Tuesday, June 22, 2021 | General, Gymnastics, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Considering where we were a year ago, our annual review of the University of Florida's top athletic moments, both team and individual, could have been a very short entry. Seriously, after the COVID-19 shutdown of March 13, 2020, our lists could have taken, for example, the season-opening football game at Ole Miss last Sept. 26 and counted it as Nos. 1 through 10.
Yes, an actual, real, live big-time sporting event was being contested.
Yes, it was that liberating.
Obviously, that would have been the lazy way out. Especially after a full-blown season of competition that had only a share of pauses or student-athlete quarantines due to the pandemic, but plenty of instances worth recognizing.
As usual, memories were made. Some great ones, some difficult ones, but in each case all unforgettable ones.
Let's review. Feel free to disagree.
1) A championship 89 years in the making
UF first put a men's tennis team on the court in 1932. For the next nine decades the Gators enjoyed pockets of success, claiming nine Southeastern Conference titles along the way. That was the extent of the Gators' achievements in a sport that, frankly, would seem ripe for championship contention every year at a place like Florida.
Then along cameBryan Shelton, a wildly successful women's coach at Georgia Tech and former touring pro, in 2012. Shelton's teams hit some bumps and took some lumps (a first-round, home court NCAA Tournament exit against unseeded Denver with his first team comes to mind) before the Gators, inside and out, aligned with Shelton's vision for a program of equal parts prosperity and class.
It all came together during a magical run in May, when UF, seeded No. 1 overall, stormed through the 64-team field, ousting reigning national champion Texas along the way, and captured the program's first NCAA title by defeating No. 2-seed Baylor 4-1 before a rowdy, orange and blue-crazed home crowd at Lake Nona, Fla., no less.
The Gators fell behind early, losing the doubles point, and got off to a slow start on half the courts in singles play — senior captain Duarte Vale lost his first set on Court 1 after being up 5-2 — before the match's tide began to turn.
Andy Andrade needed a tiebreaker to claim his first set, but then waxed Sven Law at No. 3 by a score of 6-0 in the second to even the match at 1-1. About 20 minutes later, Sam Riffice on Court 2 and Josh Goodger on Court 6 won their matches, bam-bam, mere seconds within each other, suddenly pushing the Gators in front 3-1 and immediately turning focus to Court 5, where freshman lefty Ben Shelton, the son of head coach, had bounced back from a 3-6 downing in his first set and was on the verge of closing out Charlie Bloom with a championship-break.
And did.
When Bloom's baseline volley went long, Shelton air-mailed his racket and the UF team rushed in for the dog pile celebration. Moments later, the two Sheltons were hugging on the court for the kind of father-son memory the likes of which most often come about in dreams. Or Hollywood.
For the Gators, it was all-time National Championship No. 42, as well as the first since men's indoor track and field won it all in 2019.
2) Down go the Dogs, as Gators go on to win East
Officially, Florida didn't lay claim to its first SEC East Division title until Dec. 5 with a road win at Tennessee. The seeds for that crown, though, were sowed more than a month earlier — Nov. 7 in Jacksonville — when the Gators, ranked eighth, shook off an early two-touchdown deficit and stormed back to crush No. 5 Georgia 44-28 behind a career-high 474 yards and four touchdown passes from fifth-year senior quarterback Kyle Trask.
The win was UF's first over rival UGA since 2016, as well as the first in three tries for CoachDan Mullen.
The Bulldogs came in armed with a defense ranked tops in the league and allowing just 300 yards per game — and got absolutely gutted. First, though, UGA scored on the game's first snap (a 75-yard TD run), and after forcing a three-and-out on UF's first series went 61 yards in six plays to lead 14-0 barely four minutes in.
By halftime, the Gators led 38-21 and Trask had tossed all four of his TDs, including a beautiful 14-yard leaping grab to wideout Trevon Grimes with just 11 seconds to go in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, a much-maligned UF defense allowed two UGA quarterbacks to complete just nine of 29 passes for only 112 yards, with three interceptions.
