Senior Bridget Sloan reacts during one of her routines Friday night. (Photo: Ron Irby)
Fiery Sloan Confident Gators Will Bounce Back
Friday, February 26, 2016 | Gymnastics, Scott Carter
"You have no idea the fire that is literally burning inside me right now."
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At first, Bridget Sloan tried her best to rationalize the outcome of Friday night's home meet against LSU.
The No. 2-ranked Gators gymnastics team lost to No. 7 LSU in a squeaker at the O'Connell Center. The Tigers closed strong on beam while the Gators were so-so on floor, including a 9.725 from Sloan for stepping out of bounds on her second pass.
Final score: LSU 197.900, Florida 197.875.
"Tonight was obviously not my best performance ever,'' said Sloan, who also wobbled off the beam for a 9.30. "I've been definitely doing a lot of overthinking lately. My goal for next meet is just to go back to my old ways and just relax and let my body take over."
As head coach Jenny Rowland and teammate Alex McMurtry took a few more questions about the night's events, the always-chatty Sloan sat between them silent.
More time to think until it was her turn to talk again.
Finally, Sloan's time arrived. She was asked about her first home loss at Florida. The Gators had not lost a regular-season home meet since Georgia won here in January 2008.
Sloan was 15 at the time and chasing a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, which she earned and was the youngest member of the American squad that took silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Trying to explain Friday night's emotion, Sloan recalled how angry she was when the U.S. only won silver in Beijing. She momentarily put the breaks on that line of thinking and offered, "You know what, I'm glad we made those mistakes."
And then Sloan came clean in Tim Tebow-like fashion.
It might not draw the attention of "The Promise," but Sloan showed she is every bit the competitor Tebow was at Florida as she passionately discussed the loss and her hopes for the rest of her senior season.
"You have no idea the fire that is literally burning inside me right now. I would love to have a rematch and that's what SECs is for. That's what NCAAs is for,'' Sloan said, her face red with emotion. "This is why gymnastics, I think, is one of the most exciting sports. You have little rivalries like tonight and one team is going to lose. It was us tonight. But we're going to walk back into that O'Dome for Senior Night and kill it. We're going to walk into SECs with the most confident attitude, knowing that we are an amazing team, knowing that we have the best coaches in the nation coaching one of the best teams in the nation.
"I think that really is more important than LSU beat us at home. Alright, I think they beat us last time we went there, so, 'alright LSU, we get it, we get it.' Again, fueling the fire, that's what gymnastics is all about. Wanting to win. I think it would be really unfortunate if we were to walk away tonight being like, 'oh, it's fine, no big deal.' We are competitors. Anyone here at Florida, we want to win. We don't go out in that O'Dome wanting to get second. We go out knowing we are one of the best teams and knowing we can do it."
The 2013 NCAA all-around and beam national champion and 2014 NCAA uneven bars national champion, Sloan's rare off-night seemed to catch everyone off-guard. The best of the best rarely fail.
The Gators have won three consecutive national championships since Sloan arrived and she obviously plans to make it four.
So does McMurtry, who tasted a championship last season as a freshman. She competed in the all-round competition for the first time as a collegian Friday, adding the floor routine with her cranky back feeling up to the challenge.
She scored a 9.90 for one of Florida's highlights. Like Sloan, McMurtry wants nothing more than to quickly get past the disappointing loss.
"I know tonight wasn't our best meet, but it motivates us,'' she said. "A loss in the middle of the season is not too bad. We knew coming in that LSU was going to be a tough meet. This will give us the motivation to really show it off at SECs. We never want to lose to them again."
After three consecutive wins at the O'Dome over top-10 teams, the Gators finally stumbled Friday. Now they will try to get back up as they next compete at Kentucky on March 4. They close the regular season at home the following week against North Carolina.
"Those mistakes that were made, we've got to learn from them, correct them, move forward and just leave them behind,'' Rowland said. "It wasn't a great meet for us. It was very good."
But not good enough.
A message Sloan delivered loud and clear.
"I just need to go back into the gym and make sure my mind is right,'' she said.
The No. 2-ranked Gators gymnastics team lost to No. 7 LSU in a squeaker at the O'Connell Center. The Tigers closed strong on beam while the Gators were so-so on floor, including a 9.725 from Sloan for stepping out of bounds on her second pass.
Final score: LSU 197.900, Florida 197.875.
"Tonight was obviously not my best performance ever,'' said Sloan, who also wobbled off the beam for a 9.30. "I've been definitely doing a lot of overthinking lately. My goal for next meet is just to go back to my old ways and just relax and let my body take over."
As head coach Jenny Rowland and teammate Alex McMurtry took a few more questions about the night's events, the always-chatty Sloan sat between them silent.
More time to think until it was her turn to talk again.
Finally, Sloan's time arrived. She was asked about her first home loss at Florida. The Gators had not lost a regular-season home meet since Georgia won here in January 2008.
Sloan was 15 at the time and chasing a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, which she earned and was the youngest member of the American squad that took silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Trying to explain Friday night's emotion, Sloan recalled how angry she was when the U.S. only won silver in Beijing. She momentarily put the breaks on that line of thinking and offered, "You know what, I'm glad we made those mistakes."
And then Sloan came clean in Tim Tebow-like fashion.
It might not draw the attention of "The Promise," but Sloan showed she is every bit the competitor Tebow was at Florida as she passionately discussed the loss and her hopes for the rest of her senior season.
"You have no idea the fire that is literally burning inside me right now. I would love to have a rematch and that's what SECs is for. That's what NCAAs is for,'' Sloan said, her face red with emotion. "This is why gymnastics, I think, is one of the most exciting sports. You have little rivalries like tonight and one team is going to lose. It was us tonight. But we're going to walk back into that O'Dome for Senior Night and kill it. We're going to walk into SECs with the most confident attitude, knowing that we are an amazing team, knowing that we have the best coaches in the nation coaching one of the best teams in the nation.
"I think that really is more important than LSU beat us at home. Alright, I think they beat us last time we went there, so, 'alright LSU, we get it, we get it.' Again, fueling the fire, that's what gymnastics is all about. Wanting to win. I think it would be really unfortunate if we were to walk away tonight being like, 'oh, it's fine, no big deal.' We are competitors. Anyone here at Florida, we want to win. We don't go out in that O'Dome wanting to get second. We go out knowing we are one of the best teams and knowing we can do it."
The 2013 NCAA all-around and beam national champion and 2014 NCAA uneven bars national champion, Sloan's rare off-night seemed to catch everyone off-guard. The best of the best rarely fail.
The Gators have won three consecutive national championships since Sloan arrived and she obviously plans to make it four.
So does McMurtry, who tasted a championship last season as a freshman. She competed in the all-round competition for the first time as a collegian Friday, adding the floor routine with her cranky back feeling up to the challenge.
She scored a 9.90 for one of Florida's highlights. Like Sloan, McMurtry wants nothing more than to quickly get past the disappointing loss.
"I know tonight wasn't our best meet, but it motivates us,'' she said. "A loss in the middle of the season is not too bad. We knew coming in that LSU was going to be a tough meet. This will give us the motivation to really show it off at SECs. We never want to lose to them again."
After three consecutive wins at the O'Dome over top-10 teams, the Gators finally stumbled Friday. Now they will try to get back up as they next compete at Kentucky on March 4. They close the regular season at home the following week against North Carolina.
"Those mistakes that were made, we've got to learn from them, correct them, move forward and just leave them behind,'' Rowland said. "It wasn't a great meet for us. It was very good."
But not good enough.
A message Sloan delivered loud and clear.
"I just need to go back into the gym and make sure my mind is right,'' she said.
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