GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida’s Tremendous Seniors now have a handful of rings, claiming their fifth consecutive Southeastern Convention gymnastics title Friday with a 198.15 – 197.575 win over No. 12 Kentucky.

Going into Friday’s competitors, Florida and Kentucky have been in place to win the SEC regular-season title. Each entered the meet with a single league loss. Friday’s meet closed league motion for the Gators, giving them sole possession of the 2023 title at 6-1.

SEC TITLE:

• Florida claims its fifteenth SEC gymnastics title and fifth consecutive (1982, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’89, ’07, ’10, ’12, ’13, 16, ’19, ’20, ’21, ’22, ’23). That is the seventh 12 months for the awarding of a regular-season SEC gymnastics title. From 1981-2016, the winner on the SEC Championship meet was thought-about the league champion.
• Tonight’s win ups Florida athletics total SEC complete to a league-high 259 titles. Add in lacrosse’s 11 league titles, the Gator program has claimed 270 convention titles.
• Gymnastics claims Florida athletics fourth SEC title of 2022-23, becoming a member of volleyball, males’s & ladies’s swimming & diving. Florida’s picked up no less than one SEC workforce title for 45 consecutive seasons – the league’s longest present streak

Florida’s win offers the Gators sole possession of the 2023 regular-season title.

SENIOR DAY CELEBRATION:
Florida had an expanded class this 12 months with Tremendous Seniors Leah Clapper, Savannah Schoenherr, Halley Taylor and Trinity Thomas repeating the celebration in 2023. They be part of switch Rachel Baumann and senior Payton Richards together with supervisor Shea Wheeler for the celebration of their Gator careers, which adopted Friday’s competitors.

Florida’s 2023 senior class notes:

• Superior to NCAA workforce remaining in 2021 (4th) and 2022 (2nd)
• Gained 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023 SEC regular-season trophies.
• Swept 2022 SEC regular-season and Championship meet titles
• Earned 31 All-America honors & two All-SEC workforce members
• 4 SEC occasion titles (2019 – Thomas -vault; 2022: Thomas – vault, ground, all-around) & three NCAA occasion titles (2022 – Thomas all-around, uneven bars & ground train)
• Every earned Educational All-SEC honors each season of their collegiate careers

TONIGHT’S MEET
Florida was led on vault with season bests by Leanne Wong (9.925) and Sloane Blakely (9.90). Vault was gained by the Wildcats, with Isabella Magnelli and Raena Worley sharing the win at 9.95.

The nation’s 2023 excessive on any occasion, 49.80, was boosted by a trio of near-perfect 9.975s on uneven bars by Kayla DiCello, Trinity Thomas and Leanne Wong. Collegiate bests by sophomores led off and anchored the bars set. Blakely equaled her better of 9.925 and Riley McCusker closed the rotation with a collegiate finest 9.95.

DiCello led the Gators on stability beam, sharing the occasion title with UK’s Worley at 9.925. Thomas and Kentucky’s Arianna Patterson tied at 9.90 for third.

Florida used 5 marks of 9.9 or higher to shut the meet with a 49.60 on ground train. Thomas gained with an oh-so-close 9.975. Senior Payton Richards equaled her collegiate better of 9.925 to share third with UK’s Worley and Hailey Davis. The Gators additionally received 9.9s from Rachel Baumann, Victoria Nguyen and DiCello.

Thomas posted a 39.70 to win her third-straight all-around title. Worley was second at 39.65 whereas DiCello took third at 39.60.

GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:

• Florida’s198.15 is the Gators second complete among the many nation’s high 10 this season. Tonight’s complete is No. 7 and UF turned within the No. 2 complete of 198.35 on Feb. 10.
• Florida bought out 15 of the final 18 meets and the final 9 consecutive. Tonight’s crowd of 9,298 is the tenth largest for the reason that Exactech Enviornment reopened in 2017 after renovations.
• Two Florida occasion totals are the nationwide highs in 2023 – tonight’s uneven bars (49.80) and Feb. 10 ground train (49.725)
• Florida’s 49.80 on uneven bars trails the nation’s all-time excessive of 49.825, set by UCLA in 2004 and matched by California (2021) and Oklahoma (2022)
• That is the second time in program historical past Florida had three 9.975s on an occasion – with each coming in 2023.
• Within the Feb. 10 meet versus Missouri, the trio of Sloane Blakely, Trinity Thomas and Leanne Wong turned in 9.975s on ground.
• Florida’s twice had two 9.975s in an uneven bars rotation, with each of these situations involving Thomas and Wong (Jan. 21, 2022 and Jan. 27, 2023). Kayla DiCello joined Thomas and Wong with 9.975s tonight on uneven bars.
• Trinity Thomas extends her profession document to 30 all-around wins
• Collegiate bests equaled or set tonight:
• Sloane Blakely – 9.925 (bars)
• Riley McCusker – 9.95 (bars)
• Payton Richards – 9.925 (ground)

COACH ROWLAND SAID:
“I inform them this repeatedly and allow them to understand how grateful we’re to have a workforce of such robust ladies who love doing what they do, who love performing for one another and who love competing for Gator Nation. And if it wasn’t for them, the followers would not be there. So that they’ve performed a spectacular job inviting everyone into the O’Dome for gymnastics.

“Extraordinarily grateful for our seniors and Tremendous Seniors. None of us can be the identical folks that we’re at this time with out these six superb younger ladies. They’re robust. They’re daring. They’re courageous. They’re caring. They’re loving, sort they usually’ve simply proven plenty of grace and management over the past 5 years to win 5 SEC common season championships. It was an excellent night time. It was plenty of nice gymnastics. Simply actually bear in mind simply having fun with the second, watching these gymnasts do what they love.” – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland

UP NEXT:
For the third time in 2023, the highest twin meet of the day consists of the Gators. This time, No. 2 Florida is at No. 1 Oklahoma.