Florida goes back-to-back as SEC gymnastics champs

DULUTH, Ga. – Record team scoring meet gives Florida gymnastics a sweep of the 2023 Southeastern Conference trophy Saturday.

The Gators won the SEC Championship meet in front of a sellout Gas South Arena crowd of 9,544 with 198,425 – clearing the previous high of 198,375 set by the 1997 Georgia team. Alabama was second (197,925), followed by LSU (197.80), Kentucky (197.675), Auburn (197.10) , Missouri (197.00), Arkansas (196.825) and Georgia (196.60).

A Gator won at least a share of each of the five individual event titles at the meet. Gator Super Senior Trinity Thomas defended her all-around title (39.80) and used only 10.0s from the meet to win the uneven bars and floor exercise. Leanne Wong equaled a near-perfect winning mark from the 2022 SEC meet to successfully defend her balance beam title. Fellow sophomore Sloane Blakely shared the vault title in 9.95.

STAY HAPPY:

Florida trailed Kentucky by 0.025 after the opening rotation, but used its top team total of the evening in the next three events to move into first for the rest of the competition.

The Gators were led by a pair of sophomores in the team’s opening event. Sloane Blakely’s head bobbed from side to side after sticking her landing to send a message for her to celebrate her boyfriend who safe is good. His 9.95 is among a four-way tie for the SEC vault title. Leanne Wong also turned in 9.90 to tie for seventh.

Thomas’ 10.0 win on the uneven bars led a Gator lineup that saw all six mark 9.9 or better. Wong and Victoria Nguyen scored 9.95 to be in a four-way tie for second place. Blakely, Kayla DiCello and Riley McCusker all posted 9.90s to share eighth. Florida’s bar total of 49.70 equaled Georgia’s 2014 meet record.

Florida had a slim 0.15 lead at the midpoint of the meet.

For the second year in a row, Leanne Wong used a near-perfect 9.975 to win the balance beam. DiCello shared second overall with three others at 9.95. A mark of 9.9 or better approaches Florida’s balance beam mark of 49.675, which is just shy of the meet record of 49.70 set by the Gators in 2022.

A perfect 10.0 gave Thomas his second consecutive SEC floor exercise title. DiCello matched a college-best 9.95 to share second place with three others at 9.95.

Florida’s three all-arounders finished among the top six at the meet. Thomas used 39.80 to win his second straight. Man was fourth (39.625) and DiCello was the top freshman, taking sixth with a 39.60.

GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:

• Gators are 12-time SEC Championship meet winners: 1982, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’89, ’07, ’10, ’12, ’13, ’16, ’22, ’23
• Florida is the only program with at least one individual event title in each of the last 12 SEC Championship meets. Fourteen Gators have collected 35 event titles since the 2011 SEC Championship meet.
• Only two Gators have won three individual titles in one SEC meet – Melissa Miller (1988) and Thomas (2022 & 2023)
• Trinity Thomas & Kentucky’s Jenny Hansen (1994) became only gymnast with two 10.0s in one SEC Championship.
• Trinity Thomas is the seventh in meet history — and the fourth Gator — to win an SEC all-around title.
• Trinity Thomas is one of three in the 42-year history of the SEC Championships with a perfect mark on the uneven bars. Great Gator Bridget Sloan was the first in 2015 and Auburn’s Sunisa Lee was the second in 2022.
• It was a good vaulting week for sophomore Sloane Blakely. She set a college best of 9.975 Sunday in Florida’s regular season finale at Texas Woman’s University quad. Tonight’s 9.95 is tied for the second-highest vault of his college career.
• Of the 16 Gators who have claimed SEC balance beam titles, Leanne Wong is one of three to win consecutive titles (Lynn McDonnell – 1981 & 1982; Alyssa Baumann – 2018, 2019, 2021). He is one of seven in the history of the meet to repeat as a beam champion.
• The Gators have won all-around in each of UF’s 11 meets this season. Thomas and Wong have five wins each and DiCello has one.
• The SEC began awarding the regular season SEC title in 2017. The 2023 Gators are the fourth team to win the regular season meet and championship in the same season (joining LSU in 2017 & 2018; Florida in 2022).
• Florida’s 0.500 margin of victory is the highest since Georgia’s 0.700 win in 1999.
• The Gators’ season-best 198,425 tied for the third-highest total in the program’s 51-season history. This represents the nation’s No. 4 total in the 2023 season.
• It was Florida’s second SEC Championship victory in six appearances in Duluth, Ga. The first time was in 2012.
• Collegiate bests tonight: Kayla DiCello: floor (9.95); Victoria Nguyen: 9.95 (bars); Trinity Thomas: 10.0 (bars), 10.0 (floor)

COACH ROWLAND said:

“The team will take away a lot of memories from tonight. First and foremost from today, we have a good norm. This is the word that the Gators made that is our word for the week. It means acting normal and building momentum at the same time. . He did a great job. And I think that’s what he’s going to do in the postseason.

“The level of competition tonight was crazy. Today, all day from top to bottom in all four events. Really, the SEC just continues to prove what a strong force we are. Just proud to be a part of the SEC” – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland

SLAM SEASON FOR THOMAS:

With a perfect mark on the uneven bars, Trinity Thomas completed the second Season Slam of her career.

In 2022, Thomas recorded his first Season Slam with a score of 10.0 on the uneven bars in NCAA Regional Second Round action. At 10.0 tonight he is the fifth of his career on the show.

The 10.0 floor practice is the 27th of his career. She is currently tied for third all-time with Georgia’s Hope Spivey and is one of the college leaders of Kentucky’s Jenny Hansen and UCLA’s Jamie Dantzscher.

UP NEXT:

The NCAA Regional field was announced on Monday, March 20 at noon ET on NCAA.com.

2023 Regional Site

March 29, 30 and April 1

Los Angeles, California (UCLA)

Norman, Okla. (Oklahoma)

March 30, 31 and April 2

Denver, Colo. (Denver)

Pittsburgh, Pa. (Pittsburgh)

Session II Event Score

(Seed) Team	Vault	Bar	Beam	the floor	The final score
(1) Florida	49,375	49,700	49,675	49,675	198,425
(2) LSU	49,500	49,325	49,350	49,625	197,800
(3) Kentucky	49,325	49,600	49,350	49,400	197,675
(4) Alabama	49,525	49,475	49,375	49,550	197,925