The 2015-16 athletic calendar year for the Florida Gators officially came to a close Tuesday night, as the No. 1 seed Florida baseball team was eliminated from the College World Series with a 3-2 loss to fifth-seeded Texas Tech.
Although the Gators baseball team failed to bring home a final national title for retiring athletic director Jeremy Foley, UF athletics kept its streak alive of seven years with at least one national title as Florida's men's track and field team won the outdoor championship. However, this year breaks a five-year streak by UF of winning multiple national titles.
Now, Inside the Gators recaps how the 2015-16 athletic calendar year went for the Gators across all of their sports.
MEN'S SPORTS:
FOOTBALL
Finish: 10-4 (7-1 SEC), lost to Alabama 29-15 in the SEC Championship Game and to Michigan 41-7 in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl
Quick Recap: Jim McElwain's first season at the helm at UF was a considerable success, as the Gators won 10 games and reached Atlanta for the first time since 2009. However, Will Grier's PEDs suspension proved to be the turning point of the season. After winning its first six games Florida went 4-4 down the stretch with Treon Harris leading the offense, finishing the season with losses to FSU, Alabama and Michigan.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Finish: 21-15 (9-9 SEC), lost in its second game of the SEC Tournament, failed to make the NCAA Tournament, lost to George Washington in the NIT quarterfinals
Quick Recap: Mike White's first season as the Gators basketball team's head coach had its ups and downs. Although the group managed a key non-conference victory against West Virginia, the Gators failed to get many quality wins on their resume, as they dropped results to Miami, Michigan State, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, among others. The Gators ended their 2015-16 campaign failing to receive a bid for the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season.
BASEBALL
Finish: 52-16 (19-10 SEC), came second in SEC regular season and tournament title races, reached College World Series but went 0-2 with losses to Coastal Carolina and Texas Tech
Quick Recap: Ranked No. 1 in many of the polls for much of the 2016 season - and then receiving the No. 1 overall seed throughout the NCAA Tournament - Florida baseball overall had a successful season but ultimately came up short of its goal. Kevin O'Sullivan's highly talented group reached Omaha for the fifth time in seven seasons, but the bats went silent in two losses as UF once again came up empty in another CWS trip.
MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Finish: 4th in the SEC indoor championships and 7th in the NCAA indoor championships, finished 6th in the SEC outdoor championships and won the NCAA outdoor championships
Quick Recap: Mike Holloway's men's track and field group finished the 2016 season with another excellent campaign. At the NCAA outdoors competition, Arman Hall won the 400 meters title in 44.82 seconds, joining Tony McQuay (2012) as the only Gators in history to win that crown. Meanwhile, Eric Futch and junior TJ Holmes posted a 1-2 finish in the men's 400-meter hurdles at the outdoor championships. The men's outdoor title was its first since 2013 and its third in five years (2012, 2013, 2016). Florida became just the third team since 1992 to win the outdoor title after finishing outside the top five at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
MEN'S GOLF
Finish: 3rd in the SEC Championship, 15th out of 30 teams in the NCAA Championship
Quick Recap: After winning two tournament this season, including the FGCU Classic and the Sea Best Invitational, while placing in the top three at the Jerry Pate National, SunTrust Gator Invitational and Mason Rudolph Championship, second-year head coach JC Deacon's Gators finished third at SECs with a team score of +21 (861) as Sam Horsfield tied for fifth. At NCAAs, after placing second at the regional championship UF finished with a +43 (1,163) while Horsfield tied for 22nd with a 1-under 69.
MEN'S TENNIS
Finish: 21-7 (10-2 SEC), won the SEC Tournament title, fell in NCAA Tournament quarterfinals to Virginia
Quick Recap: The improvement that Bryan Shelton's group has made in his four seasons on the job has been noticeable. After capturing the SEC Tournament championship with a 4-2 win over Georgia for Shelton's first conference tournament title, the Gators had their best finish in NCAAs under Shelton with a trip to the quarterfinals that ended with a 4-0 loss to Virginia. Meanwhile, at the NCAA doubles championships, Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson reached the round of 16.
MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING
Finish: Won the SEC title, finished 3rd at the NCAA Championships
Quick Recap: Overall, it was a successful 2015-16 season for Gregg Troy's male swimmers. The group won its fourth consecutive SEC title, registering 1,275 points in competition as Caeleb Dressel earned SEC Male Swimmer of the Year honors. At NCAAs, UF finished third behind Texas and California. Dressel won individual national titles in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events at NCAAs, setting NCAA, U.S. Open and American records in both events.
MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Finish: 7th at the SEC Championship, season ended with a 3rd-place finish at the NCAA South Regional Championship
Quick Recap: Although the men finished in just seventh place at the SEC cross country championship, Jimmy Clark earned first-team All-SEC honors with a seventh-place finish while Eddie Garcia received a second-team All-SEC nod with an 11th-place finish. After UF fell behind FSU and Ole Miss in its NCAA regional, it saw Garcia and Clark place 86th and 126th, respectively, as individual competitors at the NCAA championship.
WOMEN’S SPORTS:
SOFTBALL
Finish: 56-7 (20-4 SEC), won the SEC regular season title but lost in its second game of the SEC Tournament, lost to Georgia at NCAA Super Regionals
Quick Recap: In a quest for a three-peat, Tim Walton's Gators had high hopes for the 2016 season but ultimately came up short of their goal. After bowing out of the SEC Tournament with a 2-1 loss to Auburn, Florida cruised during NCAA regionals with wins over Alabama State and UCF. But its historic season came to a close in the super regional against Georgia with 3-0 and 3-2 losses - the second ending on a two-run walk-off homer. In 2016, Tim Walton became the 39th coach in collegiate history to win 700 games in his career, while Florida's senior class of Taylore Fuller, Kirsti Merritt, Aubree Munro, Taylor Schwarz and Kelsey Stewart capped off their careers as the second-winningest class in program history. Amanda Lorenz was named SEC Freshman of the Year at the end of the season.
GYMNASTICS
Finish: 11-3 (5-2 SEC), won an SEC Championship, reached the NCAA Super Six and placed fourth
Quick Recap: With new head coach Jenny Rowland taking over for Rhonda Faehn, Florida had its eyes set on winning a fourth consecutive national championship in 2016. Although it did win the conference crown with a team score of 197.775, Florida placed fourth this season in Super Six action with a 197.350, behind national champion Oklahoma, LSU and Alabama. Bridget Sloan won the All-Around title and shared the uneven bars and balance beam crowns at NCAAs, capping off her greatly successful Gators career on a high note.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Finish: 22-9 (10-6 SEC), lost to Kentucky in its first SEC Tournament game, lost to Albany in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
Quick Recap: The 2015-16 season was one of Amanda Butler's most successful years as Gators women's basketball head coach, but one that ended in an upset loss. Given a fifth-seed in the NCAA Tournament, Florida lost in the opening round 61-59 to No. 12 seed Albany. At the end of the season, Ronni Williams was tabbed as a second-team All-SEC selection, while Eleanna Christinaki was named to the All-Freshman team. Simone Westbrook was an All-Defensive team selection.
LACROSSE
Finish: 18-2 (7-0 Big East), won the Big East Tournament title, lost to Penn State in its first match of the NCAA Tournament
Quick Recap: After what was a highly successful season and Big East tournament run that ended with a 16-4 win over Temple, Amanda O'Leary's Gators went one-and-done in NCAA competition with a stunning 14-13 loss to Penn State to see a highly promising abruptly come to a close. Multiple Gators earned conference honors, as Nicole Graziano was named the Big East midfield of the year, Sammi Burgess a co-attacker of the year and Carolina Fitzgerald the Big East's defensive player of the year. Lindsey Ronbeck was named the conference's top freshman, while the Big East honored Florida along with Temple was co-coaching staffs of the year.
