‘Link to Pink’: Alyssa Arana, Florida Gymnastics Competing For Higher Purpose
No. 5 Florida gymnastics is at the official halfway mark of its season. Going into the sixth meet, the Gators prepare to take on the defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners with a higher purpose in mind.
The 20th annual “Link to Pink” meet is set for Friday at 6:45 p.m. The themed event honors those who battled breast cancer, including survivors and the ones that lost the fight.
“Truly, it’s an honor,” coach Jenny Rowland said. “It’s a privilege that our sport can use such a grand platform to show support and share awareness with a lot of people that come in person and watch it on TV as well, so really grateful and humbled to be a part of that.”
Many survivors attend this meet every year, lining the floor for the national anthem and team runout. Rowland said that this is an honor to put a smile on the faces of people who have fought through this challenge.
“It most definitely is emotional for several of our athletes, and I think they all have done a really good job of staying grounded, keeping it at the forefront of their mind,” Rowland said.
Junior Alyssa Arana will dedicate her performance Friday to someone special. Her aunt is a breast cancer survivor, and Arana said she never lost her smile even going through treatment.
“I’m doing this for her with the biggest smile on my face,” Arana said.
Previously the anchor, she stepped into the role of leadoff of the beam rotation for the first tim this season. She said that it was an adjustment but not something that scared her.
However, Arana has yet to score above 9.9 this season, producing two scores of 9.875 and a 9.85.
Her leadership and development is praised the most. In her first meet as a freshman, Arana fell off the bars three times, scoring a 8.45. Rowland said that the mistakes diminished her confidence and kept her out of the lineup the rest of the season.
Two months later, Arana scored her collegiate best in her beam debut (9.925). In her sophomore season, she built up her confidence and competed on both bars and beam, earning All-American honors for bars.
“It was a true 180 transformation,” Rowland said. “She worked on the mental aspect. She worked on her physical aspect. She worked on everything that she knew she needed to do to grow and to earn a spot back in.”
Rowland said that Arana is becoming more vocal, providing help to freshman and younger teammates. Her role in the beam rotation will continue to grow this season, and after the lowest team bar score since 2010 against Missouri last week (48.475), the All-American may also return to bars.
Arana said that her confidence is now higher than ever, even going into a meet like Oklahoma.
“I believe I could safely say that Alyssa has been one of the most impactful athletes on our team ever,” Rowland said. “Coming in as a freshman and her journey in gymnastics has not been the norm.”
Category: Gator Sports, Gators Gymnastics, SEC
