Gators Move On to NCAA Super Six

Friday, April 20

St. Louis, MO

8:00 p.m.

Florida Gators

NCAA Semifinal II

Time to cheer - Gators are heading to the NCAA Super Six!

Gators Move On to NCAA Super Six

Friday, April 20, 2018 | Gymnastics

Post-Meet Update Photo Gallery (images by Michael & Susan Erdelyi)Boxscore

Alex McMurtry shared the NCAA vault title - fourth Gator to win that event crown.

By: Mary Howard

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Gator gymnastics team is advancing to Saturday's NCAA Super Six team final after taking second in Friday's second NCAA semifinal.

The Gators' runner-up finish Friday in the second semifinal sends UF to Saturday's NCAA Super Six team final. The Gators will look for their fourth NCAA Championship in Saturday's Super Six in the Chaifetz Arena. The event airs live on ESPNU at 7 p.m. ET.

Florida was second in its NCAA session at 197.5875, the fifth-highest team total ever for the Gators in NCAA semifinal competition.

Joining Florida from semifinal II in Saturday's Super Six is two-time defending NCAA champion Oklahoma (198.05) and Utah (197.1375). California (196.50), Washington (196.25) and Kentucky (196.0625) rounded out the second semifinal's results.

Advancing to the Super Six from Friday's opening semifinal are UCLA (197.5625), LSU (197.475) and Nebraska (197.0125). Other team results from Semifinal I were Georgia (196.6875), Alabama (196.625) and Arkansas (196.425).

As the runner-up team in Semifinal II, Florida has the Olympic rotation (starting on vault) for Saturday's NCAA Super Six team final.

Notes:
Florida opened the meet with a 49.475 on uneven bars, equaling UF's third-highest total in NCAA Gymnastics semifinal action. Three Gators turned in marks of 9.90 or better – Amelia Hundley (9.90), Rachel Gowey (9.90) and Alex McMurtry (9.95). This is the eighth time a Gator posted the program's NCAA Semifinal high bars mark of 9.95, with McMurtry also earning the mark in 2017.

A six-for-six balance beam set gave UF a 49.3125 – its sixth-highest for the event in NCAA semifinal action. Gowey led UF on the event with a 9.9125.

A few extra bounces held back the full scoring potential on Florida's floor set, but the Gators still posted a 49.3125. Freshman Alyssa Baumann equaled Florida's best floor mark in NCAA Semifinal competition of 9.95. That mark sets her collegiate high and equals the Gators all-time high on the event in NCAA Semifinal action (other 9.95s – McMurtry/2017; Kytra Hunter/2012, 2015).

Florida finished with the day's high vault total of 49.4875. McMurtry's 9.9375 shared the vault title with Utah's MyKayla Skinner and Oklahoma's Brenna Dowell. Alicia Boren shared fourth overall at 9.925 and Rachel Slocum tied for sixth at 9.90.

McMurtry led UF in the all-around, taking fifth at 39.5875. Oklahoma's Maggie Nichols claimed the all-around win at 39.8125.

WORTH NOTING

Florida advances to its 16th NCAA Super Six team final (1994, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018).
Florida is the only team to appear in each of the last seven NCAA Super Six team finals.
The Southeastern Conference sends two to the NCAA Super Six. It is the seventh consecutive year two or more league teams advance to Super Six action, with four wins in that span - 2012 (Alabama), 2013, 2014, 2015 (Florida).

53023 — Alex McMurtry celebrates after her vault in Friday's NCAA Semfinal II competition. Her score of 9.9375 earned her a share of the NCAA vault title. It is the third NCAA event title of her Gator career.

Alex McMurtry Shares Vault Title

Senior Alex McMurtry claimed her third career NCAA individual event title Friday as she shared the vault win. It was the 75^th event title of her Gator career.

The trio of vault winners all came from NCAA Semifinal II. McMurtry, Brenna Dowell (Oklahoma) and MyKayla Skinner (Utah) shared the win at 9.9375.

McMurtry is the fourth Gator to win NCAA vault, joining Susan Hines (1997, 1998), Marissa King (2011) and Kytra Hunter (2012).

