Alabama at Florida

Recap

The Big Storyline: Neither Alabama or Florida competed to their capabilities with wobbles on beam, missed handstands on bars and challenging landings occurring on both vault and floor. The two programs had to fight back and recover from uncharacteristic errors throughout. Trinity Thomas scored two perfect 10s to give the Gators the edge in the meet. 

Implications: Arkansas and Auburn both had higher scores than Florida and Alabama in week two. While it’s still early in the season and neither team has its postseason lineups competing, it is worth noting that the SEC conference may just be tighter than ever this season. 

Records: Trinity Thomas became the third Florida gymnast and 12th gymnast overall to achieve the gym slam, a perfect 10 on every event during a collegiate career. Nya Reed scored her first ever perfect 10 on floor. 

Controversies: Meet scoring was all over the map in this competition, and many argue that Alabama was the better team.

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 11 Alabama at No. 2 Florida

Why You Should Cancel Plans for It: Alabama upset Florida to win the SEC title last season but will be facing an uphill battle to unseat the No. 2 Gators at home after a tough loss against Oklahoma in week one. 

What We’re Watching: Sloane Blakely won the all-around in her debut and snagged SEC Gymnast of the Week as a result. She’s is the first freshman to earn the honor opening week since the award was started in 2000. Can she and her fellow Gator freshmen improve on last week’s impressive results? The Crimson Tide have their own crop of impressive freshmen, but they were largely absent during last week’s performance against the Sooners. We’ll be looking to see if they play more of a role in week two.

What Else You Should Know Before Tuning In: Neither Trinity Thomas nor Luisa Blanco competed in the all-around last week and will likely be limited to two or three events again on Sunday. World champion Morgan Hurd is officially out for the season after having ACL surgery earlier this week.