Gator Gymnastics On to NCAA Super Six! Kytra Hunter Shares All-Around Title

Friday, April 17

Fort Worth, TX

1:59 PM

Florida Gators

NCAA Championships - Semifinal I

Gator Gymnastics On to NCAA Super Six! Kytra Hunter Shares All-Around Title

Saturday, April 18, 2015 | Gymnastics

FORT WORTH, Texas – The University of Florida gymnastics team is on to the NCAA Super Six team final after sharing first in NCAA Semifinal I action Friday. The two-time defending NCAA champion Gators looks to add a third title in Saturday's Super Six, which begins at 7 p.m. ET in the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena. The event is streamed live on ESPN3.

Kytra Hunter Shares NCAA All-Around Title

Senior Kytra Hunter shared the 2015 NCAA all-around win with UCLA senior Samantha Peszek. Both topped NCAA Semifinal I competition with identical totals of 39.60 and that total held up through the second semifinal competition.

The NCAA all-around champion is based on combining all-around results from both of Friday's semifinals.

This is Hunter's second NCAA all-around title, winning the 2012 NCAA all-around title as a freshman.

It is the third NCAA all-around win for the Gator program in the last four seasons, as Bridget Sloan took the 2013 title.

Here's Hunter's scores:

Vault	9.85
Bars:	9.90
Beam:	9.90
Floor:	9.95
Total	39.60

She earned a total of four All-America honors Friday to push her career total of NCAA All-America honors to a school-record 15. Hunter advances to Sunday's individual event finals for beam and floor.

This is the second time in the 34-year history of the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships that there was a tie for the all-around. The previous shared win came in 2001 (UCLA's Onnie Willis & Michigan's Elise Ray).

For the second consecutive year, Florida tied for first in its NCAA Semifinal session. This year, Florida and Utah topped the afternoon semifinal at 197.475.

For collegiate gymnastics team scoring, six gymnasts compete and the five highest marks are used toward the team total. The tie was broken by adding the dropped score for each event to the final team total. Florida's six-score total of 236.325 was just higher than Utah's (236.175). As the first-place team in Semifinal I, Florida starts on balance beam for Saturday's NCAA Super Six team final.

Florida wins its semifinal session for the fifth time in the program's history (also won session in 2014, 2013, 2008 and 2004). That total is Florida's fourth-highest total ever in NCAA Championships' Semifinal competition. Joining Florida and Utah from semifinal I in Saturday's Super Six is Stanford (197.175). Michigan (197.025), Georgia (196.60) and UCLA (196.40) rounded out the second session's results.

Advancing to the Super Six from Friday's second semifinal are Oklahoma (197.40) and two Southeastern Conference teams – Alabama (197.10) and Auburn (197.075). Other team results from Semifinal II were Nebraska (196.675), LSU (196.55) and Oregon State (195.875).

Notes:

· Kytra Hunter shared the NCAA all-around title with UCLA's Samantha Peszek at 39.60. The NCAA all-around champion is based on combining all-around results from both of Friday's semifinals. This is Hunter's second NCAA all-around title, winning the 2012 NCAA all-around title as a freshman.

· The only Gator ever to post a 9.95 floor score in NCAA Semifinal competition is Kytra Hunter. She turned in the highest floor mark ever for UF in NCAA Semifinal competition as a freshman and equaled it as a senior to top Friday's Semifinal I action.

· Bridget's Sloan turned in a 9.95 bars mark for the second consecutive year in NCAA Semifinal competition.

· Freshman Alex McMurtry and Hunter were among a six-way tie for first in NCAA Semifinal I balance beam standings at 9.90

ALL-AMERICA HONORS CAREER RECORD:

Hunter's four All-America honors earned this afternoon pushes her career total to 15 – setting the school record for All-America honors earned in NCAA competition. The previous record of 14 was set by Alaina Johnson during her career (2011-14.

GATORS EARNING ALL-AMERICA HONORS:

Five Gators earned a total of 13 All-America honors Friday.

QUOTES
On the first semifinal:

"This was just an absolutely incredibly tough, competitive session and it was amazing gymnastics from all six teams, so I know – I think can probably speak for everyone here – that it was a grueling competition and exciting at the same time.

"I feel like, for us, we did good and like Kytra said, we have little things here and there to improve upon and that's what I told the athletes before we competed, that everyone is human, everyone's not going to be perfect every single time and it's how you react to those little things. We had miscues here and there, but I love that we maintained our energy level and did not get affected by that mentally or physically, and then finished out really strong on beam, which was great when there was heavy pressure heading in to that event.

"I'm excited for our team, and I'm really proud of everyone up here (on the podium, who will be moving on to the Super Six)." – Florida head coach Rhonda Faehn

On the first session:

"Obviously, the first day is definitely a time to get the little jitters out. Just being able to know that we are a team and we have each other's backs and no matter what the mistakes may be, everyone's not perfect and we're not going to have a perfect competition every meet. Just being able to boost our teammates up and having everyone relax and get back to their comfort zone – if you make a mistake, you just have to know that you have to bounce back because your scores do matter no matter what. After the first two rotations I was just really focused on being relaxed with my team and being there for them, knowing that we still have two events and anything can happen, honestly. So, just staying focused." – senior All-American Kytra Hunter

On Bridget Sloan bouncing back from low floor exercise score:

"She's an amazing competitor. She didn't let it faze her and we didn't let it faze us." – freshman Alex McMurtry

On senior Kytra Hunter's performance Friday:

"As a senior, she went out there and had great routines. We've always been close so it will be sad that this is the last meet of the year. She did amazing and she's always been such a strong leader." – freshman Alex McMurtry

On advancing to NCAA Super Six:

