If This Is Normal for Gators, Opponents Beware
Friday, January 29, 2016 | Gymnastics, Scott Carter
The No. 1-ranked UF gymnastics team posted three perfect scores in win over Alabama
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Be normal.
Since the day Jenny Rowland took over the program, that has been her constant message to the Florida gymnastics team. She reiterated the advice prior to the No. 1-ranked Gators' home meet Friday night against SEC rival and fifth-ranked Alabama.
The matchup featured the past five national champions -- Alabama in 2011 and '12, Florida the past three seasons -- and was broadcast live on the SEC Network and in front of a lively O'Connell Center crowd of 8,867, the sixth-largest in school history..
What does Rowland mean when she says be normal? Basically, she wants the gymnasts to relax, have fun and go out and do what they do in practice.
The Gators were anything but normal on Friday.
"Tonight was a very memorable night, I think not only for me, but our entire team,'' Rowland said. "I can't say enough about them. We haven't been working on being perfect in the gym or anything."
The three people most responsible for the historic performance in Florida's 198.175-197.525 victory over the Crimson Tide sat to Rowland's left as she spoke those words: senior Bridget Sloan and sophomores Alex McMurtry and Kennedy Baker.
"These three are more confident than any three competitors that I have ever met,'' Rowland said.
Nothing is normal when your team produces three perfect scores in three different events by three different gymnasts.
McMurtry started the party with a 10 on bars. Sloan followed with a 10 on beam, only the third perfect score on beam in the program's history and the first by a Gators gymnast at home in the 36-year history of the O'Connell Center. Finally, Baker dazzled the audience and judges with a 10 in her floor routine, capping the first meet in school history the Gators had three perfect scores.
"Gymnastics is a very unpredictable sport,'' Sloan said. "We strive for perfection but it's not always there."
They found it Friday in what turned into an easier-than-expected victory in what was considered the top meet in the country heading into the weekend.
It was a night that wasn't perfect for the Gators -- senior Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto took a spill on bars before recovering with a strong finish -- but it sure felt like you were watching a team in top form.
The three-time defending national champion Gators lost one of the best gymnasts in school history with the departure of Kytra Hunter, but in their first four meets under Rowland's watch, they are undefeated and ranked atop the national polls.
Florida's performance against Alabama only cemented their spot at the top for now.
McMurtry, Sloan and Baker made sure of that.
"I'm kind of terrified of bars,'' said McMurtry, who added a new release move to her routine for this season. "This routine gave me some confidence. I didn't think it was a 10 until they flashed the scores."
Baker said she picked up steam during her floor routine but wasn't sure it was going to be perfect enough.
"I did the first pass and I was like, 'well, maybe.' And then I did the second pass and I was like, 'better,' and then I did landed I was like 'hopefully,' '' she said. "Then it popped up and I was happy."
As for Sloan, whose first 10 on beam came as a sophomore at Kentucky, she had a good feeling as soon as she nailed the landing and the crowd erupted.
"Beam is my favorite event,'' she said. "I like to think when I'm on the beam I own the beam. Three 10s, three different events. It's just insane."
With that, Rowland and Baker referenced Cypress Hill's 1993 hit "Insane In The Membrane" to the chuckles of the rest of the room.
Yep, it was that kind of night for the Gators.
If this is what being normal is like for this group, the rest of the country should take notice. It could get more fun at the O'Dome as the season goes on.
"They're in control of how far this team is going to go,'' Rowland said. "They're taking ownership of their gymnastics and having fun and doing a great job."
