ESPN 98.1 FM / 850 AM WRUF ESPN 98.1 FM / 850 AM WRUF
The No. 3 Florida gymnastics team will close its regular season Sunday. The Gators will travel to Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, for a quad meet that also includes North Carolina State and No. 25 Washington.
Last Time
The Gators fell to No. 1 Oklahoma on March 3 in a typical close margin for the top two programs in the country. The Sooners, the defending NCAA Champions, outscored Florida 197.90-197.70, handing the Gators its second loss on the season. The 0.250 difference is the smallest since the two teams met in 2019.
Final from Norman#GoGators | #WeChomp | Presented by @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/nc1RiSlFKA
— Gators Gymnastics (@GatorsGym) March 4, 2023
Outstanding performances by Sloane Blakely, Leanne Wong, Kayla Dicello and Trinity Thomas made it all the more fun to watch. Blakely began the meet, sticking an uneven bars landing while matching her personal record of 9.925 for the second week in a row. Blakely finished third overall.
Wong set her season vault best of 9.925 against Kentucky earlier this season. She topped that record with a score of 9.95 against Oklahoma. DiCello also beat her vault best, earning her fifth consecutive SEC Freshman of the Week honor. After this acknowledgement, DiCello has set the league record for seven total and five consecutive Freshman of the Week accolades.
On uneven bars, Trinity Thomas recorded her third consecutive and sixth near-perfect score of a 9.975. This marked the 16th 9.975 of Thomas’ career on the event and led her to the event victory.
https://twitter.com/GatorsGym/status/1633165624661667840?s=20
Familiar Scenes
Head coach Jenny Rowland’s first meet as head coach was against Texas Woman’s University on Jan. 6, 2016. Rowland will return to that same site to close out the 2023 regular season. Sunday’s quad meet will be her 105th meet with the Gators. Since then, Rowland has led the team to five SEC regular season championships and 10 NCAA individual event titles by four Gators. She also won SEC coach of the year in 2016, 2020 and 2021.
The Gators will take on Texas Woman’s University, the University of Washington and North Carolina State University beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday to conclude the regular season.
