In a match-up of the nation’s top two gymnastics teams, it was the No. 2 Florida Gators taking the win over No. 1 Oklahoma Friday in front of a Stephen C. O’Connell Center crowd of 7,260. The Gators posted a 197.875 and the Sooners earned a total of 197.225.

 

Friday’s meeting brought together the top two teams from the 2013 NCAA Super Six team final. Florida won its first NCAA title at 197.575 and Oklahoma was runner-up at 197.375.

 

The Gators led the meet from the first rotation as the team posted a season-high 49.475 on vault. That score was boosted by a pair of 9.95s from both Bridget Sloan and Kytra Hunter. Florida turned in a 49.40 on uneven bars to take a 0.25 lead at the midway point. The Gators equaled their season-best of 49.425 on balance beam.

 

Hunter equaled the Gators’ floor exercise record of 10.0 for the second consecutive meet, making her the first to earn multiple perfect floor scores in school history. Florida’s floor exercise set didn’t reach the lofty total it set last week versus Georgia (49.875), but its 49.575 tonight still stands as the nation’s second-highest total on the event in 2014.

 

GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:

·  Hunter’s floor mark is the 18th 10.0 in school history and she is the second to earn a perfect mark in the same event in consecutive meets. The only other Gators to score 10.0s in back-to-back meets was Susan Hines, who scored the mark in 1998 NCAA Championships’ semifinal and NCAA Super Six vault competition.

·  Sloan took at least a share of four of the five event titles for the second time this season (also at Auburn on Jan. 17). The all-around win at a nation’s leading 39.75 is the third consecutive for the defending NCAA all-around champion. That total equals her collegiate-best for the fourth time, with the last coming in the 2013 NCAA Super Six. She also won bars (9.90), beam (9.95) and shared tonight’s vault (9.95) title.

 

 

NO. 2 WINS AGAIN:

Tonight’s meeting between No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Florida was the 17th regular-season meeting between the nation’s top two teams since 1995. With tonight’s win, the No. 2 team expanded its lead to 14-2-1.

 

The one tie came in 2007 when No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Georgia tied at 197.25 in Athens, Ga.

 

Florida is now 1-1-1 in regular-season meetings between No. 1 and No. 2 since 1995. No. 1 UF lost 196.85-196.825 to No. 2 Georgia when the two meet in 2008 dual meet action in the O’Connell Center.

 

RECORDS: Florida (4-0, 2-0 SEC); Oklahoma (3-1, 1-0 Big 12).

 

THE SERIES: All-time, Florida leads 12-4.

 

WORTH NOTING

Tonight’s win versus No. 1 Oklahoma was the Gators’ second win versus the nation’s top-ranked team in dual meet competition under Rhonda Faehn (first: Jan. 27, 2012 versus No. T-1 Arkansas)…entering tonight’s competition, Sloan and Hunter shared the nation’s leading all-around total of 39.70…Sloan’s winning total of 39.75 tonight raises that mark and Hunter was runner-up at 39.70…a Gator has turned in an all-around total of 39.70 or better now 19 times – and Hunter (6) and Sloan (7) own 13 of those totals…Florida’s total tonight stands as the nation’s second highest, behind the 198.05 set last week in UF’s win versus Georgia…Sloan has won at least a share of the last three vault titles, surpassing the two vault wins she earned as a freshman in 2013…Hunter has won at least a share of the floor title in each of Florida’s four meets this season…Sloan’s balance beam title was her first since winning that event title at the 2013 NCAA Championships...during their collegiate careers, Hunter has won 45 event titles and Sloan has 33…senior Alaina Johnson turned in season-best marks of 9.875 on both vault and bars tonight…that mark also was a season-best bars mark for sophomore Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto...freshman Claire Boyce upped her collegiate-best on balance beam to 9.90…Sloan's 9.95 on beam is her fourth score of 9.950 or higher for the event…tonight’s crowd 7,260 is the 14th highest in school history.

 

via Florida