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No. 3 Gators gymnastics hosts Kentucky Friday night in a top 10 matchup. In the final regular season meet of the season, Florida will honor its leaders on senior night.
Let’s take a look at these Gators over the years.
Since 2021
In their time at Florida, the seniors have achieved greatness.
The Gators advanced to the NCAA finals in the previous four years. They also won the SEC regular season each year, while also winning the conference championship meet in 2022 and 2023.
There is still more to the seniors’ stories, as they head to the SEC Championships next week, marking the start of the postseason.
Sloane Blakely
This Gator senior has competed in the all-around for Florida in all four years. Now sidelined due to a lower leg injury, Sloane Blakely feels satisfied with the end of her career.
As a Gator, Blakely has received the honor of being an All-American one time, and she won the SEC title for the vault in 2023. In her final full routine of her career, she scored a perfect 10.0 on floor against Auburn on Feb. 14. This was the second of her career. A week later, she injured herself on her first pass, taking her out for the rest of the season.
Blakely is studying health education and behavior.
Bri Edwards
Despite not competing this season, Bri Edwards has shown her ability to stick on the vault. She has a career best of 9.875 on the apparatus.
She has contributed heavily in the classroom, earning SEC Academic Honor Roll each of her previous three years. She was also a Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) Scholastic All-American each year. Edwards was the Gators’ Scholar Athlete of the Year last season.
Edwards graduated cum laude with her degree in psychology last May and is now pursuing a graduate certificate in medical physiology. She will attend the University of Florida College of Medicine upon graduation.
Ellie Lazzari
All-around gymnast Ellie Lazzari has not competed as much this season, but she has been key to the Gators’ success on vault. In her time at Florida, this two-time All-American has scored a career-best 9.975 on beam and a 9.925 on each of the other three events.
She received WCGA Scholastic honors and was on the SEC honor roll each year.
The 2021 SEC beam champion will pursue her occupational therapy doctorate from the University of Florida after receiving a graduate certificate in public health and health professions.
Riley McCusker
This senior had two ankle reconstruction surgeries and was sidelined in her junior season. This season, Riley McCusker has contributed to the bar rotation each week and has found herself in the beam rotation as well. She has a career high of 9.95 on both apparatuses.
While competing elite, McCusker won a gold medal at the 2018 World Championships in the team competition.
McCusker is studying applied physiology and kinesiology and is on the pre-med track.
Victoria Nguyen
This fifth year came to Florida from the University of Georgia as a junior. Three-time All-American Victoria Nguyen says that she gives credit to Jenny Rowland’s program for how much she has grown.
She has competed all four events in college but has not made an appearance on the uneven bars this season. However, she has put up huge scores in each of the other apparatus. She tied her career best on vault (9.975) just a few weeks ago and scored a career high on beam against Arkansas. Nguyen has also scored as high as 9.925 on floor in her career.
After receiving her bachelor’s degree in education sciences and graduating cum laude last summer, Nguyen is pursuing her master’s degree in management.
Leanne Wong
Senior Leanne Wong has done it all while at Florida. In addition to her college career, she competed on the elite stage, becoming a replacement athlete in the 2021 and 2o24 Olympic Games. She has also ran a successful bow business and published a book while managing her studies. Wong recently started a foundation that donates food from campus dining halls to the local homeless shelter.
While competing for the Gators, she has received the honor of All-American 22 times. She was the SEC beam champion in 2022 and 2023 and the NCAA champion on bars last season. Wong was also the runner-up in all-around and on vault in 2024. She has achieved the gym slam, scoring a perfect 10.0 on all events.
Wong is on the pre-med track, pursuing her degree in health education and behavior.
On the Sideline
In addition to the four seniors and two fifth-year gymnasts, two others will be recognized during the senior night presentation.
Morgan Hurd, former Florida gymnast, medically retired after last season. She now serves as the photographer for the team with Gators Creative. In her time competing, Hurd scored as high as a 9.95 on floor and contributed to Gator lineups for two years after being sidelined her freshman season. On the elite stage, she won gold in the 2017 World Championships in the all-around and also placed first with the U.S. team in 2018.
Will Gomez is a student manager for Gators gymnastics in his senior year.
Up Next
The meet against the No. 10 Wildcats begins at 6:45, with the senior night presentation following the conclusion of the competition.
