Florida Gators women's gymnastics

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For the current Florida Gators gymnastics team, see 2016 Florida Gators gymnastics team.
Florida Gators women's gymnastics
Founded: 1973
Florida Gators women's gymnastics athletic logo
University [[University of Florida]]
Conference [[SEC|{{{conference_short}}}]]
Location [[{{{city}}}, {{{stateabb}}}|{{{city}}}]], [[{{{state}}}|{{{stateabb}}}]]
Head Coach Jenny Rowland (1st year)
Home Arena O'Connell Center
(Capacity: 12,000)
Known As Florida Gators
Colors and

             
National Championships
1982 (AIAW), 2013, 2014, 2015
Super Six Appearances
1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
NCAA Regional Champions
1981 (AIAW), 1982 (AIAW)
1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1997, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
NCAA Tournament Appearances
1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Conference Champions
1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1989, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013

The Florida Gators women's gymnastics team represents the University of Florida in the sport of gymnastics. The team competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gators host their home matches in the O'Connell Center on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus, and are currently led by head coach Jenny Rowland. In the forty-year history of the Gators women's gymnastics program, the team has won nine SEC championships, and four national championships, including the 1982 AIAW national tournament, and the 2013, 2014 and 2015 NCAA national tournaments.

History

The University of Florida first fielded a women's varsity gymnastics team in the fall of 1973. Gymnastics was one of the first women's sports added at the University of Florida and achieved early success by winning the 1982 Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) championship (the AIAW was the governing body for women's college sports from 1971 to 1982). Since the NCAA assumed sponsorship for women's sports championships in 1982, Florida has advanced to the NCAA national championship tournament (top twelve teams nationally) thirty times, and has only failed to qualify for the national championship once since 1982. The Gators have advanced to the "Super Six" finals of the NCAA championship nineteen times. Florida has finished twice as the runner-up in 1998 and 2012,[1][2] and won back-to-back-to-back NCAA championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015.[3]

Ernestine Weaver was the head coach of the Gators gymnastics program from 1980 to 1992, and she was responsible for much of the team's early success in AIAW, NCAA and SEC competition. Under Weaver, the Gators won five SEC tournament championships, won the AIAW national championship in 1982, and appeared in thirteen consecutive NCAA national championship tournaments; Gators gymnasts won five AIAW and NCAA individual national championships. Judi Markell succeeded Weaver as head coach in 1993, and her teams qualified for nine NCAA national championship tournaments in ten seasons, including three Super Six appearances, and a second-place finish in 1998; Markell's Gators won three NCAA individual national championships.

The Gators were coached by Rhonda Faehn from 2003-2015 and won four SEC tournament championships, and appeared in the NCAA national championship tournament thirteen consecutive times under Faehn, including ten Super Six appearances, a NCAA national runner-up performance in 2012, and three straight national championships from 2013-2015. The 2014 NCAA championship team also scored the highest total ever at an NCAA championship with a 198.175.[2] Faehn's Gators won nine NCAA individual national championships. Marissa King won the vault title in 2011, Kytra Hunter won the all-around and vault title in 2012 and the all-around and floor titles in 2015, Alaina Johnson won the uneven bars title in 2013, and Bridget Sloan won the all-around and balance beam titles in 2013 and the uneven bars title in 2014.

After Faehn's resignation following the 2015 national championship Florida hired Auburn assistant Jenny Rowland to be the new head coach. In Jennys first year as head coach she led the gators to their 10th Sec title and their fourth in the past 7 years.

Individual national champions

Nine Florida Gators gymnasts have won a total of seventeen individual national college championships, including Ann Woods (1982 AIAW all-around, floor exercise, uneven bars), Lynn McDonnell (1982 AIAW balance beam), Maria Anz (1984 NCAA floor exercise), Susan Hines (1997 NCAA vault; 1998 NCAA vault), Betsy Hamm (1998 NCAA balance beam), Marissa King (2011 NCAA vault), and Kytra Hunter (2012 NCAA all-around and vault title, 2015 all-around and floor title), Alaina Johnson (2013 NCAA Bars), Bridget Sloan (2013 NCAA all-around, beam; 2014 NCAA Bars; 2016 NCAA All-Around, Bars, and Beam)

Current Roster (2016)

Below is a roster of gymnasts on the team for the 2015-16 season.