For Florida, the win was the second of what turned out to be a six-game winning streak that lasted until the regular-season finale when LSU came to the "Swamp" and handed the Gators a wrenching 37-34 home defeat.
A week later, UF was beaten by No. 1 and eventual national champion Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, but the Gators went down with a fight before falling in a 52-46 shootout where Trask's 408 yards and 3 TDs were canceled out by Crimson Tide counterpart Mac Jones's 418 yards and five scores, tailback Najee Harris' 245 all-purpose yards (179 on the ground) and five TDs, plus 15 receptions, 185 yards and two TDs from eventual Heisman Trophy-winning wideout DeVonta Smith.
3) The end of an era
Future UF Hall-of-Famer Becky Burleigh went 431-137-40, won 14 SEC titles and a national championship in her 26 seasons.
The news broke the afternoon of Jan. 30, but Becky Burleigh actually began contemplating stepping down as the only soccer coach in UF history a few months before. She just waited for the right time to tell her players, as well as Gator Nation.
Because of COVID, the SEC split its soccer season between the fall (eight regular-season games, plus the league tournament) and spring (seven more). So when the Gators resumed play Feb. 20, the countdown began. When the final seconds ticked away in Burleigh's final game – a 2-0 shutout defeat of Miami – her Florida ledger showed a record of 431-137-40 over 26 seasons (the fourth-longest run ever by a UF coach), 14 conference championships, another 12 league tournament titles, plus the 1998 NCAA crown.
Remember, Burleigh, now 53, was just 26 when she was picked to start the program for scratch, with its inaugural season coming in 1995. Florida went to 22 NCAA tournaments over those next 26 seasons, including a run of 15 straight, reached two College Cups, and along the way turned out 37 All Americans, plus another 174 SEC Honor Roll selections.
Over the course of the next quarter century-plus, Burleigh's accomplishments on the soccer field were only part of what will be her lasting legacy at the University Athletic Association. Ask the folks she sat alongside in skull-session coaches meetings or shared conversations with in the hallways at Lemerand Center or socialized with at holiday parties and tailgates. Burleigh loved and lived for the camaraderie among her brother and sister coaches and immersed herself in the collective "Team Florida" way.
Those bonds she helped tie or strengthen will go on. Meanwhile, part of Burleigh's after-coaching life will be spent at teaching a master's course called "What Drives Winning" for the College of Health & Human Performance, a 15-hour course that will focus on character development, behavior management, priority alignment, team dynamics and self-awareness.
As for the future of Florida soccer, the search process to replace the soon-to-be UF Hall-of-Famer began with Burleigh's announcement, but obviously needed to wait for the season – and potential candidates – to play out. And once it had, it led to …
4) The beginning of an era
Tony Amato, by way of the University of Arizona but with lifelong ties to the Sunshine State, was announced as Burleigh's successor on May 24. Amato, 42, carved a reputation in 18 seasons as a head coach as a program builder, having taken over struggling situations at Division II Rollins, Stephen F. Austin and UA and guided each to NCAA tournaments.
Amato, who grew up in Naples, Fla., and was the 1999 Sunshine Conference Player of the Year at Rollins, arrived at Arizona in 2013, just two seasons removed from a 1-16-1 record in the rugged Pac-12. The Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament in '14 and in '15 reached the Sweet 16.
Florida went 6-8-3 in its COVID-split campaign, a record that marked the first losing record in program history. Amato has shown he knows how to flip a house.
And while on the subject of flipping houses, just in time for Amato's arrival, the Dizney Stadium complex that is home to lacrosse as well as soccer home games, broke ground in May to begin a $7.4 million project renovation that will allow the soccer team to relocate from its place at the Lemerand. Soccer and lacrosse will share the facility, with its additional 13,800 square feet that will include a locker room, coaches offices, conference and equipment room space, a film room, medicine and hydrotherapy areas, team lounges and an expanded lobby.
The Florida men's swimming team went to the SEC Championships.
The Florida men won the SEC championship.
Again.
