No. 3 Florida Gymnastics Closes Regular Season with Win at TWU Quad - 1standTenFlorida: Florida Gators Football & Basketball Recruiting

Published Mar 13, 2023

No. 3 Florida Gymnastics Closes Regular Season with Win at TWU Quad

Jason Higdon • 1standTenFlorida

Publisher

DENTON, Texas - No. 3 Florida gymnastics used its season-best road score to close regular-season action to win the Texas Woman’s University quad. A Gator claimed at least a share of every event title in Sunday’s meet held at the Kitty Winter Magee Arena.

The Gators won the meet with a 198.175 - the team’s second-highest total of 2023. No. 25 North Carolina State was second (196.625), followed by North Carolina State (196.35) and TWU (195.575).

THIS AFTERNOON’S MEET:

Florida opened Sunday afternoon’s action on uneven bars. Sophomore Leanne Wong led the Gators with a 9.95 to win her sixth bars title of the season. Two Gators - Kayla DiCello and Riley McCusker - shared second overall at 9.925.

Five marks of 9.9 or better went toward Florida’s balance beam total of 49.60 - just off the team’s season high of 49.625. Sophomore Riley McCusker shared her first collegiate event win with Washington’s Kennedi Davis at 9.95. Sloane Blakely and Ellie Lazzari led off the lineup with a pair of 9.925s to share third overall.

For the second consecutive rotation, the Gators used marks of 9.9 or better to tally a 49.60 on floor exercise. Trinity Thomas led the Gator floor sweep with her near-perfect 9.975. Wong took second at 9.95 while DiCello was third at 9.925.

Another near-perfect mark - this time by Blakely - finished Florida’s afternoon competition on vault. The 9.975 set Blakely’s collegiate best and was her first vault win of the season. Thomas shared second with TWU’s Daisy Woodring at 9.90.

The Gators swept Sunday’s all-around, with Wong using a 39.65 to claim her second consecutive win. DiCello and Thomas shared second at 39.625.

GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:

* Leanne Wong earned a 9.95 for her sixth uneven bars win of the season and 12th of career. She’s scored a 9.9 or better for every bars routine of 2023.

* Riley McCusker anchored Florida’s balance beam lineup with a collegiate best 9.95. The mark earned her a share of her first event title as a Gator.

* It was the third near-perfect 9.975 floor exercise mark of the season for Trinity Thomas. She’s won every floor exercise she’s competed in 2023.

* Wong’s five all-around wins set her collegiate season high. She won three all-arounds as a freshman.

* A Gator won the all-around in each of Florida’s 10 meets this season - Wong (5), Thomas (4) and DiCello (1)

* Collegiate bests equaled or set this afternoon:

* Sloane Blakely - 9.975 (vault)

* Riley McCusker - 9.95 (beam)

COACH ROWLAND SAID: “It was a great day for the Gators today in Denton, Texas, for our last regular-season meet before our SEC Championships. It was a great opportunity for us to have a quad meet on the road right before SECs. We got to practice that rhythm of a quad - the energy is just slightly different than a typical dual meet. So it was really good preparation for the Gators for this Saturday. “Really, really great performances overall from all the Gators. Our first three really did a great job setting up our back three on each event. Spectacular performances here and there - just really starting to see some of the little tweaks that we've been making come to the competition floor.” - Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland

RECORDS: No. 3 Florida (12-2, 6-1 SEC) NC State (12-8, 8-4 EAGL) No. 25 Washington (7-12, 0-7 Pac 12) Texas Woman’s University (8-12)

SERIES RECORD: NC State: UF leads 32-1 Washington” UF leads 10-0 TWU: UF leads 4-0

RANKINGS: Florida: No. 3 on the Week 9 Road to Nationals site Washington: No. 25 NC State: No. 27 Texas Woman’s: No. 56

UP NEXT:

Postseason action start at the 42nd Annual Southeastern Conference Championships.

When:

Saturday, March 18

Session I (Seeds 5-8): 3:30 p.m.

Session II (Seeds 1-4): 8 p.m.

Venue:

Gas South Arena in Duluth, Ga.

Network: