Florida Gators
Pittsburgh
No. 3 Florida Gymnastics Team Uses Season-High Road Score for 196.85-190.825 Win at Pittsburgh
Sunday, February 10, 2008 | Gymnastics
The No. 3 Florida gymnastics team (5-1, 3-1 SEC) used its second-highest score of the season to take a 196.85-190.825 win over Pittsburgh (2-3) Sunday afternoon in front of a Fitzgerald Field House crowd of 695.
There was definitely an orange and blue presence in the Fitzgerald Field House crowd Sunday, as many family and friends were on hand to cheer on Gators Corey Hartung and Rebekah Zaiser, both from suburbs of Pittsburgh.
Hartung took the day's all-around title at 38.675, her third of the season and the 10th of her career. She is the second Gator to pick up her 10th career all-around title this weekend, as Ashley Reed earned her 10th win last Friday at Kentucky. They now bring the all-time list of Gator gymnasts with 10 or more all-around titles to eight.
“It was nice to perform in my hometown in front of my family, old classmates and friends. Some had never seen me perform before. It was wonderful to be here and nice to be back in my home city again,” Hartung said. “(I had a) Little problem on vault, but the other events went well today. Ten all-around wins is quite an accomplishment, so I'm proud of that.”
Florida Head Coach Rhonda Faehn schedules a double-meet weekend each year to give the team a feel for the competition schedule at the NCAA Championships. Teams that advance to the NCAA Championships compete on Thursday for the right to advance to Friday's NCAA Super Six team final. The strong performance in the second meet of the weekend for the Gators was just what Faehn was looking for.
“It was wonderful to see that they were full of energy. That is always a bit of a concern on a double-meet weekend with the travel and the early meet time. They not only performed well, but they did it with energy and enthusiasm. There were so many positives about this competition and we are excited that we actually had a better performance on our second meet as opposed to the first one. That is what we will be looking for heading into the NCAA Championships because we know we will need to perform better in the Super Six than on the first day.”
“We showed the improvement that we were looking for,” Faehn continued. “We obviously still have some areas we want to work on. Once we get our lineup finalized, we will really be able to push harder for that. We are still working on cleaning up the small things – landings, execution and the handstands on bars – little things like that. But all in all, we are very pleased.”
The Gators took the top three spots on each apparatus Sunday. A pair of Gators tied for top honors on the uneven bars at 9.85 –Reed and Amanda Castillo. It was the second bar win of the season for Castillo and the first for Reed. Melanie Sinclair was third at 9.825.
Sinclair used a collegiate-best mark of 9.90 to take sole possession of the vault win Sunday – the first of her collegiate career. Tiffany Murry and Reed shared second a 9.875. Sinclair matched her collegiate-best balance beam mark to share the win with Reed at 9.90. Castillo was third at 9.85.
Hartung also shared the day's floor title with Castillo, as each turned in marks of 9.90. The win is the fourth floor title this season for Castillo and second for Hartung. Sophomore Maranda Smith was third overall with a collegiate-best 9.875 floor mark.
Florida returns home to play host to its second annual Gators Link to Pink versus No. 7 LSU (8-1, 3-1 SEC) on Friday, Feb. 15. Meet time is set for 7 p.m. in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. This meet is part of a Southeastern Conference initiative to help raise awareness about breast cancer prevention and treatment. Fans can pick up two adult free general admission coupons at area Blockbuster locations. The first 1,000 fans Friday receive a free bright pink t-shirt courtesy of Sun Sports. Nickelodeon character, Dora the Explorer, will be on hand greeting fans and taking photos from 5:30pm – 6:30pm at Gate 2.
| Final Team Standings | ||||||
| No. 3 Florida at Pittsburgh – Feb. 10, 2008 –Fitzgerald Field House (695) | ||||||
|
| Team | Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | Total |
| 1. | Florida | 49.225 | 49.125 | 49.250 | 49.250 | 196.85 |
| 2. | Pittsburgh | 48.15 | 46.55 | 47.700 | 48.375 | 190.825 |
