Gators head coach Jenny Rowland and staff members watch the Gators practice on Wednesday at Dickies Arena in preparation for the NCAA Championships. (Photo: Madilyn Gemme/UAA Communications)
Carter's Corner: Gators Are Who We Thought There Were — And With Chance To Prove It
Thursday, April 16, 2026 | Gymnastics, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
What: NCAA Semifinals I | When: Today, 4:30 p.m. ET | TV: ESPN2
FORT WORTH, Texas — Much has changed since then. That said, nothing has changed. The timing was off. That's all.
If you follow our coverage of Gators gymnastics regularly, you may recall that after Florida finished January with a perfect record and a win over Arkansas at the O'Dome, we wrote in this zip code of the internet that this year's Gators team had the look of a potential national champion.
We believed it then. We believe it now.
Of course, the Gators have the biggest say, and in their first two February meets, they lost at Missouri and at home to No. 1 Oklahoma. The home loss to the Sooners, who have won three of the last four national championships, was not a shock. If all went well, you expected the end to hinge on the smallest details. Instead, the Gators stumbled at the start with a forgettable vault routine, which put them in too big a hole to dig out and raised eyebrows.
What happened? Were the Gators in a fog following the previous week's unexpected loss at Missouri? Are they not as good as their roster?
Turns out, they are the team we expected and enter this afternoon's NCAA Semifinals I as the No. 3 overall seed. They will compete against No. 2 LSU, No. 6 Georgia and No. 7 Stanford for one of two berths in Saturday's NCAA Finals.
And make no mistake: no team in the field is performing better than Florida right now. The Gators have posted a program-record five consecutive team scores of 198 or higher, including a dramatic victory at the SEC Championships that edged Oklahoma and LSU.
"SEC Championships was probably one of the most memorable hands-down meets I've ever been a part of," UF head coach Jenny Rowland said. "We were truly so present in the moment, had no idea where the scores were, what was going on. For me to be as surprised, just like everybody else, and to see this team's pure joy — that is going to be a core memory for sure."
Senior Selena Harris-Miranda has delivered one clutch performance after another for the Gators in her two seasons in the program. (Photo: Hannah White/UAA Communications)
The Gators closed the event with a spectacular stretch on the uneven bars that included 9.975s from Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello, and a perfect 10 from Selena Harris-Miranda for a 198.175-198.150 win over the second-place Sooners.
UF delivered again in the Tempe (Ariz.) Regional to make it back to the NCAA Championships and keep the late-season magic alive.
What's the plan on the biggest stage of all?
"Continuing to build momentum is really what we're focusing on,'' Blakely said. "Do not get too caught up in the scores or where we're competing, but just, again, being ourselves, being our normal, and exactly who we are in the gym behind the scenes. And I think if we have that mindset of just focusing on the Gators and the Gators alone, that's when we can be our best."
As for how the Gators turned their fortunes around, it started on the vault the week after the loss to the Sooners.
"We need to tweak and do something a little bit different on vault," Rowland said at the time. "We're winning vault warmups, and then … getting a little too anxious, listening to too much noise, whatever that looks like in the meet."
Rowland and her staff turned up the pressure at practice, creating a mock vault competition to replicate a competitive environment. Florida's vault scores have improved considerably in the second half of the season, a key factor in the team's overall surge.
As for the talent, that has never been in question.
The Gators have six gymnasts who have been a part of U.S. Senior national teams, more than any other program. Blakely, DiCello, eMjae Frazier, Amelia Disidore, Riley McCusker and Ly Bui (injured) are the real deal.
And never forget about Harris-Miranda, the transfer from UCLA a season ago, who is the most accomplished collegiate gymnast on the roster and turns in clutch performance after clutch performance. Harris-Miranda posted a near-perfect 9.975 floor routine in Tempe and won the balance beam and all-around region titles.
The Gators have been close since winning their last national championship 11 years ago, never more so than in their runner-up finishes in 2022 and 2023. In a sport packed with individual pressure to deliver for the team, the Gators know what they must do.
Rowland calls the NCAA Finals a "stick-fest." You don't have to have the most difficult or dynamic routines, but you have to be the most efficient and take a stone-cold attitude onto the floor.
She is often asked what it would mean to win her first title and what it's been like to come so close.
"There have been many Gator teams over the past 10 years that have come very close," Rowland said. "It's easy when you're on. It's exciting when you're on. And when you're not, those valleys, those hard times ... this team just keeps getting back up and going again."
That's what the Gators did midseason when they stumbled. It's what they have done in recent weeks. And it's what they must do in Fort Worth to bring home a title.
