With world championships in Jakarta around the corner, and spots on the team still very uncertain, 5-star LSU recruit Hezly Rivera pushed past the consistency issues she had had earlier this year to deliver a standout performance on both nights that earned her her second national all-around title and first as a senior. Tying for the bars title as well as winning the beam and floor titles outright, she has left herself in excellent standing heading into selection camp.
Following her in the all-around standings is recent Gator graduate Leanne Wong, who also took the vault title. In an individual worlds, such as the upcoming ones, where team medals are not part of the competition, this was critical for her selection chances. There had been some concern that Wong’s strength as an all-arounder who ends up being the fill-in-the-blanks team member may result in her being left off the team, but this individual event success shows that she is putting up a strong fight. Competing a Cheng as her first vault on the second day, an exceptionally difficult vault, solidifies her competitiveness internationally.
Fellow Gator Skye Blakely was the only other athlete to take a national title, tying with Rivera on bars. After a difficult night one, where her hands touched the beam on her front handspring to front tuck series, and she struggled with her van Leeuwen on bars, she had a spectacular night two, breaking 14 on both events. She earned the highest individual scores on both events, putting her in strong contention for a spot on the worlds team.
Another rising college sophomore who had a fantastic competition was Razorback Joscelyn Roberson. Roberson was the runner-up on the floor event, competing an exceptionally difficult routine, but more surprisingly, ended up placing in the top five on bars, the event that has previously been her biggest struggle. This is a massive accomplishment and bodes well for her future ability to vie for top all-around placings internationally.
Following a similar trajectory to future teammate Blakely, five-star recruit Jayla Hang also had a difficult night one that she managed to put aside for a great performance on night two. Hang has competed a lot internationally this year and was considered one of the top prospects for the all-around title, so it was nice to see her bounce back so strongly. She was one of only four gymnasts in the competition to break the 55 all-around mark, and she tied for bronze on beam with future classmate and fellow five-star recruit Dulcy Caylor.
Ashlee Sullivan, one of four rising UCLA freshmen competing at this meet, continued her breakout season with a fourth-place all-around finish. She upgraded her vault to a double-twisting Yurchenko and managed to reach the 14-mark on floor, taking third place on that event. The fifth-place all-around position was rounded out with another ‘26 Gator, five-star Simone Rose. She set career-high scores on beam and floor with 13.60s.
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Article by Gemma Selby
Go Gators!