GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 2 Florida gymnastics makes its first trip to Iron City since 2008 to compete in the NCAA Pittsburgh Regional. The Gators hope the results from this event earns a return trip to the Lone Star State, this time for the April 13-15 NCAA Championships.
Florida opens regional competition Friday, March 31 in the Pittsburgh Regional’s second session. A top-two team finish advances the Gators to Sunday’s four-team NCAA Regional final. The top two teams in the regional final advances to the Ft. Worth, Texas, for the NCAA Championships.
This is the fourth year for the current NCAA regional/national championships format.<https://youtu.be/aQ8Rh3mZbtw>
Pittsburgh Regional Info:
The Pittsburgh Regional includes nine teams from six different conferences – No. 2 Florida (SEC), No. 7 California & No. 15 Arizona State (Pac-12), No. 10 Michigan State, No. 24 Maryland & No. 32 Penn State (Big Ten), No. 29 West Virginia (Big 12), No. 26 Western Michigan (MAC) and No. 31 Towson (EAGL). Three – Florida, Towson and Western Michigan – won their 2023 conference titles. Florida has only faced West Virginia this season. The Mountaineers finished second to Florida in UF’s season-opening quad meet (197.75 – 194.925).
March 30 – Opening Round at 2 p.m. ET
Starting Event
School
Vault
Towson
Bars
Penn State
March 31 – Second Round at 2 p.m. ET
Vault
West Virginia
Bars
Western Michigan
Beam
California
Floor
Michigan State
March 31 – Second Round at 7 p.m. ET
Vault
Towson/PSU
Bars
Maryland
Beam
Florida
Floor
Arizona State
April 2 – Final at 5 p.m. ET
Vault
Team NQS 2
Bars
Team NQS 1
Beam
Team NQS 4
Floor
Team NQS 3
How to Follow the Gators:
All Pittsburgh Region competition from Petersen Events Center<https://www.peterseneventscenter.com/> is streamed.
Olympic medalist and Gator Great Bridget Sloan and Alex Perlman call the Pittsburgh Regional second and final round action.
March 30
Opening Round
ESPN +<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/19501ebc-4cee-4285-8369-5d9ba43024cb>
March 31
2pm/Second Round
ESPN +<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/d3b5680c-b99e-42b6-a3c7-3b63b4dbe66d>
March 31
7 p.m. / Second Round
ESPN +<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/beefca78-dff1-4d85-b151-1d26c7686f89>
April 2
Regional Final
ESPN +<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/18cd5e02-0dec-4965-b842-c3efba890638>
Tickets: Pittsburgh Athletics<https://pittsburghpanthers.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=GYMNCAA&linkID=pitt&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=>
Florida in NCAA Regionals:
Gators are 20-time NCAA Regional meet winners: 1982, ’84, ’85, ’87, ’97, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15, ’16, ’17, ’18, ’21, ‘22
Road Trip to Cheer the Gators:
Expect some hometown fans cheering the Orange & Blue at the Pittsburgh Regional.
The hometowns of three Gators are within a six-hour drive of Pittsburgh, Pa. Trinity Thomas (York, Pa.) and Kayla DiCello (Boyds, Md.) are right at three and a half hours drive to Pittsburgh. Morgan Hurd’s hometown of Middletown, Del., is farther at a bit over five hours.
In the Gators’ Last Meet:
Florida gymnastics swept 2023 league gymnastics trophies after setting a meet-record to claim its second consecutive Southeastern Conference Championship meet team title. The Gators won their fifth consecutive league regular-season title (6-1) in 2023.<https://floridagators.com/news/2023/3/18/no-3-florida-gymnastics-wins-sec-championships-meet.aspx>
The Gators used a meet-record 198.425 to win its 12th SEC Championship meet title in front of a sellout Gas South Arena crowd of 9,544 on March 18. 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). Florida owned a slight 0.15 margin at the midpoint and expanded the lead to 0.50 for the largest winning margin since 1999. UF’s 49.70 on uneven bars equaled the meet record.
A Gator won at least a share of each of the meet’s five individual event titles – a first since Georgia in 2009. Gator Super Senior Trinity Thomas’ winning total (39.80) led the nation’s all-arounders in 2023 conference championship meet competition. Thomas became just the second in league history to earn a pair of 10.0s at the SEC Championships. She used the perfect mark to defend her floor exercise title and Thomas’ 10.0 on uneven bars completed a Season Slam (10.0 on each event in a single season). Sophomore Leanne Wong equaled her 2022 winning mark of near-perfect 9.975 to again win the balance beam title. She is one of seven in league history to win beam in consecutive seasons. Sophomore Sloane Blakely shared the SEC vault title at 9.95 with three others. Half of the top six all-arounders were Gators as Wong tied for fourth (39.625) and DiCello was sixth (39.60).
Awards for the Gators:
Trinity Thomas earned her third SEC Gymnast of the Year honor<https://floridagators.com/news/2023/3/22/gymnastics-trinity-thomas-kayla-dicello-sec-honors.aspx> and is one of two in league history with three such honors. Kayla DiCello is the 10th Gator named SEC Freshman of the Year. Sloane Blakely, Victoria Nguyen and Leanne Wong joined them on the All-SEC team.
Three Gators earned a national-high 11 Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) Regular-Season All-America honors.<https://floridagators.com/news/2023/3/23/ThreeEarnAllAmerica.aspx> Thomas is one of three in 2023 to earn All-America honors in each of the five events. Also collecting All-America honors were DiCello (all-around, bars & beam) and Wong (all-around, bars & beam).