"We're really excited. Yes, we've had a lot of injuries, adversity and had some tough competitions this year but that's made us stronger. Rhonda always tells us to use that to fuel the fire and put that into everything we do. I think it really shows out there." – freshman Alex McMurtry

On hitting her beam routine:

"Everyone kind of congratulated me after beam, saying "such a clutch routine". I guess I didn't put as much pressure on myself, which was good. I didn't realize that we needed to hit our last routines. Yes, there was some tense moments, some nail-biting routines but overall it ended well." – freshman Alex McMurtry

On what it felt like to be all-arounder leader after Friday first semifinal:

"It feels great. Just being able to represent the University of Florida gymnastics, it means truly a lot more. Honestly, I'm really focused on Super Six and I'm really excited to get out there and hold up for my team. I made a mistake on vault, so being able to go back and redeem myself and do a little better on bars and beam. I know I did great for me, but there's always another opportunity to do better." – senior All-American Kytra Hunter

On moving ahead to Saturday's NCAA Super Six:

(Advancing to the Super Six) is just part of the plan. Rhonda always has us focus on the present and not look to the future. Honestly, today we didn't have that great of a meet for us. We had some errors – I especially had a huge error on floor. When Rhonda came over after the meet, I think she could see on our faces that we want to kill it tomorrow. I know she looked at me and I said 'You don't have to say anything. I'm so ready for tomorrow.'

Most people don't know, but last year after I fell on beam, I was a hot mess. I walked in the locker room and I was so angry and so mad. But I remembered that NCAA has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with Florida, but nothing to do with Bridget Sloan. So after I had my little mishap on floor, I thought 'well, I can either fall apart or I can make sure it doesn't happen again and move on. Just make sure tomorrow we have an even better day.' When we were in the locker room (on bye), Kytra came over and asked if I was OK. I said 'yep. I can't change it right now. What I need to do is go out and hit a bar routine and a beam routine'. And that's what I did." – junior All-American Bridget Sloan

Beam really seemed to get the team going:

"We have such a great amount of talent on the team. We know we can do it. When we believe in ourselves, it is amazing what we can accomplish. Rhonda always said 'be confident up on the equipment'. Today we were confident up there and it showed." – Florida junior All-American Bridget Sloan

More quotes available here:

WORTH NOTING

· Florida advances to its 13th NCAA Super Six team final (1994, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). This is the 10^th Super Six appearance for the Gators since Rhonda Faehn took over for the 2003 season.

· For the Gators, this is the third consecutive tie in NCAA Championship action. Florida tied Alabama for first in 2014 NCAA Semifinal II competition. The tie with Oklahoma in the 2014 NCAA Super Six was the first tie for a national team title in any sport in the 33-year history of women's NCAA Championship action. Florida tied Utah tonight for first in NCAA Semifinal I action.

UP NEXT:

NCAA Super Six team final is set to begin at 7 p.m. ET in the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena. ESPN3 will stream the meet live.

Florida at NCAA Championships • Semifinal I Final Team Totals
April 17, 2015 ? Fort Worth Convention Center Arena
*Team*	*Vault*	*Bars*	*Beam*	*Floor*	*Total*
Florida	49.375	49.450	49.275	49.375	197.475
Utah	49.450	49.500	49.175	49.350	197.475
Stanford	49.050	49.575	49.300	49.250	197.175
Michigan	49.175	49.225	49.250	49.375	197.025
Georgia	49.100	49.350	48.900	49.250	196.600
UCLA	49.000	49.250	49.200	48.950	196.400

NCAA Championships • Semifinal II
Final Team Totals
Oklahoma	49.550	49.500	48.875	49.475	197.400
Alabama	49.475	49.275	48.950	49.400	197.100
Auburn	49.225	49.250	49.275	49.325	197.075
Nebraska	49.200	49.175	48.875	49.425	196.675
LSU	49.375	49.425	48.275	49.475	196.550
Oregon State	49.000	49.225	48.875	48.775	195.875

2015 Gator All-Americans
*Name*	*Event*	*Semi I Score*	*All-America team*
Kennedy Baker	Floor	9.90	First
Bridgette Caquatto	Bars	9.90	Second
	Floor	9.90	First
Kytra Hunter	All-Around	39.60	First
	Bars	9.90	Second
	Beam	9.90	First
	Floor	9.95	First
Alex McMurtry	Vault	9.90	Second
	Beam	9.90	First
Bridget Sloan	Vault	9.925	First
	Bars	9.95	First
	Beam	9.875	Second
	All-Around	39.425	First

Blue denotes gymnasts advancing to April 19 NCAA Individual Event Finals

2015 NCAA Championships

Competition Rotations

Super Six – Saturday, April 18 @ 7 p.m. (ET)

Rot.	Vault	Bye	Bars	Beam	Bye	Floor
I	Alabama	Utah	Auburn	Florida	Oklahoma	Stanford
II	Stanford	Alabama	Utah	Auburn	Florida	Oklahoma
III	Oklahoma	Stanford	Alabama	Utah	Auburn	Florida
IV	Florida	Oklahoma	Stanford	Alabama	Utah	Auburn
V	Auburn	Florida	Oklahoma	Stanford	Alabama	Utah
VI	Utah	Auburn	Florida	Oklahoma	Stanford	Alabama

2015 NCAA Championships
April 17-19 • Fort Worth Convention Center • Fort Worth, Texas

	Semifinal II	Super 6 Team Final			Semifinal I
	April 17	April 18			April 17

1	Oklahoma				Florida	2

4	LSU	Oklahoma		Florida	Utah	3

5	Alabama				Michigan	6
		Alabama	NCAA Champion	Utah
8	Auburn				UCLA	7

9	Nebraska	Auburn		Stanford	Georgia	10

12	Oregon State				Stanford	11