A top-five matchup came right down to the wire in Gainesville last night, with Florida pulling out the home win against surging Alabama by just a tenth and a half, 197.425-197.275. Head coach Jenny Rowland summed it up best at the start of the post-meet media availability: “Welcome to the SEC.”
The conference foes’ performances mirrored one another in several ways. Both had excellent bars rotations with multiple sticks, coupled with vault rotations that saw far more bouncy landings than drills. As to why that could have been the case on the latter event, “I think it’s just the start of season,” said Florida senior Selena Harris-Miranda, who stuck her Yurchenko one and a half for a 9.925 to anchor Florida’s lineup and share the event title with star Alabama freshman Azaraya Ra-Akbar. “Everyone’s trying to make changes, and everyone’s trying to be perfect,” continued Harris-Miranda. “I think everyone’s going to get better as season goes, but these are just second meet jitters, and we handled it pretty well.”
The Crimson Tide was on top by a quarter of a tenth after the second rotation. Junior Alyssa Arana anchored Florida’s beam lineup for the second week in a row. This week’s rotation saw high highs and narrow misses, including an impressive save by junior Kayla DiCello on her series. Arana wasn’t concerned with any of it, admitting that she did not really watch any of the routines before hers. “Going into the meet, I was focused on staying present and doing my normal, focus on my breathing and my key words while everyone else is going.” The focus paid off, with Arana going 9.875 to conclude the rotation. Florida then led the Crimson Tide by just one tenth.
With the closeness of the scores going into the fourth rotation, it would only be the most dramatic turn of events for that rotation to see each team’s first and only falls of the night. Alabama’s came in the leadoff routine, when freshman Jasmine Cawley came off the beam on her series. Florida’s was in the back half of its lineup, with junior Danie Ferris falling on her second pass. Sophomore Taylor Clark didn’t let it affect her as she prepared to go up fifth; like Arana, who didn’t see most of the beam routines before hers, Clark “didn’t really see the fall.”
“I know my training,” Clark said, “and I just wanted to do what I do in practice, since it’s what I do best. I just tell myself, ‘do my normal.'” Her “normal” routine, punctuated by her trademark double layout, ended up earning a a 9.900 and a share of the floor title, and it helped propel the Gators to a narrow win.
Regarding the opportunity to meet the moment with a top-five matchup so early on in the season, Rowland felt the team was aware of the significance: “We could all tell that it was just meaning a little bit more, a little more amped up.” She remarked that the team’s tendency to train how it wants to compete prepared it for the big night, and that rankings and conference competition ultimately aren’t the team’s concern. “It doesn’t matter who’s across the floor from us. Our biggest competitor, each and every day, each and every Friday, it’s Gators versus the Gators, and how good can we be that night. We’ve just got to go out there and be true to ourselves.”
Rowland concluded by praising her team’s ability to stay calm in the face of mistakes and not let anyone else’s performance detract from their own. “We made some mistakes, and remained calm and confident through everything,” said Rowland. “No matter what happened, the next person up was ready to reset and continue doing gymnastics. We can’t control what happened in front of us, and that shouldn’t change how we approach our routine, how we train, or how we compete. That mentality is something that we work really hard on. It can creep in very easily. And it didn’t tonight.”
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Article by Katherine Weaver
