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The #1 ranked Florida Gators gymnastics team defeated the #5 ranked Alabama Crimson tide in an SEC match-up Friday. Not only did the Gators take the victory, they also made history in Gainesville. This is the first meet where the Gators received three perfect 10 scores from three different gymnasts. The perfect tens came from sophomore Alex McMurty on bars, senior Bridget Sloan on beam, and sophomore Kennedy Baker on floor.
The Gators started the evening on the vault and Bama on the bars. Freshman Alicia Boren and Kennedy Baker tied for the top score in the vault category with a 9.950. The strong performance from the Gators on vault was able to push them into the lead early in the meet. The Gators left their vault performance with a score of 49.500 and Bama with 49.325.
The first 10 of the night came from Alex McMurty who concluded for the Gators on bars. McMurty was able to spin into a flawless landing after nailing a perfect bars routine bringing a ton of excitement to the O’Dome early in the meet. McMurty says she felt like she landed a good routine but didn’t know it was worth a 10. While McMurty had a strong performance on the bars, senior Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto had a slip up in her performance causing her to land face first on the floor. After recovering from the fall, she was able to continue her bars routine in full swing, stuck a solid landing, and ended up with a score of 9.375. The Gators still kept their slim lead and left bars with a total score of 98.975 and Bama with a score of 98.525
What a way to start #UFillTheDome !
3 10s in 3 evts by 3 #Gators!@bridgetsloan @KennBaker15 @alexmcmurtry pic.twitter.com/MO4WSzLfqB
— Gator Gymnastics (@GatorsGym) January 30, 2016
Next for Florida was the beam where star for the Gators Bridget Sloan captured another 10 for the Gators. This was Sloan’s second time on beam since her first time against Kentucky. Sloan says while she was on the beam she took her mind off of the routine and let her body take over. Before moving on to the the floor routine, the score was 148.500 Gators, 147.975 Alabama.
In the floor routine it was Kennedy Baker who shined for the Gators stacking up the third and final ten for the night. Sloan was very close in bringing a fourth 10 for Florida by scoring 9.975. Gators head coach Jenny Rowland says the scores the girls received tonight is a testament for all of their hard work. The final for the night were 198.175 to 197.585.
Next the Gators will travel to Georgia to take on the Bulldogs February 5.