A Gator has won an NCAA event title each year since 2011 as the program has claimed 14 wins in that span.

McMurtry is now third all-time for UF with three NCAA titles, following Bridget Sloan (six) and Hunter (four).

The NCAA Individual Event Finals were eliminated after 2015 and the apparatus winners are now determined by combining two semifinal results.

QUOTES
Opening statement…
"It really is an honor to be here. To make it to Super Six means you lived to compete another day and that's what we're all looking to achieve.
The Gators did a very good job tonight. They had a solid performance, starting off on bars quite well. Little details we've been working on were paying off tonight. Beam was a little rough, but not everything is going to be perfect every night. On floor, we had one miss which we didn't have to count, but that's all right. You live and learn and you get to compete again and learn from those mistakes. Everybody had something that they can improve on. We're ready to go out and have a lot more fun tomorrow." – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland

GATORS EARNING ALL-AMERICA HONORS:
Six Gators earned 12 All-America honors Friday.

2018 Gator All-Americans
Name	Event	Semi II Score	All-America team
Alyssa Baumann	Floor	9.95	First
Alicia Boren	All-Around	39.4375	Second
	Vault	9.925	First
	Floor	9.90	Second
Rachel Gowey	Bars	9.90	Second
	Beam	9.9125	First
Amelia Hundley	Bars	9.90	Second
Alex McMurtry	All-Around	39.5875	First
	Vault	9.9375	First
	Bars	9.95	First
	Beam	9.875	Second
Rachel Slocum	Vault	9.90	Second


All-America honors based on finish in NCAA Semifinal. Places 1-4 (plus ties) = first team Places 5-8 (plus ties) = second team

UP NEXT:
The NCAA Super Six team final begins Saturday at 7 p.m. ET in the Chaifetz Arena. The meet airs live on ESPNU.

Fans can follow all the action on ESPN3 at these links:

Saturday, April 21 – NCAA Super Six Team Final at 7 p.m. ET
ESPNU/WatchESPN	NCAA Super Six
ESPN3	All-Around
ESPN3	Vault
ESPN3	Uneven Bars
ESPN3	Balance Beam
ESPN3	Floor Exercise

Locate live scores at following links:

Super Six – Saturday, April 21 at 7 p.m. E.T.

Florida at NCAA Championships • Semifinal II Final Team Totals
April 20, 2018 – Chaifetz Arena (5,500)
*Team*	*Vault*	*Bars*	*Beam*	*Floor*	*Total*
Oklahoma	49.4750	49.6125	49.3750	49.5875	198.0500
Florida	49.4875	49.4750	49.3125	49.3125	197.5875
Utah	49.2250	49.3375	49.1125	49.4625	197.1375
California	49.2250	49.2875	49.0000	48.9875	196.5000
Washington	48.8000	49.0000	49.1875	49.2625	196.2500
Kentucky	49.2500	48.6000	48.9875	49.2250	196.0625

NCAA Championships - Semifinal I
Final Team Totals
UCLA	49.1875	49.3750	49.5375	49.4625	197.5625
LSU	49.3500	49.5000	49.2250	49.4000	197.475
Nebraska	49.2375	49.0625	49.3750	49.3375	197.0125
Georgia	49.1250	49.3125	49.2375	49.0125	196.6875
Alabama	49.1375	49.1625	49.0750	49.2500	196.625
Arkansas	48.7500	49.2875	49.2625	49.1250	196.4250

2018 NCAA Championships
Competition Rotations
Super Six – Saturday, April 21 @ 7 p.m. (ET) on ESPNU

Rot.	Vault	Bye	Bars	Beam	Bye	Floor
I	Florida	LSU	Nebraska	Oklahoma	UCLA	Utah
II	Utah	Florida	LSU	Nebraska	Oklahoma	UCLA
III	UCLA	Utah	Florida	LSU	Nebraska	Oklahoma
IV	Oklahoma	UCLA	Utah	Florida	LSU	Nebraska
V	Nebraska	Oklahoma	UCLA	Utah	Florida	LSU
VI	LSU	Nebraska	Oklahoma	UCLA	Utah	Florida