Thank You, Bridget Sloan!

FORT WORTH, Texas — Several moments after Bridget Sloan stuck the landing on the bars routine — the final routine of her gymnastics career, by the way — the judges' scores were unveiled.

9.90
9.95
9.95
9.95
9.90
And, fittingly, a 10.

Of course.

Bridget. Sloan's. Final. Gymnastics. Routine.

Let those words sink in for a moment.

"I don't know that I have the words to explain how I feel about gymnastics," Sloan said.

Fair enough. Because whatever the words in this story end up saying about Sloan's gymnastics career — be it on the elite, international elite or collegiate level — they won't come close to doing justice to one of the greatest athletes (either gender) in University of Florida history.

Her swan song performance alongside her teammates didn't have a storybook ending. The second-ranked Gators, seeking a fourth straight title at the NCAA Championships, had a slow start on the beam and a couple costly mistakes on vault that left too many points out there during Saturday night's Super Six competition. UF finished with 197.3500 points, which only netted the Gators fourth place, behind national champion Oklahoma (197.675), LSU (197.450) and Alabama (197.4375).

"I told them this was a journey no one was expecting to be on," Florida coach Jenny Rowland said. "We fought hard through good times and hard times. … We did what we could do."

Here's what Sloan did.

The day after capturing the 2016 all-around title — the second of her career — and garnering another five All-America honors to give her a UF-record 16 over her four seasons, Sloan tallied the best all-around score (39.6500) among Saturday's competitors, including that meet-best 9.9375 on the bars.

Again, her last event.

Ever.

"She absolutely knew it was coming to an end," Rowland said. "She made every moment count."

Across the way, as the confetti inside Fort Worth Convention Center Arena rained down on the Sooners, Sloan fought back the emotions in the aftermath of the meet. She talked to her teammates about remembering the disappointment and using it as fuel for the future. She hugged them one by one. She hugged her coaches.

She almost lost it with Rowland.

"I told her, 'Please don't! Please don't!' " Sloan said of the pending tears both managed to stave off. "It's amazing what I've been able to accomplish at Florida, before Florida. The journey of gymnastics has been incredible."

This is a young woman, now 23, who was flipping and vaulting for Team USA in 2007 — at the age of 14 -- and won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, then opted to continue competing as a collegian. Sloan came to UF from Indiana in the fall of 2012 and nine months later was the NCAA all-around champion as a freshman and the Gators had won their first national championship. She never lost her edge, never lost her motivation to be great.

"It's hard to carry that momentum and intensity."

Those words came from Rhonda Faehn, the UF coach who recruited Sloan into the Gators program and shared a trio of NCAA crowns before leaving last April to become senior vice president of USA Gymnastics. Faehn was sitting next to Sloan's parents Saturday night and later was in the conga line of hugs.

"Bridget's charismatic personality, the way she commands people to watch her and take notice of her, and the way she owns the equipment, is like none other," Faehn said. "She will be greatly missed."

But never forgotten.

Sloan, in turn, will cherish her four years as a Gator. She'll graduate in two weeks with a degree in Telecommunications-Media and Society and leave with a lifetime of orange and blue memories to rival all that hardware.

"I went to football games, baseball, basketball, lacrosse and swimming. You name it, I was there," she said. "I couldn't see myself at any other school. I had the best four years of my life. It was a perfect fit."

A 10.

Of course.

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