post-meet press conference she felt like tonight's floor performance was reminiscent of the Gators' 2013 NCAA Super Six floor set. The total that night was also 49.725 and it still stands as the NCAA Super Six record for the event.

Four Florida floor performers posted season or collegiate-best marks Friday – Claire Boyce (9.90 – collegiate-best), Rachel Spicer (9.925 – season best), Kiersten Wang (9.925 – collegiate best) and Caquatto (9.975 – collegiate best). The other two Gator floor marks? A 9.95 for both Baker and Hunter.

“It was amazing and at the end of the meet I told them how I felt like tonight was how the team performed on floor in the final day at the 2013 NCAA's the team - just lights out nailing one routine after another,” Faehn said. “The team not only had huge finishes, their tumbling was better than ever, they really showed it off in their dances, and it was from everybody which was nice for it to really come together. I think it showed everyone on the team that this is definitely something they're capable of every time. Also to those athletes that were out there competing, it gave them more confidence as we head into the later part of our season.”

For Mama Spice:

Tonight's Link to Pink meet, which is part of SEC initiative to raise breast cancer awareness, had an extra special meaning for one Gator. Senior Rachel Spicer's mother, Mickie, was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year. The team wore t-shirts Friday which said “I wear pink for Mickie” while Spicer's said “I wear pink for my Mom.”

Spicer was solid on the three events she competed, posting a season-best 9.925 on floor and 9.875 on both vault and beam.  Her mother, who the team calls “Mama Spice” was able to escape the icy weather in Texas to be in the stands to cheer Spicer Friday. And she was easy to spot when Spicer pointed to her and blew a kiss after her floor routine, as Mickie wore a bright pink wig.

“It was awesome just to compete for her (Mickie Spicer). I was competing for all the survivors out there and people that are fighting breast cancer right now,” Spicer said. “This was my fourth Link to Pink and it was extra special this year. I just dedicated it to my mom. So pointing up to her made her feel extremely special because she's one of those ladies that doesn't like the light shined on her.”

“It just made us feel extremely special with our story out there that the Gator Nation knows. The support's amazing. It's what keeps me going every day because it's really hard to see my mom go through something hard. Especially something that you think would never happen to you,” Spicer said. “The support has been wonderful.”

Quoting the Gators:

On the crowd atmosphere:

“The crowd was amazing. It's always so amazing for our athletes to come out of that tunnel and see the seats filled up to the third level. Our athletes just love to perform and to have the support of Gainesville and all the surrounding cities to come out not only for gymnastics, but for such an incredible cause, it makes our athletes want to do that much better.” - Florida Head Coach Rhonda Faehn

On being back…

“Competing at home is honestly one of my favorite things about college gymnastics. Obviously the O'Dome has a very special place in my heart, but being back here and competing it was just incredible. I was so happy with the way things went tonight. Luckily I'm not one who really gets too nervous up there and it felt very, very natural being on bars. It was really exciting to be back especially for this meet.” – junior All-American Bridget Sloan

On tonight's meet:

“Link to Pink is one of my favorite meets ever. Obviously it was a very special meet for our team, specifically, Spice (Rachel Spicer) with her mom being diagnosed. No one ever wants that to happen in their family, but the Gator Nation is behind her 100 percent and so are we.” – junior All-American Bridget Sloan

On earning a season-best floor score of 9.925:

“I've been working really hard, especially on my last pass to make sure I got that down pat, and just for everything to come together as best as it did. It just feels like work well done and a great achievement. I'm just really happy.” - senior Kiersten Wang

On how she shook things off after fall on beam to match collegiate floor best:

“That's pretty uncharacteristic of me. I almost never fall in practice, and to do that, it was super upsetting, but I just knew I had to shake it off and then go to floor because people were counting on me for floor too.

“I was lead-off, so I had to have a great solid starting routine for the rest of the lineup. It was hard; it's obviously disappointing. You want to do your best every time, but just to get out there and do a good floor routine -- I was happy with it.” - sophomore Claire Boyce

On what it's like having Bridget Sloan back:

“It's amazing having her back. She is a crazy, energetic person who's always dancing and screaming and just really fun to be around. It's really comforting, especially for me. If I'm not having a good time, it usually shows in my gymnastics. I get reserved and a little bit more tentative, so having her there - making everybody loose and relaxed and having fun - it helps me a lot. I think it helps the whole team stay relaxed and just remember to have fun, because that's the most important thing.” - sophomore Claire Boyce

Kentucky Event Winners:

Balance Beam:    Shannon Mitchell 9.90

Catch the SEC Network Broadcast of Friday's Meet

The Florida versus Kentucky meet re-airs on the SEC Network:

Feb. 28 at 1 a.m.

Feb. 28 at 8 a.m.

March 2 at noon

Find what channel the SEC Network is on in your area with the SEC Network Finder site.

National Rank:

Florida – Florida is No. 3 in the Feb. 23 GymInfo rankings. This is the first week the national rankings are based on regional qualifying score.

Kentucky – The Wildcats are No. 25 in the GymInfo rankings.

Up Next:

The most anticipated dual meet of 2015 is up next for the Gators. The two teams that shared the 2014 NCAA title – No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 3 Florida – meet Friday, March 6 in Norman, Oklahoma. Meet time is set for 8 p.m. ET in the Lloyd Noble Center.

The meet airs live on Sooner Sports TV, FS Oklahoma and FS Southwest (Mavericks territory only). Fox College Sports Central (Gainesville/Ocala Cox cable channel 272) airs meet tape-delayed March 7 at midnight and 4 a.m. ET.

The Sooners are undefeated this season at 11-0 after claiming a 197.875-195.95 win at No. 16 Illinois Friday evening.