Gators No. 3 on Preseason Poll

Florida starts the 2020 season No. 3 on the WCGA preseason poll. The Gators face preseason top-25 teams in their first nine meets, including the season opener on Jan. 10 versus No. 19 Arkansas.

Gators No. 3 on Preseason Poll

Wednesday, December 11, 2019 | Gymnastics

Florida starts the 2020 season No. 3 on the WCGA preseason poll.

By: Mary Howard

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida begins 2020 as the No. 3 team in the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) preseason poll.

The top five in the 2020 preseason poll are No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Utah.

Florida's been among the nation's preseason top five every season since 2007 (2007: 3^rd; 2008: 2^nd; 2009: 3^rd; 2010: 4^th; 2011: 3^rd; 2012: 3^rd,2013: 3^rd;2014: 1^st,2015: 1^st, 2016: 2^nd, 2017: 5^th; 2018: 2^nd; 2019: 3^rd,2020: 3^rd).

Florida faces opponents ranked among the preseason top 25 in its opening nine meets, including home dates versus No. 2 LSU (Jan. 24), No. 7 Denver (Feb. 7), No. 10 Alabama (Feb. 21), No. 19 Arkansas (Jan. 10) and No. 20 Iowa State (Feb. 7). The Gators face three top 15 preseason teams on the road – No. 8 Georgia (Feb. 28), No. 12 Kentucky (Jan. 31) and No. 13 Auburn (Feb. 14). Other preseason ranked Gator road opponents include No. 16 Missouri (Jan. 17) and No. 25 Penn State (March 7).

The Gators in 2020:
Florida returns six with 17 All-America honors – Alyssa Baumann, Rachel Gowey, Amelia Hundley. Savannah Schoenherr, Megan Skaggs and Trinity Thomas. Four of those All-Americans are also defending Southeastern Conference event champions – Baumann (balance beam), Gowey (beam), Skaggs (beam) and Thomas (vault).

Half of Florida's roster have been a part of either (or both) U.S. Senior or Junior National Teams, as Thomas is the only current member of the U.S. Senior National Team to be on a 2020 NCAA roster. Others Gators who were a U.S. National Team member include Baumann, Jazmyn Foberg, Gowey, Hundley, Sydney Johnson-Scharpf and Skaggs. Senior Maegan Chant also was a four-time member of Canada's National Team.

Other returners include senior Sierra Alexander and sophomores Leah Clapper, Nya Reed and Halley Taylor – all who competed or performed exhibition routines in 2019.

One freshman joins the Gators in 2020 – Payton Richards of Mokena, Ill. A three-time Junior Olympic National Championships champion (2017 Senior beam; 2016 Junior all-around, beam), Richards is a 2019, 2018 and 2017 Region 5 All-Star Team selection.

Who is Ready for the 2020 Season?
Cheering the Gators is the place for Florida fans on Friday evenings. The team drew a school record average of 8,333 a meet last season.

Here's information on how to secure your 2020 tickets.

2020 Gator Gymnastics Season Ticket Pricing
	Season	Single Meet
Reserved Adult Tickets	$35	$8
Reserved Youth (12 & under)	$20	$8

General Admission Adult	$20	$5
General Admission Youth (12 & under)	$5	$1

UF Students w/ Gator1 ID		Free

Season Parking (available to all reserved & general admission season ticket holders)	$25

Gator Ticket Office Contact Info:

	Location:	Gate 1 – Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Open Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET)

	Phone:	1-800-34-GATOR

	Web:	FloridaGators.com/Tickets

	Transfer Tickets:	FloridaGators.com/myaccount

WCGA – 2020 Women's Pre-Season Coaches Poll
Rank	Team	Points	First Place Votes	Date with Florida
1	Oklahoma	1813	36
2	LSU	1755	11	Jan.24 – home
3	Florida	1680	2
4	UCLA	1671	1
5	Utah	1559
6	Michigan	1515
7	Denver	1493	1	Feb. 7 – home
8	Georgia	1438		Feb. 28 - away
9	California	1315
10	Alabama	1306		Feb. 21 – home
11	Oregon State	1271
12	Kentucky	1240		Jan. 31 – away
13	Auburn	1213		Feb. 14- away
14	Minnesota	1196
15	Nebraska	1137
16	Missouri	1000		Jan. 17 – away
17	Washington	925
18	Boise State	900
19	Arkansas	798		Jan. 10 – home
20	Iowa State	765		Feb. 7 – home
21	Arizona State	749
22	Stanford	746
23	BYU	742
24	Ohio State	654
25	Penn State	638		March 7 – away