For the second year in a row, Florida hoisted the NCAA Championship trophy at the podium and celebrated a successful result at the Super Six.
But this time around, the Gators shared the spotlight.
UF claimed a share of its second consecutive NCAA Championship on Saturday night in Birmingham, Ala., when it tied Oklahoma with a score of 198.175.
Florida keeps making history. In 2013, UF claimed its first NCAA championship to become just the fifth program to win the title. Now, UF and Oklahoma are the first co-champions in the 33-year history of NCAA gymnastics.
“I’ve always felt that if there’s a tie, it needs to remain a tie,” coach Rhonda Faehn said in a postgame press conference. “This is such an incredibly challenging competition. I understand the tie-break situation for qualifications, but for the actual title, if there’s a tie, then that’s how it should be.”
Saturday was not the first tie in the 2014 NCAA Championship in Birmingham, Ala. UF advanced to the NCAA Super Six team final after tying with host Alabama in Friday’s second semifinal.
Adding the dropped score for each event to the final team total broke Friday night’s tie.
UF’s six-score total of 236.35 was just barely higher than Alabama’s (236.10).
Both teams joined Nebraska, Oklahoma, Georgia and LSU in Saturday’s Super Six.
But the tiebreaker gave Florida the advantage of competing an Olympic rotation of vault-bars-beam-floor — the Gators’ order of events at home meets.
“I definitely wouldn’t’ want to break the tie,” Bridgette Caquatto said of Saturday’s win.
“It’s amazing to go up there and stand behind the first place national champion team banner and cheer with another team next to you. You’re holding the trophies and screaming and it makes it that much more fun and loving.
“It’s awesome that we shared it with Oklahoma. They are a great team and I think it’s completely fair if everyone gets the same score.”
With the Sooners already done competing, the pressure was on as Florida took to the floor in its final event.
Freshman Claire Boyce, who set her floor career high of 9.90 on Friday, scored a 9.875 as the first Gator to compete on floor.
After that, the Gators hit their stride.
After Rachel Spicer, Alaina Johnson and Bridget Sloan scored 9.900s on their final event, Florida trailed Oklahoma by 19.900 points with Kytra Hunter and Caquatto left to compete.
Hunter posted a 9.95, meaning Caquatto needed to tie her career-high on floor to give UF a share of the title.
The sophomore delivered, scoring the needed 9.95 to tie the Gators with the Sooners.
Florida’s floor score of 49.625 was the team’s highest event total.
“I had to calm myself down and flash back to those (10.0) routines and remember just how much fun I had during those routines,” Hunter said.
“[Friday’s] performance wasn’t my best and I think that definitely triggered some energetic moves.”
In Friday’s meet, Hunter scored a season-low 9.775 on vault but managed to stay consistent on floor with a 9.90.
Things came full circle for the preseason No. 1 Gators on Saturday.
Even with a freshman competing on two of the four events and only two seniors in the lineup, no Gator scored lower than a 9.825 in the meet.
Florida’s team total of 198.175 was UF’s third highest of the season.
Oklahoma and Florida’s shared total of 198.175 is the highest ever in NCAA Championships history.
Sloan scored a 9.900 or above on all four events on Saturday, but the sophomore said she wonders if Florida could have done better.
“Coming in tonight, personally I had a lot of proving to do,” Sloan said. “I came in the mindset of not going to only do this for myself, but for my team. It’s crazy to look back and wonder what would have happened if we wouldn’t have put in all those extra workouts and conditioning.”
Hunter said the emotions were flowing even before the team knew they had won.
”I see and sensed the emotions of the team. I saw Macko (Mackenzie Caquatto) crying and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh this is unreal,” Hunter said.
“Everyone kind of calmed each other down and then once we knew that we won it was just, I don’t know, it feels like the first title, honestly. It’s incredible.
“It’s a great feeling and I wish that every athlete could feel the emotions that come with a national championship.”
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa
Florida’s Bridgette Caquatto, Morgan Frazier and Claire Boyce celebrate after being crowned co-champions with Oklahoma during the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships on Saturday in Birmingham, Ala.
