No. 4 Florida gymnastics completed home competition for the season Sunday by securing a 198.45-198.325 win against No. 2 LSU.
The Senior Night meeting of Top Five teams did not disappoint, as it is consistently one of the most intense competitions in NCAA gymnastics each year.
“I would say just about every dual (meet) between the Gators and LSU, it’s one of the most intense, fun competitions,” Florida coach Jenny Rowland said. “It’s a roller coaster ride, and this team just kept showing up and competing. They were fierce tonight and just calm, relaxed and having a lot of fun celebrating each other.”
The Gators’ team score was the highest by any program in the country this year. After meets where Florida (11-2, 5-2 SEC) was unable to have a complete meet, the Gators nailed 24 routines.
“This is what we’ve been doing day in and day out,” Rowland said. “Just goes to show when you have a little fun, and you shut off the noise and just take that pressure off yourself and not worry what anybody else is doing and you’re just doing what you do and own it, great things can happen.”
Four Gators appeared in the all around. Senior Selena Harris-Miranda secured the all-around title with a 39.85, the second highest in the nation this year. Her night was highlighted by her first perfect 10 of the season on beam.
“I’m just doing what I train, and I try to replicate what my brain does when I’m in practice,” Harris-Miranda said. “That’s really what I’m focused on, and when I feel like I reach that flow state, I get really excited because that means good things are coming.”
SEC Gymnast of the Week and Harris-Miranda’s old club teammate Kailin Chio of LSU placed second with a 39.775, posting three scores of 9.975. Florida junior Kayla DiCello, sophomore Skye Blakely and senior eMjae Frazier followed.
The Gators got better on each event, improving scores as they night went on.
Florida put last week’s 48.875 vault score behind it, tying its second highest this season (49.375). DiCello tied her career high and Harris-Miranda was nearly perfect, recording a pair of 9.95s.
“I was just super proud of everybody because we did what we train in the gym and that makes my heart feel full that everyone was comfortable enough to just do that,” Harris-Miranda said.
The No. 2 team in the country on bars behind Florida, LSU (10-3-1, 4-3) started with two errors, including a fall from senior Ashley Cowan. Despite having to count a 9.7, the Tigers scraped out of the first rotation tied with the Gators thanks to three 9.9s and a 9.975 by junior Konnor McClain.
On bars, the Gators once again tied their second highest score of the season with a 49.625. Blakely put up a 9.975 on the apparatus for the second week in a row to tie with McClain for the event title.
Meanwhile, the Tigers came back with a 49.7 on vault, their highest on the event this season by 0.15. Sophomores Kaliya Lincoln and Kailin Chio and junior Amari Drayton recorded three straight scores of 9.975.
Down 0.75, Florida went to beam and notched a 49.7 with four scores above 9.9. This is how the Gators elevated to a 0.75 lead going into the final rotation.
The Gators seized the moment and posted a season’s best 49.75 on floor after making some changes to some routines. Florida beat its old mark by nearly two tenths and tied the second highest score in the nation on the event.
“Personally, I didn’t even know what the score was going into floor,” Frazier said. “It was just more about wanting to just stay present, staying in the moment.”
LSU’s scores of 49.6 and 49.65 on floor and beam, respectively, were not enough to win in Gainesville for the first time since 2018. The all-time series comfortably belongs to Florida, which leads 78-46 dating back to 1976.
Florida travels to No. 22 Kentucky (1-9-1, 1-5-1) for the regular-season finale at 7 p.m. Friday.
