Gator gymnastics is currently tied with Oklahoma for the No. 1 ranking as the team travels to seventh ranked Alabama Friday night.
This is the second SEC meet of the season for both teams, with Florida coming off a win against Auburn, and Alabama a loss to Arkansas. This meet will air live on the SEC Network at 8pm. Gator head coach Rhonda Faehn believes her team is off to a good start as they head to Tuscaloosa.
“It’s nice to be able to have two meets under our belt to give some experience to our freshmen and to get the feet wet back in for our upper classmen,” Faehn said.
Two Gators earned SEC honors for performances last week. Freshman Alex McMurtry is the SEC Specialist of the Week and Kennedy Baker is SEC Freshman of the Week. Junior All-American Bridget Sloan will still be sidelined this meet due to her ankle injury. Depending on her recovery, Sloan could return later in the season.
Although Alabama leads the meetings with Florida, the teams’ rivalry has been tied at 13-13-2 since 2007. When the two teams last met in February of 2014, Alabama handed Florida its first loss of the season. Alabama also upset Florida in the 2014 SEC Championships. Faehn says her team is excited to compete at Alabama.
“It’s always sold out whenever we go there… so it is important that our athletes learn very early on in the season how to perform in that type of environment.”
To listen to Rhonda Faehn’s audio clips, click below.