With both apologies and compliments to the program, it's come to the point that it's just expected.
Make that nine straight conference titles for the Gators, marking the third-longest such run in SEC history, as well as the third for 2021 SEC Coach of the Year Anthony Nesty, who was promoted from assistant after icon Gregg Troy retired in 2018 and has continued the Florida run of league dominance. UF's 1,401 points over the five-day competition bested Georgia's 1,324.50 and dusted third-place Tennessee's 850.50, while marking the program's 42nd league crown.
The Gators were led by junior Kieren Smith, who matched his own American record in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:06.32, claimed gold in the 400 individual medley and swam legs for a pair of championship relay teams (200 free and 400 medley). For his efforts, Smith was named male Swimmer of the Meet and eventually would team with junior Bobby Finke as the current UF members to qualify for the 2021 US Olympic Team in Tokyo. Smith will compete in both the 200 and 400 free events, while Finke will swim the 800 free.
6) Tumbling to another title
Junior Savannah Schoenherr (right) captures the Gators' mood at the end of No. 1 Florida's come-from-behind win at No. 6 Alabama
Pardon Florida's gymnasts for not wanting to part with their SEC regular-season championship trophy of which they'd held a chunk for each of the previous two seasons. Or in the case of the last 2020 campaign, where a 7-0 record before the pandemic shutdown, gave them sole possession. The 2021 Gators again wanted another all to themselves.
Even with superstar All-America junior Trinity Thomas sidelined by an injury suffered during warmups, top-ranked UF went on the road and defeated No. 6 Alabama 197.425 to 197.225 to complete the program's second unbeaten conference dual-meet season.
The second in a row, in fact.
Alyssa Baumann won her second floor event of '21, whileMegan Skaggs claimed her second beam title, as the Gators left Tuscaloosa with just their third team dual-meet victory in program history.
Last year, Coach Jenny Rowland's bunch wasn't able to build on a perfect 2020 campaign due to the COVID stoppage. This year, the Thomas injury lingered into the postseason as the Gators finished third at the SEC meet, but went on to advance through NCAA regionals, as well as into the final round of the NCAA Championships at Fort Worth, Texas, where they finished fourth overall. Rowland was named SEC Coach of the Year for the season straight season.
7) It's a whole new Ballpark
Aerial shot of Florida Ballpark, which will be open for full-capacity business come the COVID-free 2022 season.
To think, the plan was once merely to add (at long last) an awning of shade around a portion of old McKethan Stadium to shield the fans (at long last) from the relentless heat of the baseball season.
In time, of course, the UAA's ambitious capital improvement initiative included the demolition of McKethan in favor of building a new, state-of-the-art stadium in a completely different location. The end result was Florida Ballpark, a $65 million masterpiece that officially opened Feb. 22, 2022 on a swath of land purchased from IFAS adjacent to the softball and lacrosse/soccer complexes off Hull Road on the southwest side of campus.
The 4,000-seat configuration (all chairbacks, no bleachers) features a panoramic concourse that allows fans to walk the circumference of the stadium without ever losing sight of the game, as well as skyboxes and an expanded press box, grassy berms down the fouls lines, a beer/food garden behind the massive JumboTron in center field and an upscale concessions menu.
As it turned out, COVID cheated both the stadium and Gator fans out of a grandiose-style grand opening for Coach Kevin O'Sullivan's troops when UF, then ranked No. 1, hosted rival Miami for a three-game weekend series to usher in the 2021 schedule. Weather cheated the limited-capacity crowd out of an on-time start in the form of a 2-hour, 47-minute delay, but ultimately the Gators took the first game, 7-5, with UF catcher Nathan Hickey bashing the stadium's first home run in the first inning.
Four months later, the sparkling ballyard played host to its first NCAA Tournament, the results of which definitely will not make this Top-10 list. Rest assured, however, future Florida Ballpark games in June absolutely will make such lists.
