No. 4 Florida Gymnastics at Ameritas Master's Classic
No. 4 Florida Gymnastics at Ameritas Master's Classic
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - No. 4 Florida gymnastics continues March road action Saturday at the Ameritas Master's Classic in Lincoln, Neb. The quad meet contested in the Bob Devaney Center includes No. 27 Nebraska, Eastern Michigan and Lindenwood.
Gator Coaches Back for Nebraska Alumni Night:
Saturday's quad meet is Nebraska's Alumni Night, a perfect chance for some of Florida's coaching staff to see some familiar faces.
Three quarters of Florida's coaching staff began their collegiate coaching careers at Nebraska:
Adrian Burde - 2002-06 Nebraska Assistant Coach
Owen Field - 2010-15 Nebraska Manager or Volunteer Coach
Jeremy Miranda - 2006-07 Nebraska Choreographer
Nebraska Assistant Coach Marissa King was a senior on Florida's 2013 NCAA title team. She began her collegiate career the next season, serving as a student coach for Florida's 2014 team which repeated as NCAA champs. As a Gator, King won the 2011 NCAA vault title and earned 11 All-America honors.
On Florida's last visit to Lincoln for a March 4, 2012 dual, King anchored the beam lineup with the day's highest mark across all events (9.925) to finally put Florida in the lead after the Gators trailed through opening three rotations. UF won meet 196.95 - 196.825.
Season High Wins SEC Regular-Season Title:
A season-best 198.225 at No. 6 Kentucky earned Florida sole possession of the 2024 Southeastern Conference regular-season title. Both teams treated the 10,000-plus at Rupp Arena on Sunday to season-best performances as Kentucky turned in a program record 198.10. The SEC title is Florida's sixth consecutive. Florida is the nation's only team to improve its score in each 2024 meet.
Florida trailed by 0.025 at the midpoint. Florida's season-best floor exercise total of 49.725 - which included a 10.0 by freshman Anya Pilgrim - put the Gators up 0.30 heading into the final rotation. What the team needed to seal the win was a solid balance beam performance as the Wildcats rotated to floor exercise, their strongest scoring event.
The Gators got just that, posting their second-highest beam total (49.575) of the season to hold off Kentucky's season-high performance on floor exercise.
Leanne Wong anchored the beam lineup with a near-perfect 9.975 to seal the win. She used the same mark to win uneven bars. Wong won all-around at 39.775 - her fifth of the season and fourth consecutive.
Pilgrim made it a one-two Florida all-around finish, as she upped her collegiate high and the nation's top freshman total to 39.675 to take second. Two other Gator freshmen turned in collegiate-best vaults of 9.95 on Sunday - Skylar Draser and Danie Ferris. Junior Morgan Hurd also upped her collegiate floor best to 9.95 on Sunday.
Sunday's performance earned Pilgrim's fourth consecutive and fifth overall SEC Freshman of the Week honor.
Quad Opponents:
Eastern Michigan turned in its season-best of 196.45 last Sunday in a loss at Kent State. Raisa Boris has competed all-around in every meet this season, turning in her high of 39.525 at Kent State.
Lindenwood set its program record of 197.075 to win the Tennessee Collegiate Classic on Jan. 19 in Lebanon, Tenn. Sophomore Jaly Jones' season-high 39.275 took second in the same meet. This is the second UF-Lindenwood meeting this season as UF won the Mizzou to the Lou quad on Feb. 16 and Lindenwood was fourth. Lindenwood announced Dec. 4, 2023 that 10 sports, including women's gymnastics, would be dropped at the end of the 2023-24 academic year.
Nebraska set its season high of 197.125 last Sunday in a home quad versus Illinois State, North Carolina and SE Missouri. Emma Spence has competed all-around in all but two meets this season, posting her season-high of 39.475 on Jan. 20.
Series Record:
First meeting with Eastern Michigan
Florida leads Lindenwood 2-0
Florida leads Nebraska 22-10