SOCCER
Finish: 19-4-1 (8-2-1 SEC), won the SEC regular season and tournament titles, fell to Duke in the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament
Quick Recap: During a season where the Gators ranked seventh nationally in scoring offense (2.54 goals per game) and sixth in total games (61), UF was highly successful in SEC play. Becky Burleigh and the Gators capped off their conference competition with a 2-1 win over Texas A&M for their first SEC tournament title since 2013. However, Florida's postseason run ended in the round of 16 with a 2-1 loss to Duke. Savannah Jordan and Christen Westphal were named SEC offensive and defensive players of the year, respectively.
VOLLEYBALL
Finish: 25-7 (13-5 SEC), finished fourth in the SEC regular season standings, lost to Texas at the NCAA quarterfinals
Quick Recap: Since a highly impressive streak of being SEC champions from 1992-2008, UF has not won an SEC regular season title in four of the past seven years after failing to earn the crown this past season. After knocking off New Hampshire, FSU and Wisconsin in the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Florida saw its season end in a five-set thriller to Texas in the quarterfinals - a contest filled with plenty of controversy (especially on a missed call) in the late moments. 2015 was the program's 25th consecutive season with at least 25 wins.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Finish: 23-3 (13-0 SEC), won the SEC Tournament, fell to Stanford in the round of 16 of the NCAA Championships
Quick Recap: It was an overall successful season for Ronald Thornqvist's Gators, as they cruised through conference competition and then captured the SEC Tournament crown with a 4-2 win over Georgia. However, UF's season was cut short with a 4-3 loss to Stanford in the round of 16 at NCAAs - the worst finish at NCAAs for the Gators women since 2008-09. At the NCAA Individual Championships, Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan defeated California's duo to win UF's fifth NCAA doubles title and the program's first individual championship in 15 years.
WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING
Finish: 6th at the SEC Championships, 19th at the NCAA Championships
Quick Recap: The women's season didn't go as well as the men's did this past year, but they did rack up some accomplishments. At SECs, Kahlia Warner earned the 1-Meter and 3-Meter titles while Natalie Hinds won the 100-yard freestyle. During NCAAs, the UF women registered seven season-best times while renewing one school record.
WOMEN'S GOLF
Finish: 2nd at the SEC Championship, 17th out of 24 teams at the NCAA Championship
Quick Recap: Fourth-year coach Emily Bastel Glaser's team took a noticeable step forward this past season, with a second place finish at SECs behind just Alabama. Maria Torres took home the 2016 SEC individual title with a -9 (207), the second-lowest score in program history. At NCAA regionals, UF tied for first with South Carolina at 7-under par but then finished 17th overall at the championship level at +22. Kelly Grassel finished tied for 20th at -1 (71) as an individual at NCAAs.
WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Finish: Tied for 4th at the SEC Indoor Championships and tied for 14th at the NCAA Indoor Championships, 7th at the SEC Outdoor Championships and tied for 9th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Quick Recap: The Gators women weren't nearly as successful as the men this season in track and field competition. At NCAA indoor competition, sprinter Kyra Jefferson was a bright spot for an otherwise disappointing performance, as she received runner-up honors in the 200 meters and seventh place in the 400 meters. At SEC outdoors, the women fell outside of the top six for the first time since 2006, but Jefferson won the 100 meters championship and UF earned the 4x400 relay title. At NCAA outdoors, Yanis David had the best individual performance with a third-place finish in the triple jump.
WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Finish: 7th at SECs, 9th at the NCAA South Regional Championship
Quick Recap: While the women came in just seventh place at the SEC cross country championship, it had three top-25 individual finishes with Maria Larsen (15th), Taylor Tubbs (18th) and Elisabeth Bergh (21st) all placing. The UF women failed to advance to the next level of NCAAs with a ninth place finish, as Larsen (16th) was the only Gator with a top-25 finish.
---
Thank you for reading this Inside the Gators article. To discuss it, please visit the Alligator Alley Forum.
---