The entire SEC basically chased red-hot Arkansas all season. The Razorbacks swept five of their first six series in league play and when they completed the regular season on May 1 — a week earlier than most of the league — they had a three-game cushion in the win column on the second-place Gators. Florida welcomed Texas A&M for the first of a three-game series May 8 needing a sweep of their weekend series claim a share the crown.
No margin for error.
Game 1: Charla Echols smashed a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to walk off a 5-3 victory.
Game 2: Natalie Lugo hurled a complete-game, four-hit, shutout gem and used Echols' two-run homer in the third to polish off a 4-0 win and assure the Gators would go 8-for-8 in SEC series on the season.
Game 3: Julia Cottrill's towering two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh gave UF a 6-5 victory and second walk-off win of the series, thus propelling the Gators, who trailed 4-0 in the fifth inning, to a piece of their league-high ninth SEC regular-season championship, eight coming under Coach Tim Walton.
9) A victory that aged very well
Sophomore libero Ellie McKissock (23) and her UF teammates celebrate during the Gators' victory over Kentucky in what turned out to be the lone defeat of the Wildcats' national championship-winning season.
Like soccer, volleyball bridged its 2020 season into the spring of 21, with the Gators climbing to No. 7 the weekend of March 19 when third-ranked and undefeated Kentucky came calling at Exactech Arena.
UK won two of the first three sets, but UF, behind 20 kills from T'ara Ceasar and another 12 from Lauren Forte, rallied the Gators to wins of 25-16 in set No. 4 and 17-15 in the decisive/dramatic fifth set to knock the Wildcats from the ranks of the unbeaten.
The next day, Florida and Kentucky met again in the COVID double-header format and the Wildcats blanked the Gators in straight sets. That UK victory began a run of eight consecutive for the conference rival, as the Wildcats lost just two sets along the way, and ended with Kentucky becoming the first SEC team to capture the women's NCAA championship in volleyball.
Kentucky finished 24-1 on the season.
10) Total team effort
On Jan. 19, Tennessee came to the O'Dome ranked sixth in the country and the preseason pick to win the SEC. The Volunteers had won 10 of their first 11 games, with four of their five league victories by at least 14 points.
Florida, meanwhile, had lost star forward and preseason SEC Player of the Year Keyontae Johnson following his horrific collapse five weeks earlier during a road game at Florida State. Guard Scottie Lewis, the team's fourth-leading scorer and rebounder, was ruled out for a third straight game due to health and safety protocols. Then, about 90 minutes before tipoff, forward Colin Castleton, averaging 12.6 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds, was a late scratch after he told the trainer the ankledhe'd turned late in a game three nights earlier was still too painful to play on.
Three starters that accounted for nearly 40 points and 15 rebounds out against the Vols, who were armed with the No. 2 defense in the nation.
And the Gators absolutely destroyed them.
UF's high scorer, junior guard Noah Locke, had just 14 points, but the Gators shot better than 49 percent as a team, crushed UT on the glass (47-36) and forced 18 turnovers that led to 27 points. Tennessee, meanwhile, got a lesson in defense by hitting just 29.3 percent overall, including three of 18 from the 3-point line (16.7 percent). Both role and bit players chipped in with high-quality minutes on both ends of the floor in lifting the team to its biggest and most lopsided victory of the season.
The win started a four-game streak for the Gators — a run that included a rousing 85-80 road upset of No. 11 West Virginia in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge — and helped beef up a body of work that eventually landed UF a fourth straight NCAA at-large berth, making the Gators the only team in the SEC to reach the tournament each of the last four seasons
UF first put a men's tennis team on the court in 1932. For the next nine decades the Gators enjoyed pockets of success, claiming nine Southeastern Conference titles along the way. That was the extent of the Gators' achievements in a sport that, frankly, would seem ripe for championship contention every year at a place like Florida. 
Tony Amato, by way of the University of Arizona but with lifelong ties to the Sunshine State, was announced as Burleigh's successor on May 24. Amato, 42, carved a reputation in 18 seasons as a head coach as a program builder, having taken over struggling situations at Division II Rollins, Stephen F. Austin and UA and guided each to NCAA tournaments.
