No. 3 Florida Gymnastics Season Ends in NCAA Semifinal

FORT WORTH, Texas – No. 3 Florida gymnastics season closed Thursday after getting edged by Missouri for the second advancing spot for Saturday’s NCAA Team Final.

NCAA Championship action opened Thursday afternoon with four Southeastern Conference teams vying for a top-two semifinal I finish to advance to Saturday’s team final.

No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 7 Missouri claimed the top two team finishes in the day’s opening semifinal to move ahead to the team final. The Sooners topped the semifinal at 197.55 and Missouri was second at 197.30. The Gators were just a tenth away at 197.20. No. 11 Alabama rounded out semifinal I results at 196.825.

Saturday’s final airs at 4 p.m. ET on ABC.

Who else will be in Saturday’s team final is determined tonight at 9 p.m. ET when the second semifinal begins. That semi includes defending champion and No. 1 seed LSU, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 UCLA and No. 8 Michigan State. That action can be seen on ESPN2<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/2bb3f085-47d1-42ad-b7a6-5dbf365d5b36>.

This Afternoon’s Meet:
Florida was assigned balance beam to open Thursday’s second semifinal. Junior Selena Harris-Miranda started her day with the biggest score of the opening rotation across all events – 9.95 – to lead the Gators. Florida got back-to-back 9.85s from Anya Pilgrim and Victoria Nguyen. Opening and closing Florida’s beam set were 9.825s by Skylar Draser and Alyssa Arana.

Florida earned consistent scores for floor exercise. Sophomore Gabby Disidore and Harris-Miranda led with marks of 9.8875. Sophomore Danie Ferris posted a 9.8625 and Nguyen led off the lineup at 9.8625. Taylor Clark, the only freshman anchoring a lineup in the opening semi, turned in a 9.8375.

Sticks were elusive on Florida’s vault rotation. Ferris led all semifinal competitors, as she was the only gymnast to reach 9.90. Leanne Wong turned in a 9.8375 while freshman Ly Bui was the only other Gator above a 9.8 with her 9.825.

Heading into the final rotation, Florida trailed Missouri for the second advancing position by 0.075. A solid uneven bars rotation was needed as Missouri closed on balance beam.

Both teams turned in the top total for semifinal I on their closing event, with Helen Hu anchoring the Tigers’ beam lineup with the day’s top score across all events, 9.9875, to seal the advancing team position for MU.

Two Gators – Alyssa Arana and Wong – shared the afternoon’s high uneven bars mark of 9.9375. Harris-Miranda was next at 9.875 while Anya Pilgrim, Skye Blakely and Riley McCusker all posted 9.8625s.

Harris-Miranda was third in semifinal I all-around standings at 39.4625. OU’s Jordan Bowers (39.7125) and Faith Torrez (39.6375) led the opening semifinal all-around.

GATOR ALL-AMERICANS:
Five Gators earned eight All-America honors in Thursday’s NCAA semifinal competition.

Three Gators – Alyssa Arana, Gabby Disidore and Danie Ferris – earn their first All-America honors. Leanne Wong ups her total of All-America honors earned in NCAA action to 14 and 29 overall. Harris-Miranda now has seven All-America honors in NCAA competition as her overall total now stands at 15.

2025 Gator All-Americans

Name

Event

Semi II Score

All-America team

Alyssa Arana

Uneven Bars

9.9375

First

Gabby Disidore

Floor Exercise

9.8875

Second

Danie Ferris

Vault

9.900

First

Selena Harris-Miranda

Balance Beam

9.950

First

Floor Exercise

9.8875

Second

All-Around

39.4625

First

Leanne Wong

Uneven Bars

9.9375

First

All-Around

39.2375

Second

GATOR NCAA SEMIFINAL NOTES:

* The last time Florida didn’t advance to NCAA Team Final action from semifinal competition? That would be 2011, which is also the last time the Gators opened semifinal action on the balance beam.
* Florida’s 49.475 equals the team’s fourth highest bars total in NCAA semifinal action.
* Selena Harris-Miranda posted a 9.95 or better beam score in four of the Gators’ last six meets. Her 9.95 equals the highest by a Gator in NCAA semifinal beam action, joining Mackenzie Caquatto (2013) and Bridget Sloan (2016)

COACH ROWLAND SAID:

“There is a lot to process from today’s performance. . I think first and foremost, is I’m so proud to be a Gator. I am always proud of my team and how they carry themselves, what they do, how they do it, and with the passion that they have.

“Tonight was not the Gators night. It did not go the way we expected it to go and it hurts. It’s hard – there’s a lot of tears. We have to remember that one meet doesn’t define who we are, all the good that this team accomplished, all the memories that this team has accomplished this year and for the past four or five years for seniors and super seniors.

“We really don’t have a weak event. We were a little tight today. Obviously, on the first two events, would love to have been a little bit looser, but they fought through and did a good job. We couldn’t get that momentum going on vault and moving into bars, I just feel like we worked too hard. They fought, they tried. And I think, sometimes a little too hard. A little too much fight just changes the rhythm. That’s how tonight went.” – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland

No. 3 Florida at NCAA Semifinal I
Team Totals

April 17, 2025 – Dickies Arena

Team

Vault

Bars

Beam

Floor

Total

Oklahoma

49.2750

49.4000

49.3500