No. 4 Florida Gymnastics Win NCAA Regional to Advance to Ft. Worth

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -A season-best of 198.325 in today’s NCAA Regional winning effort propels No. 4 Florida gymnastics to the NCAA Championships.

Florida and Utah advance to the NCAA Championships, set for April 18 and 20 in Ft. Worth, Texas. The Gators won the Gainesville Regional at 198.325, advancing to the program’s 40th NCAA Championship in the 42 year history of the event. Utah kept its record of appearing in every NCAA event by claiming the second advancing spot with a 197.575 team score. Missouri was third (197.325) and Michigan State took fourth (196.625).

TONIGHT’S MEET:
All of the top seeds at each of the nation’s four region sites opened final competition on balance beam.

Florida opened the meet with its second-highest beam total of 2024. Five marks of 9.9 or better went toward the 49.60 total. Senior Ellie Lazzari anchored the set with a team high 9.95. Sloane Blakely and Victoria Nguyen earned 9.925s while freshmen Skylar Draser and Anya Pilgrim added 9.9s.

For the first time this season, all six in Florida’s floor exercise lineup earned a 9.9 or better as UF turned in its third-highest total (49.65) of 2024. The two Gators who competed in Belgium last October in the FIG World Championships – Pilgrim and Leanne Wong – led with winning marks of 9.95. Collegiate bests of 9.925 were earned by Nguyen and freshman Danie Ferris with 9.9s by Blakely and Lazzari.

The Gators tallied a 49.575 on vault for both days of NCAA Regional action – the second-highest UF total for the season. A trio of 9.925s by Draser, Wong and Lazzari led with 9.9s by Ferris and Nguyen rounding out Florida’s scoring routines. Lazzari’s 9.925 set her collegiate best.

Heading into the final rotation, Florida led by 0.75 so knew a solid uneven bars set would punch its ticket to Ft. Worth.

That’s just what UF got, posting its second-highest uneven bars total (49.50) of 2024. Wong and Pilgrim each turned in a team-high 9.925 with Draser adding a collegiate-best 9.9.

The top four all-around scores of the day came from the Gator quad. Lazzari eclipsed her collegiate best to share the win with Pilgrim at 39.65. Right behind that duo was Nguyen and Wong, who shared third at 39.60.

SUNDAY’S EVENT WINNERS:
Vault: 9.975 Sage Kellerman, MSU
Bars: 9.950 Grace McCallum, Utah
Beam: 9.950 Ellie Lazzari, UF
9.950 Sienna Schreiber, Missouri
9.950 Maile O’Keefe, Utah
Floor: 9.950 Anya Pilgrim, UF
9.950 Leanne Wong, UF
9.950 Kennedy Griffin, Missouri
9.950 Jaylene Gilstrap, Utah
9.950 Abby Paulson, Utah
AA: 39.65 Ellie Lazzari, UF
Anya Pilgrim, UF

GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:

* Florida’s 198.325 improves its previous season high of 198.225 which clinched the Southeastern Conference regular-season title at Kentucky on March 3
* In both rounds of NCAA Regional action, Florida used seven competitors. That is the nation’s slightest number in a 2024 team meet.
* Florida and Utah have met now three times in NCAA Regional action, with the teams taking the top two spots each time. Utah won the 2004 NCAA Regional in Tucson, Ariz., with Florida winning the 2010 regional in Salt Lake City.
* Ellie Lazzari reset her collegiate best to 39.65 to win a share of her first all-around title. Her previous best of 39.525 was reached twice as a freshman in 2021
* Anya Pilgrim opened and closed her 2024 Exactech Arena appearances with all-around wins. In addition to sharing today’s win with teammate Ellie Lazzari, she opened her Gator career by winning the Jan. 12 home quad
* Victoria Nguyen equaled her collegiate floor best of 9.925 for the eighth time and the fifth time as a Gator
* Skylar Draser’s collegiate bars best of 9.90 today was her fourth collegiate best in NCAA Regional competition. In Friday’s Second Round action, Draser turned in her previous bars high (9.85) and set her all-around best (39.50). She led off Florida’s lineup in both rounds by matching her collegiate beam best (9.90).
* Freshman Danie Ferris turned in 9.9 or better routines in both events competed – vault (9.90) and floor (collegiate-best 9.925)
* Gators have claimed 21 Regional wins – 1982, ’84, ’85, ’87, ’97, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15, ’16, ’17, ’18, ’21, ’22, ’24
* Collegiate bests tonight:
* Skylar Draser: 9.90 (bars, beam)
* Danie Ferris: 9.925 (floor)
* Ellie Lazzari: 9.925 (vault), 39.65 (all-around)
* Victoria Nguyen: 9.925 (floor)

THEY SAID:

“It was a sweet night. Actually, it was more than sweet. It was sweet and savory – a great mix. Extremely proud of this team for leaving everything out on the floor tonight. Everybody stepped up from the very first competitor. Kudos to our beam team for setting a great standard of what tonight was going to look like. It allowed everyone to settle in and just do gymnastics. It really felt like an intrasquad for us. Nothing more, nothing less. Everyone was extremely present, calm and collected. Really proud that we get to keep dancing.” – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland

UP NEXT:
The 42nd NCAA Championships are April 18 & 20 in Ft. Worth, Texas<https://www.ncaa.com/news/gymnastics-women/article/2022-03-30/2022-ncaa-womens-gymnastics-championships-dates-schedule-locations>.

Florida competes in April 18 NCAA Semifinal II at 9 p.m. ET. Alabama, Oklahoma and Utah join UF in semifinal II.

April 18 – NCAA Championships Semifinal I Rotation Order

Apparatus

Vault

Bars

Beam

Floor

School

Oklahoma

Alabama

Utah