2014-15 Roster[4]
Name Height Year Hometown Club
Kennedy Baker 5-0 SO Flower Mound, TX Texas Dreams
Alicia Boren 4-11 FR Franklin Lakes, NJ North Stars
Claire Boyce 5-6 JR Arlington, TX Texas Dreams
Bridgette Caquatto 5-3 SR Naperville, IL Legacy Elite
Amanda Cheney 5-5 FR Orlando, FL Orlando Metro
Lacy Dagen 5-1 FR Pleasanton, CA San Mateo Gymnastics
Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto 5-6 SR Montreal, Quebec Gym-Richelieu
Peyton Ernst 5-1 FR Coppell, TX Texas Dreams
Ericha Fassbender 5-3 SO Katy, TX Stars Gymnastics
Morgan Frazier 5-2 SR Winter Garden, FL Orlando Metro
Ashley Hiller 4-11 FR Pasadena, TX Stars Gymnastics
Grace McLaughlin 5-2 SO Allen, TX WOGA
Alex McMurtry 5-2 SO Midlothian, VA Richmond Olympiad
Bridget Sloan 5-1 SR Pittsboro, IN Sharp's Gymnastics
  • Head Coach: Jenny Rowland
  • Assistant Coach: Adrian Burde
  • Assistant Coach: Owen Field
  • Volunteer Assistant Coach: Jeremy Miranda

Future recruits

These are gymnasts that have committed to Florida and hence will be competing in future years.

2016-17 Commits

  • Alyssa Baumann - 2016 - WOGA - 2014 World Champion with the U.S team
  • Rachel Gowey - 2016 - Chows - 2015 Pan American Games Champion, 2013 and 2014 US Nationals qualifier (did not compete due to injury), 2012 JO National Team Member
  • Amelia Hundley - 2016 - Cincinnati - 2015 Pan American Games Champion, 4x US National Team Member (2011–2014), 2012 Pacific Rim Team Champion
  • Maegan Chant - 2016 - Hamilton World Class Gymnastics - Canadian National team member, 2014 World Championship team member, 2015 Pan American Games silver medalist team member, coached by Romanian World Champion and Olympic gymnast Cristina Bontas

2017-18 Commits

  • Bailie Key - 2017 - Texas Dreams - 2013 US Junior National Champion, 2014 Pacific Rim Junior Champion
  • Megan Skaggs - 2017 - Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta - 2013, 2014 U.S. National qualifier, 2015 U.S. National team member
  • Vanasia Bradley - 2017 - Euro Stars - 2013 U.S. Nationals qualifier

2018-19 Commits

All-American selections

Through the 2011–12 season, forty-nine Florida Gators gymnasts have earned 108 first-team All-American honors and seventy-one second-team honors (# of honors not updated for 2013).[5]

Second-team All-American honors are designated with an asterisk (*).

Team Records

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pat Dooley, "Top 25 Gator teams: #24 1998 Gymnastics," Gainesville Sun (June 1, 2009). Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Laura Owens, "UF gymnastics finishes second at NCAAs," The Gainesville Sun (April 21, 2012). Retrieved May 14, 2012.
  3. ↑ "National Champions: Gators Claim Program's First NCAA Gymnastics Title," GatorZone.com (April 20, 2013). Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Florida Gymnastics 2012 Media Supplement, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 55–56 (2012). Retrieved May 14, 2012.

External links

  • GatorSports.com – Florida Gators women's gymnastics news from The Gainesville Sun.
  • GatorZone.com – Official webpage of the Florida Gators women's gymnastics team.
  • SECSports.com – Official webpage of Southeastern Conference gymnastics.
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