Upcoming SEC Championships

Now that the Gators have finished their regular season, the team is shifting its focus to the upcoming SEC championships. 

On March 24, Florida will travel to Duluth, GA, to compete against some other top teams in the nation for the SEC title.

Besides No. 1 Florida, some other teams among the SEC are No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Georgia, No. 9 Arkansas and No. 10 LSU.

According to Head Coach Rhonda Faehn, the Gators do not have much time to prepare for the upcoming meet.

They will meet in the gym for a short practice on Sunday and have practices on Monday and Wednesday. Thursday, the Gators depart for Georgia.

“We have to be very efficient, and instead of having a down time, we’re coming in Sunday and building up heading into SECs,” Faehn said.

Faehn believes that the team is more prepared for the championships this year in strength and ability.

“I feel that this team is doing a better job in not only health, but also in the peaking area,” Faehn said. “Last year the athletes were sore, and they were tired, and they were exhausted.”

Coach Faehn cheers the Gators on at the SEC championships in 2011. By GatorZone.com

The athletes agree that the team has peaked at the right time.

“We learned a lot from last year, and I think we’re definitely on the right track and we’re peaking at the right time,” sophomore Alaina Johnson said. “I’m excited to go into SECs, and we’re doing really well. I’m proud of the team.”

According to senior Amy Ferguson, the amount of conditioning the team has been doing has kept them strong and healthy.

“I think we’re peaking at the right point, and I think we’re really going to carry it over to SECs,” Ferguson said. “I think we’re going to have a great post season.”

Junior Marissa King said that the skills are all there. Everyone has been doing gymnastics since they were very young, and now it’s all mental.

“It’s kind of a mind game now,” King said. “It’s about staying on track and not getting distracted. There’s still time to get all the sleep that we need, eat right, make more improvements in the gym, and just stay positive in our minds and believing in ourselves.”

Seniors Final Home Meet

Friday night was the last home meet of the season for the Florida gymnastics team. And for a few of the Gators, it was their last home meet ever.

Seniors Nicole Ellis, Amy Ferguson, and Elizabeth Mahlich were all honored after the meet for their four years with the gymnastics team.

Senior Kailey Tissue, a student coach, was also honored for her time. As a freshman, she was injured so badly that she was told she would not be able to compete anymore.

She was then brought on as a student coach and was able to essentially stay a part of the team.

Nicole Ellis, Elizabeth Mahlich, Kailey Tissue, and Amy Ferguson were honored Friday for Senior Night. By GatorZone.com

Mahlich, affectionately refered to as “Beebs” finished her final event on beam.

 

Ellis competed in both the vault and the bars, scoring above a 9.8 on both.

Ellis was moved to tears during the senior night ceremony where was was surrounded by family and friends.

“I was just telling myself to soak it up,” Ellis said, “because this is a once in a lifetime experience being a college athlete, and it being the last meet, I just wanted to take everything in, and enjoy every second of it.”

The team held itself together until Ferguson finished her final floor routine. After she was finished, she ran to the sidelines to hug her teammates, and several of them burst into tears.

“I think for the first time I actually paid attention to what was going on around me,” Ferguson said.

According to Ferguson, she is usually so nervous and excited that she does not notice the crowd or her teammates.

“I think this time I really just stood there and took it all in and really soaked in every minute of it. It’s something that I’ll never forget,” Ferguson said.

This group of seniors was able to observe the way the Florida gymnastics team improved over the years, at times having to sacrifice playing time for newer, younger athletes.

“They could have easily said this is going to be too tough,” Head Coach Rhonda Faehn said. “But instead, they have made the team better by their performances.”

The younger players are going to miss having the seniors around, too.

“They’ve definitely been leaders,” sophomore Alaina Johnson said. “Our seniors have made us who we are and made us come together as a family, and we’re just so close. If the seniors are closer, it makes the whole team closer."

Seniors Amy Ferguson and Nicole Ellis, junior Marissa King, and sophomore Alaina Johnson talk about senior night.

Win at Utah

The Gators took home another victory Friday night against No. 7 Utah. Using the nation's second-highest score of 197.90, the team posted the fourth-highest score in school history.

Sophomore Alaina Johnson won the all-around, tying her career-high score of 39.675.

“I’m very happy with my performance and I’m just glad that I could go out there and do it for my team,” Johnson said.

Alaina Johnson performs during the floor exercise. By GatorZone.com

According to Head Coach Rhonda Faehn, Johnson is different from the other high-scoring athletes like freshman Kytra Hunter, and juniors Marissa King and Ashanee Dickerson.

While these girls are very powerful, Johnson’s “finesse and grace” make her stand apart, according to Faehn.

“Alaina is just an absolutely beautiful gymnast. On any given day she can challenge to win any title on any event for any meet,” Faehn said.

The meet started off rocky, though, when the Gators did not stick a single landing on vault.

According to Faehn, she was upset at the beginning of the meet because of the vault landings. However, she was proud when the team did not carry that over to the rest of the events.

Hunter had a mishap on bars when she missed the bar and fell on her back in the middle of her routine. She was lifted back onto the bar and finished her routine, but her score reflected her fall with a 9.250.

“It’s a common mistake, because that release move is one of the hardest on bars. She was just a little late,” Faehn said.

Despite the fall, the Gators still won bars with Dickerson and Johnson tied for first with a score of 9.950.

Florida continued its winning streak as they moved on to beam. King and Johnson tied for first with King earning a career-high score of 9.925. King also earned a career-high all-around score.

“It was really nice to see,” King said. “It’s nice to know hard work pays off.”

All of the gymnasts scored very well on the floor exercise.

According to King, the team had been posting lower scores on floor, and they had been working on bringing those scores up. Tonight they did.

“You could see tonight they had that rhythm,” Faehn said. “This is the first time really that we felt that everyone was just on target.”

King and Hunter both posted a 9.95 on floor, which is the highest score besides a perfect 10.

“We finally really put it all together on the floor,” Faehn said.