No. 4 Florida Gymnastics Wins NCAA Regional Second Round Session

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 4 seed Florida gymnastics win in tonight’s NCAA Regional Second Round action propels the team to Sunday’s final back in the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center

The Gators tallied the day’s top total across both of the Gainesville Regional second-round sessions. Florida’s 197.925 equals the team’s third-highest total of the season.

Florida now joins No. 5 seed Utah (197.825), No. 10 Michigan State (197.475) and No. 13 Missouri (197.525) for Sunday’s NCAA Regional Final at 5 p.m. The top two teams in Sunday’s competition advance to the NCAA Championships, set for April 18 and 20 in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Tickets to Sunday’s NCAA Regional Final<https://am.ticketmaster.com/gators/buy?id=NjU5>

Tonight’s Meet:
A blind draw determined the competition order for today’s regional competition. The Gators opened with five consecutive vault marks of 9.9 or better. Senior Victoria Nguyen shared the event win at 9.95 while freshman Skylar Draser started the lineup off with a 9.925. The Gators got 9.9s from Anya Pilgrim and Danie Ferris plus junior Leanne Wong.

When Pilgrim stuck the landing on her half in half out dismount, the Exactech Arena knew a good score was coming. Her collegiate best 9.975 led UF on uneven bars to share the win with another freshman, Georgia’s Lily Smith. Wong anchored with a 9.9 to finish a 49.30 set that was tested by an early lineup miss. In just her third appearance in the Gators bars lineup, Draser turned in a collegiate-best 9.85.

Florida led Georgia by 0.125 at the midpoint.

A six-for-six balance beam set sent Florida into the final rotation with a 0.30 lead over Missouri. Senior Ellie Lazzari anchored with a 9.95 – second only this season to the 9.975 she opened the campaign with in January. Three other marks of 9.9 or better helped Florida equal its second-highest total (49.575) of the season – 9.925 by Pilgrim and Wong plus Draser’s collegiate-best 9.90 to start the lineup off.

Four marks of 9.9 or better helped the Gators tally the day’s top floor total (49.475). Nguyen and Wong led the team with 9.925 with Sloane Blakely and Lazzari each earning 9.9s.

A season-high five Gators competed as all-arounders Friday. Wong was third overall at 39.65 and Nguyen was fourth (39.55). Draser was sixth with a collegiate-best 39.50.

EVENT WINNERS:
Scores are combined from both NCAA Second Round sessions to determine event winners:
Vault: Victoria Nguyen, Florida 9.95
Emma Silberman, Maryland 9.95
Bars: Anya Pilgrim, Florida 9.975
Lily Smith, Georgia 9.975
Beam: Abby Paulson, Utah 9.975
Floor: Jaylene Gilstrap, Utah 9.950
AA: Lily Smith, Georgia 39.675
Nikki Smith, Utah 39.675

GATOR PERFORMANCE NOTES:

* Have yourself a night Skylar Draser. Started off the meet with 9.925 on vault (0.025 away from UF high) and set or equaled collegiate bests on bars (9.85), beam (9.90) and all-around (39.50).
* Victoria Nguyen led off the floor lineup with a 9.925 – the seventh time she’s earned her career high and fourth time in 2024
* Florida’s 49.575 on vault is the team’s second-highest of season and ties for 10th in program history.
* Leanne Wong has turned in a 9.9 or better bars and beam marks in last seven performances
* Collegiate bests tonight:
* Skylar Draser (bars) 9.85, 9.90 (beam), 39.50 (all-around)
* Victoria Nguyen (floor) 9.925
* Anya Pilgrim (bars) 9.975

COACH ROWLAND SAID:

“We advance and have the opportunity to keep doing what we love. It was a night of peaks and valleys. And at the same time, the peaks were highs and valleys weren’t too low. The Gators continue to remain calm, stay focused and not lose momentum. This is typically a competition where nobody’s gonna have a perfect meet. It’s all about who’s going to be able to react, control your emotions and be able to keep moving on with the least amount of mistakes as possible. So extremely proud of the Gators and everybody stepping up.” – Florida Head Coach Jenny Rowland

UP NEXT:
NCAA Regional Finals are contested in four sites across the nation. The Fayetteville and Ann Arbor regions hold team finals on Saturday, April 6. Final round action for the Gainesville and Berkeley regions is scheduled for Sunday, April 7. The top two teams in each regional final advance to the April 18-20 NCAA Championships in Ft. Worth, Texas<https://www.ncaa.com/news/gymnastics-women/article/2022-03-30/2022-ncaa-womens-gymnastics-championships-dates-schedule-locations>.

2024 Regional Sites – April 3-April 7
Region

Teams Advancing to Region Final

April 6 – Final Round

Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan) @ 5 p.m. ET ESPN+<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/29fee9aa-69e2-478a-80a1-6499a44828be>

Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State

Fayetteville, Ark. (Arkansas) @ 6 p.m. ET ESPN+<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/584bf1d1-8036-498c-9016-e8b9107a39a5>

Arkansas, LSU, Kentucky, Minnesota

April 7 – Final Round

Gainesville, Fla. (Florida) at 5 p.m. ET ESPN+<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/169313ab-b9a1-418a-bd8e-85a7425654a3>

Florida, Michigan State, Missouri, Utah

Berkeley, Calif. (California) at 8 p.m. ET ESPN+<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/aedb3ada-4a71-4129-9de1-f6fdfee22974>

Arizona State, California, Denver, Stanford